File :-(, x, )
Contrasts and Rain Harrumph
I took this pic and was surprised by the contrasts between the sky, field and road.

(Boy did my tyres take a pounding on this gravel road)
EXIF data available. Clickhereto show/hide.
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>> Harrumph
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Another pic also taken near the same location .. again, striking contrast.

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>> Harrumph
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I stopped the car and took this pic. The rain was pelting down, and visibility was poor, even with the windscreen wipers going flat out ...

You can see what I mean :)

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>> Anonymous
>>57701
Boring, no focal point, blurry, lacking contrast
>>57702
ditto
>>57705
Uninteresting "LOL RAIN IS MESSING UP MY PICTURE, AINT THAT COOL" shot
>> Harrumph
>>57759

>Boring, no focal point, blurry, lacking contrast

You missed the point of the photo. Contrasts between the colours. I do apologise. I'm just an amateur photographer who's still learning. Sorry i'm not a super-cool-wonderful-uber1337-genius camera person like yourself.

How about posting helpful tips Mr Genius, instead of being a plain smartass. Better still, let's see your work. So we can destructively criticise it, instead of constructively criticise it ...

>Uninteresting "LOL RAIN IS MESSING UP MY PICTURE, AINT THAT COOL" shot

Again you missed the point (no surprise on a chan where the intelligence factor seems to vanish when idiots post nasty comments). It was a shot of the weather. It wasn't messing up my shot at all, I was showing the effect of the rain on my visibility.

So come on Wonderboy .. post your work.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57831
>>>Boring, no focal point, blurry, lacking contrast
>How about posting helpful tips Mr Genius, instead of being a plain smartass.
I believe you'll find the implied helpful tips are:
1. Take pictures of things that are less boring
2. Give your photo a focal point
3. Learn to take less-blurry photos
4. Increase contrast

I think the second one has some potential, although the composition could use some work (this might be a good place for rule-of-thirds)

With regards to the first picture, I agree with the boring, no-focal-point, and blurry comments.

With regards to the third, dashboard = instafail. The fella you're replying to saw what you were trying to do and, well, it's boring. Pictures of your dashboard are below MySpace mirror pics and pictures of the junk on your desk in the continuum of photographic uniqueness, and the fact that it's raining doesn't help that.
>> Anonymous
>>57842

Ok thanks. I would just like to know one thing? What position are you in to make the judgment call of the photos being boring?
>> Anonymous
>>57849
he's in the position of someone thats commenting on a picture. is no one allowed to call a picture boring unless they are an expert photo analyst? i also agree with the boring comments by ac and other anon. my eyes wander everywhere looking for something to look at. and i dont really see the "striking" contrast you are talking about. unless you mean the contrast between the red and green. the other parts of the pictures look kinda washed out/lacking contrast. and honestly, we dont really care what the rain was like through your windshield.
>> Anonymous
>>57854

You've done the exactly same thing. What if the point of the photo was to be boring? A lot of the photographers here get fact and opinion mixed up.

Commenting on the technical aspects is fine but to simply say "lulz fucking boring that is DO LESS BORING NEXT TIME." and expecting to be taken as some kind of advice is a fucking hilarious.

its even fucking funnier when you've seen pictures from the posters giving "advice". pot calling the kettle black springs to mind.
>> Anonymous
>>57858
except the OP said the point of the pictures is contrast.
>> Anonymous
>>57862

>>What if

it was a hypothetical question. stop clutching at straws.
>> Harrumph
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No-one should be judging anything. This isn't a professional photographer's forum. Tip are always helpful, and we can all be better photographers with useful advice .. not nastiness or sarcasm.

One of the main reasons I dropped out of a couple of pro forums is because they just shat on you. And it's extremely hard for a learner to learn if he's being put down, especially by those who think they are so much better.

For the record, these pics are "point and shoot". It was wild weather here, and I didn't have the time to set up my tripod and fiddle with settings between the downpours.

I'm not a great photographer and I know that. But even I get a cool shot sometimes.

<<- This photo got me a second place in a major photo competition here in my city. I was up against 347 other photos in the "open/Abstract" category. Not a bad effort for my first ever entry into a competition. Hell I thought most of the other entries were better myself.

