Sorry to upload so many photo:s if it is too much of a bother feel free to not participate, HOWEVER, I would apreciate your feedback as it would be a great help.

Basically I get one chance to meet Niigata's most famous photographer. He has had exibitions all over the world.

He is going to critque mine as well as 10 other photographers photos and we ONLY GET 15 SHOTS!

I wanted to choose my BEST 15 but I am having trouble deciding.

These are my favorite so far;

(Please keep in mind, a few of them I have other threads about individually and plan to adjust them accordingly so I am sorry if there are a couple repeats)


#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

#21

#22

#23

#24

#25

#26

#27

#28

#29

#30

#31

#32

#33

#34

#35

#36

#37

#38

#39

#40

#41

#42

#43

#44

#45

#46

Sorry about the links, I didn:t figure out how to properly upload photos till it was too late. Now I:m outta time

I will re-edit this post when I get home with the proper showing of the photos.

They (and more of my photos I need to choose from) can be found here

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY ALBUM ON FACEBOOK (SORRY NO FLICKER ACCOUNT YET)

I have 3 weeks to choose which ones I am going to put my effort into editing more (and what to edit), and then out of those choose which ones are keepers for the critique.

[Adam]

You can always edit your photos later on if you get the right links!

Looks like there are some nice photos here, but it would be best to see them all on one page prior to evaluation. Also, something higher than facebook resolution would be nice later down the road.

[RobG]

Hi Eric! Of the ones you've posted here;
1. I like the one of the fountain except for the fact that the right hand edge is missing. Positioning it on the right hand side of the frame is fine, but it feels odd with part of the pattern of water missing.
2. The one with the inscribed granite stones is good too, but again I'd crop is slightly differently so the bottom of the image corresponds with the base of one stone column rather than cutting across one.
3. The apartment doors are interesting but it needs a catchy title so people realise it's not a prison maybe?
4. I like the action shot of the skateboarder but it looks a little oversharpened?
5. The young girl on roller blades is cute, but this one is cropped too tightly in my opinion; you can't see the roller blades or all of the dog.
6. I like the second one of the shrine roof except I'd actually crop the bottom slightly to remove the extra roof angle in the left corner. The detail in the clouds seems to have been blown out in curves adjustment?
7. I like the shot of the elderly gentleman playing Japanese chess!
8. I like the first shot of the prayers (I think) tied to cords.
9. I like the shot of the spider in the act of spinning its web. Surprising because I've only seen orb weavers making webs at night.
10. I like the church (russian orthodox?) through the broken window. You might be able to tweak the curves on this a bit to heighten the contrast.
11. I like the one of the statue with weeds starting to obscure it. There's an element of how everything created by man returns to nature in time.
12. The one of the red light palm is interesting for the contrast between the artificial and the natural sky.

Those are the main ones which appeal to me, anyhow! YMMV.

[Ehlacore]

You can always edit your photos later on if you get the right links!

Looks like there are some nice photos here, but it would be best to see them all on one page prior to evaluation. Also, something higher than facebook resolution would be nice later down the road.

When I narrow it down to like 15-20 photo's I'll make them as high of resolution as it will allow (i think thats 1024)

[Ehlacore]

HAHAHA, now this thread takes so much scrolling. I'm so sorry.

How do I make this a poll? So people can not only give advice but vote on the photos that they think should make the cut?

[Ehlacore]

Hi Eric! Of the ones you've posted here;
1. I like the one of the fountain except for the fact that the right hand edge is missing. Positioning it on the right hand side of the frame is fine, but it feels odd with part of the pattern of water missing.
2. The one with the inscribed granite stones is good too, but again I'd crop is slightly differently so the bottom of the image corresponds with the base of one stone column rather than cutting across one.
3. The apartment doors are interesting but it needs a catchy title so people realise it's not a prison maybe?
4. I like the action shot of the skateboarder but it looks a little oversharpened?
5. The young girl on roller blades is cute, but this one is cropped too tightly in my opinion; you can't see the roller blades or all of the dog.
6. I like the second one of the shrine roof except I'd actually crop the bottom slightly to remove the extra roof angle in the left corner. The detail in the clouds seems to have been blown out in curves adjustment?
7. I like the shot of the elderly gentleman playing Japanese chess!
8. I like the first shot of the prayers (I think) tied to cords.
9. I like the shot of the spider in the act of spinning its web. Surprising because I've only seen orb weavers making webs at night.
10. I like the church (russian orthodox?) through the broken window. You might be able to tweak the curves on this a bit to heighten the contrast.
11. I like the one of the statue with weeds starting to obscure it. There's an element of how everything created by man returns to nature in time.
12. The one of the red light palm is interesting for the contrast between the artificial and the natural sky.

