Thank you to everyone who took the time to read, look, and reply. There are a lot of comments here that are very helpful to me. Very deeply appreciated!
Originally posted by AfterPentax I think that your strong point is in catching certain details and emphasize them.
Originally posted by Sandy Hancock I also am drawn mostly to your monochrome images. Minimalism, shape and texture come to the fore, and you process them very well.
Originally posted by StiffLegged You have a better eye for details than bigger vistas
Originally posted by 3by2 You have an eye for detail and elements in the landscape you see and I think that is where you should head
Originally posted by automorphism you tend to like structure and texture in nature, especially the finer details of plants, rocks, and objects in genera
Originally posted by AggieDad What I see is someone who enjoys the lines, shapes, and textures of things.
Originally posted by robgski You seem to enjoy conveying a sense, or mood, of a place. You also enjoy the details, almost as thought you are asking the viewer to stop for a moment and look a bit longer.
Originally posted by Bruce Clark Not sure if I have an answer as to what style is but I do find a strong preference to your images that have a more minimalist look.
Wow...that was unexpectedly strong confirmation of what I enjoy doing.
Originally posted by AggieDad This makes me think that you could begin seriously exploring black & white photography.
Originally posted by automorphism I would say your postprocessing is pretty good. If there is anything to say, I think it's that in some lower contrast shots, you could work to provide more tonal contrast in the highlights, such as in your pears photo. In that photo, which looks pretty nice, you could brighten some of the tones close to the brightest tone I think. I am not talking about a massive change, just a subtle adjustment to create more tones in the image for more contrast, especially since the image is in black and white.
I really do like black and white, (and yes, there is a
lot to learn). Then I run across some wonderful colors. Conundrum.
Originally posted by 3by2 On the other hand, with a few exceptions, your landscape stuff, the wider view, is quite a lot weaker, like you don't quite know what you should be looking for and doing with it.
Originally posted by automorphism You have chosen some very nice scenery for your landscapes, but many of the wide-angle ones lack strong foregrounds, and that is something that would add some interest to those backgrounds and middle grounds.
I see what you're saying, and I think you're right. They are a bit lacking and I think 'don't know what I should be doing with it' is quite accurate. This was helpful, thank you.
Originally posted by alex66 Firstly have you thought of working towards a finished project? Something you have an interest in or a passion for, then you can play around with sequencing of images, looking for specific things to fit with in the project.
Originally posted by robgski you might consider a bit of curation
I like this idea. It seems like a next-level approach for me. Not only reducing the clutter of similar images, but looking at it as a holistic collection rather than individual works; then taking it a step further and deliberately building a holistic collection. Thank you for the suggestion.
Originally posted by AfterPentax To be honest, it was a lot of gravestones, only one I liked is the one with the little bird on top of a stone.
That shot with the little bird is by far my favorite of the day, and will stick around for a while. The others were actually for a little experiment I tried out (read about it here if you're interested:
The 2020 Monthly Challenge - June - The Normal field-of-view - Page 3 - PentaxForums.com). Those probably won't stay long after that thread is over. The other one I kind of liked was the one with the faces carved into the top of the stones. Not only because the faces were quaint, but because after over 150 years you can actually still see the guidelines that the engraver used to make sure his letters were straight and uniform. That brought a little smile to my face when I saw it.
Originally posted by swanlefitte Some photos with a confusing or non defined subject will still be seen by some people as having a subject because of their natural inclination to that. But others won't. Hopefully the photographer is showing the photo so others can see what the photographer found special.
This is actually a really good point, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I hadn't thought about it like that before, but what you say totally makes sense. And no offense taken at all; your entire comment was valuable feedback.
Originally posted by aaacb Here's a well timed video on this topic, I liked his story:
Originally posted by Madaboutpix he encourages people to also retain the freedom of shooting whatever it is that makes them happy
Thanks for the links. The first video was quite good. He has a great story there, and it's heartening to see someone putting their heart and soul into their work like that. I've got the second video queued up for viewing later.
This was (again) all very helpful, and I have some good solid takeaways for improvement. Thank you all again!!!