It takes time and patience to get good at photography. It's a hobby for me. I'm not expecting to be a whizz-bang cameraman nor professional.

I reiterate the primary object of the pics was the colour tones. Not the focal point, or exposure. Just that the colours looked interesting to me.
>> Anonymous
>>57867

your not going to get that here im afraid. this IS 4chan. the tripfags here are getting as bad as /ic/.
>> Anonymous
>>57864
it seems to me that post had 3 parts.
1) you cant tell what a photographer had in mind for a photo
2) give better advice
3) people giving criticism arent qualified to give it

i answered to one part. clutching at straws? not really. i answered to his opening comment about how we cant tell what a photographer had in mind, even though in this case he blatantly told us it was the contrast of colors.

>>57867
you dont have to be a pro to judge. if youre posting a photo here to show to people, its fairly safe to assume that you want it to appeal to the people you are showing it to, or are asking some question about it. also, youre never going to learn if people tell you your photos are good all the time. ac even translated the post by that one anon for you.
>> Harrumph
>>57874

>youre never going to learn if people tell you your photos are good all the time

I certainly don't expect praise everytime .. nor do I expect comments. It's just fun for me to show pics and check out other peoples' pics.

>>57759Anon was just being a complete /p/tard.
>> Anonymous
>>57701
>>57702
I think these two photographs are pretty good, actually. A little shoopery to bring some aspects out more (the color and contrasts you speak of, etc) would help.

Does you camera shoot RAW or only JPEG?

As for people complaining about various aspects of these shots:

>Boring
I don't think so. It's a nice rural road, with some goats off to the side.

>no focal point
What do you call a centered road going off into the distance except a focal point? Oy...

>blurry
That's JPEG compression blur, not anything to do with the OP.

>lacking contrast
This I agree on; like I said, it could use some post-processing.

The other one would have been helped by a different angle, but it still does have a focal point- the bunch of trees. It's a landscape, not a portrait or a sports photo.
>> Harrumph
>>57887

>Does you camera shoot RAW or only JPEG?

It does shoot RAW, I'm just not experienced with post-processing RAW files. I tend to show pics on a "as is" basis (ie as I see them), and the only PP I do is focus and brightness/contrast (which I didn't do with these) and cropping if necessary.

I have Lightroom and Photoshop, but I am more experienced with PhotoImpact.

I'm getting used to various settings in my camera (Fuji S5000), and experimenting more.

Appreciate your sensible comments too :)
>> Anonymous
>>57894
Did you shoot this in RAW or JPEG?

Importing RAW files is very easy with a free application called Adobe Camera Raw. One gets it off the Adobe website, installs it, and uses it through Photoshop: open up a RAW file as one would any other with Photoshop, Camera Raw launches, and lets one tweak those settings.

Other Photoshop tools to get acquainted with are levels, channel mixer (for converting to black and white more creatively), curves, and dodging and burning. There's tutorials on the Internet that can explain each of those better than I can.

And even if you originally shot these in JPEG, and they aren't conversions, you could still Photoshop them some.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57858
So, okay, your goal was to make a boring picture? Well, congrats, you've succeeded.

Learn to take criticism. Yes, the first anon to respond was expressing a subjective opinion, but art is a very subjective thing. What the hell's the point of a photography board if we can only comment on the purely technical aspects of a photo and not comment about whether or not we like it from an aesthetic perspective?

You ask what position I am in to make the judgement call that a photo is boring. Well, I'm a guy who looked at your photo and found it boring. What other qualification could I have? What other qualification would matter?
>> Harrumph
>>57912

>Well, I'm a guy who looked at your photo and found it boring

Well when you actually get around to posting something worthwhile yourself (your offerings so far aren't exactly mind-blowing), and we can comment on it, it won't bother you when someone picks the shit out of it ok?

Good :)

>>57913

No doubt you'll pick on this pic as well ... Mr "oh-i'm-so-uber-it-makes-me-get-a-boner"

Get off your high-horse .. you as bad as the first anon ...
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57925
Lurk the fuck moar.