Those are the main ones which appeal to me, anyhow! YMMV.

#1 This is near my house (30 min bike ride), so I can go back there to shoot HOWEVER the ground is disgusting now with leaves that fell and are rotting :-(

I see that I should have included the whole fountain in the original (I tend to cut things off too much... everyone else over shoots, I over crop in taking of the photo )

#2 Another good cropping point, and another case where I over cropped pre-editing. If I can I will try to go back there and re-shoot it.

#3 HAHAHAHA thats my apartment! I loved that eerie effect I got from that photo! I couldn't come up with something too catchy, so I just called it "I'm home"

#4 Ok, work the skateboarder post-work... I have like 3 different versions but I dont seem to love any of them.

#5 Yea it was a tough shot with the split second actions going on (this wasn't intentional on her part, she was trying to control the dog to be cute for the camera). Also she isn't on rollerblades :-P I cut her feet out on purpose because she was a skateboarder so it wasn't as interesting to me to see her with shoes.

#6 ok, so a slight bottom cropping and perhaps different post work curves

#7 NICE, Just a "I like this" shot

#8 Moikai! YOKATTA!

#9 Sweet sweet, so these are 3 possible keepers as is

#10 I think that too, I just got so frustrated after an hour and a half of looking at the same photo that I took a break. I'll work on it more

#11 I Like how you have the same thoughts I had in mind when I took this. It was actually at an abandoned amusement park so nature truly was starting to take back what was originally hers.

#12 Thank you


So does that mean you only think 12 are worthy.... Looks like I should be out taking more pictures instead of editing the ones I have

[RobG]

#3 HAHAHAHA thats my apartment! I loved that eerie effect I got from that photo! I couldn't come up with something too catchy, so I just called it "I'm home"

Depends on how you want to direct people's thoughts. You could use something like "Is it prison, or is it home?", but only if that's the impression you want.

#5 Yea it was a tough shot with the split second actions going on (this wasn't intentional on her part, she was trying to control the dog to be cute for the camera). Also she isn't on rollerblades :-P I cut her feet out on purpose because she was a skateboarder so it wasn't as interesting to me to see her with shoes.

Ah, ok. Well, like I said, YMMV.

#8 Moikai! YOKATTA!

Reminds me of my students.

So does that mean you only think 12 are worthy.... Looks like I should be out taking more pictures instead of editing the ones I have

No, like I said, those are the ones which appealed to me most of the ones you linked from this article. I can't post comments on facebook due to your privacy settings (fair enough I have my stuff on facebook locked down even more). I'm just one person, and other photos may appeal to other people. The thing is, I could make a lot of the same criticisms of my own photos, because due to lack of time, I seldom put the amount of thought I should into the framing or worse, the exposure. Sometimes I have to take a quick photo and I just have to hope I captured the moment.

It may be that you could just resize the collection that you want to choose from without spending too much time on post processing. Cut it down to the best ones, then focus on getting those just right. I don't know about other software, but Irfanview is able to do a batch resize and put the resized images into another folder. Obviously you need to be very careful about keeping backups of the originals.

[Ehlacore]

Thanks for your help Rob, mad rep points!


Anyone else want to pu in their 2 cents?


Please

[RobG]

Thanks for your help Rob, mad rep points!

Thanks! By the way I quite like the photo of the woman looking down at...something.. but personally I find the bright lights in the top left corner distracting. Aside from that, it's an interesting closeup. Were you putting more on facebook or elsewhere?

Anyone else want to put in their 2 cents?

Maybe you could post in the critique forum and link back to this thread?