Please see>>57610. First comment is telling me I suck. Second comment is telling me I don't suck quite as much. Do you see any comments in there with me berating the people who gave me constructive criticism? No, because I'm not doing that. I'm accepting their constructive criticism. Feel free to go there and rip me a new one yourself. I've never said that I was the be-all-end-all of photography. The main reason I namefag it up is so that people can tell who I am when I post a photo and when I post criticism so they can say "Well, okay, he doesn't like my photo, but his shit sucks too so I'm just gonna ignore it."

I'm able to take criticism. You're not. I said I didn't like your photos--and I wasn't alone in that thread by any means--and you decided to be a whiny little twit about it. People tell me they don't like my photos every once in a while--I accept it, evaluate whether or not I think they made a good point (and I agree with the criticisms in the particular thread of mine I just linked), and try to get better.

As for your comment re>>57913... Note my comment in that thread, praising the photos, timestamped 12 minutes before your reply.

I like a lot of the photos here. When the photos are good, I tell the person that. When the photos are a little sub-par but show potential, I tell the person that too. When they're just random boring snapshots, I can be a little harsh, but I do try to keep it constructive and guide the person past the random-boring-snapshot phase of their artistic life.
>> Harrumph
>>57928

>and you decided to be a whiny little twit about it

Maybe so, but at least i'm not shitting on every pic that's posted and making people feel bad about what they like doing.

Taking thousands of photos does NOT make you an expert .. okay?

>The main reason I namefag it up is so that people can tell who I am

Oh I think everyone is well aware of who you are and what you stand for. As far as you're concerned any pic not taken and posted by you is shit. And that's how many others see it ...

Just stop ripping peoples pics to shreds.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57931
>Maybe so, but at least i'm not shitting on every pic that's posted and making people feel bad about what they like doing.
I'm sorry, you seem to be under the impression that this is happyhuggylovechan.

If you want nothing but praise, I recommend sending your pictures to your friends and relatives. Or I've heard that Deviantart is good for that, too.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57931
>As far as you're concerned any pic not taken and posted by you is shit. And that's how many others see it
Also: This argument would work better if there weren't two threads right here on the main page in which I'm praising other people photos. I praise photos more than I denigrate them, in general, because I usually don't find the bad ones interesting enough to comment on. I only decided to comment on yours because you threw a hissy when someone else pointed out some flaws in your image.

Also also, re: "that's how many others see it": Do you have some sort of chat room somewhere where you all get together and whine about how mean I was to you? Because if so, that's awesome, and I'd love to see some chat logs. Or are you just confusing "yourself" with "everyone on /p/" again?
>> MaDame
/p/: one huge cluster fuck
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57936
Yeah, sorry about that. Feeding trolls is like taking boring flower pictures. I know it's gonna turn out making me look inept and annoying, but sometimes I just can't help myself...
>> MaDame
>>57937

Well, at least the trolls *eventually* give up.
>> Anonymous
is it australia? the red clay resembles parts of the outback i saw
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I took the freedom to make it just a little less boring. Yes, it's still boring, and if you can't take other peoples' opinions for what they are then please gtfo.

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>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57995
Much better.
>> Anonymous
Now it just needs something to focus on.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>57997

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>> Anonymous
Thread over. Our work here is done! Good work, anon.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>57999
You almost made me spit Loganberry juice all over my keyboard.
>> Anonymous
>>57887
the road leads into the middle of the frame then stops. theres nothing there. it leads you to the middle then doesnt give you anything to focus on. i call that lack of focus.
>> Anonymous
>>57999

this is far from boring, great success
>> Anonymous
>>57867
Hello, this is the first anon who decided to take a shit on your ego.

I must say, that's a pretty damn good shot. I like the detail, though I wish it was straighter.
>> Harrumph
     File :-(, x)
>>58103

Thanks for that ... yeah the photo is a bit lop-sided. I can't correct it much without cropping off the side of the pic but I had a go.

This is from the first group of photos I ever took when I started out last year.

I'll get better at it ... someday.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>58103
I agree with this comment.

(I wasn't gonna say it, though, because I was pissed off at the guy. ;) )