Rob

[FruitLooPs]

Thanks for your help Rob, mad rep points!


Anyone else want to pu in their 2 cents?


Please

Cha ching, here goes my 2 cents for what its worth

#2 - V.interesting idea and nice execution
#8 - Nice lighting/processing, evokes a strong feel for the mood (eerie)
#9 - Fairly commonly done idea, but I still like it. The cool tones have matrix feel
#16 - Not sure if this stands out since you're in japan, but the photo holds my interest as I'm unfamiliar with the game and Japanese characters the single tile on the table is a nice compositional touch IMO
#24 - I like the bokeh and lighting on the spider (the plant to the left in closer to focus is vaguely distracting though)
#27 - Simple clean and traditional
#34 - Great exposure and use of sepia. The repetition leads the eye for me.
#36 - The flare is really bizarre but I enjoy the effect it has on the shot
#37 - The top eves causing the repetitive cutout effect is cool, and the colours complement

Possibly #6 I prefer it to the other spoke wheel shot (contrast & lighting + crop)

I'll say this, i'm not a fan of HDR processing in a lot of cases - especially when the super even lighting and shadows sticks out as abnormal. Others love it though so go figure I see halos on things, that looks not so attractive to my eye.

Hope this helps, and I'm envious of your opportunity (although i'm purely an amateur myself haha)

[sam1989]

To add to what the other comments - my personal favourite is #17, it's fantastic.

[Ehlacore]

Cha ching, here goes my 2 cents for what its worth

#2 - V.interesting idea and nice execution
#8 - Nice lighting/processing, evokes a strong feel for the mood (eerie)
#9 - Fairly commonly done idea, but I still like it. The cool tones have matrix feel
#16 - Not sure if this stands out since you're in japan, but the photo holds my interest as I'm unfamiliar with the game and Japanese characters the single tile on the table is a nice compositional touch IMO
#24 - I like the bokeh and lighting on the spider (the plant to the left in closer to focus is vaguely distracting though)
#27 - Simple clean and traditional
#34 - Great exposure and use of sepia. The repetition leads the eye for me.
#36 - The flare is really bizarre but I enjoy the effect it has on the shot
#37 - The top eves causing the repetitive cutout effect is cool, and the colours complement

Possibly #6 I prefer it to the other spoke wheel shot (contrast & lighting + crop)

I'll say this, i'm not a fan of HDR processing in a lot of cases - especially when the super even lighting and shadows sticks out as abnormal. Others love it though so go figure I see halos on things, that looks not so attractive to my eye.

Hope this helps, and I'm envious of your opportunity (although i'm purely an amateur myself haha)

Thank you so much!

Thanks! By the way I quite like the photo of the woman looking down at...something.. but personally I find the bright lights in the top left corner distracting. Aside from that, it's an interesting closeup. Were you putting more on facebook or elsewhere?

Maybe you could post in the critique forum and link back to this thread?

Rob

Thank you, she was looking at the menu at a local Italian restaurant. (sorry its not more interesting) we were sitting at the bar which explains the silver bright things in the background.

I just took more photo's yesterday, I will try to see if there is anything usable in that batch but right now the stress of 2 jobs is getting to me and I have to sleep. I should be able to get to it in a day or two.

I've been putting them on Facebook while waiting for my friend to help with a website, but since he isn't being paid I'm sure its going to take a long while :-P

[RobG]

I've been putting them on Facebook while waiting for my friend to help with a website, but since he isn't being paid I'm sure its going to take a long while :-P

You could use Picasa; it's free.

[Ash]

Of all of these images, #2 is truly a work of art - would have been great as a sharper and less jaundiced image.
There is excessive HDR effect in some of your work, but in others there is good framing and subject matter to make your images interesting.

[Ehlacore]

Of all of these images, #2 is truly a work of art - would have been great as a sharper and less jaundiced image.
There is excessive HDR effect in some of your work, but in others there is good framing and subject matter to make your images interesting.

Wow, thank you (I think )

I can make it sharper (this was before I learned some better post-work).

I will tone down the HDR (I was more into it when I was just starting, as I've progressed I've toned it down drastically)