What is so bad about this? *Large Photo*

[Heie]

What is so bad about this photo, please be honest. I entered it into the "Farm Life" challenge and was shocked to see how low it was rated, where all votes were 2.5 or lower save for one.

http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Entry.aspx?ID=209951

^The link to the challenge entry.

I know I am not a professional, far from it, but it is one of the photos I was most proud of that I've taken with my G11 so far, and I am very curious as to what is so wrong with it.

Please be honest, and recommend how I could have improved it.

It's a bit large, so hit zoom out once and it should be good to view.

Thank you

Heie



--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

 

[tyoung]

What is so bad about this photo, please be honest. I entered it into the "Farm Life" challenge and was shocked to see how low it was rated, where all votes were 2.5 or lower save for one.

It's a perfectly nice photo and there's no reason that you shouldn't remain proud to have captured it. Besides, you were probably picking sawdust out of your lens for a week afterwards!

There are all kinds of things that come in to play when it comes down to how one photo may be selected over another in challenges or contests and no it often has little to do with technical merit.

Looking at the images that attained high rankings, they were largely wide open vista's and that sort of thing. Yours was more photojournalistic in nature.

Sometimes it's a matter of just trying to predict what the crowd is most likely going to be motivated by and then playing to the crowd. Or just remaining true to yourself, to heck with what the crowd thinks.

In any case, just keep shooting, you're doing fine.

--
'Here, look at the monkey. Look at the silly monkey!'

Tom Young
http://www.pbase.com/tyoung/

 

[Guidenet]

Heie, I also think your photo was fine, but take a look at the first place winners. Although your image was good and I loved the sawdust blowing around, if you take away that sawdust, it was an ordinary type shot without really any strength in the subject. It's head one in plain light.

Had you tried a closer shot, say looking up the blade toward the face, it might have been a better more unique view providing you used a strong composition. Think of other stronger angles that would have been unique including the flying sawdust.

But I liked the image and you need to keep shooting. Read up on composition and lighting.
--
Cheers, Craig

 

[Bart Roskam]

although I like the shot, for me personally it doesn't depict 'the farming life' which I personally associate with long fields, animals, machines but also tranquillity. The thing is with these competitions that sometimes perfect pictures get voted out because they don't fit the theme. On the other hand sometimes pictures that don't fit the theme are getting good votes because the picture is good. Do remember that this is an arbitrary popularity competition and doesn't need to say a thing about the quality of the picture itself.

Kind regards,
Bart

--
http://flickr.com/photos/bartroskam/
WSSA Member#250PX

 

[Heie]

@ tyoung and Guidenet and Bart.

Thank you for the encouragment. It never occurred to me the difference in the types of photos. I was just so confident that I succeeded in capturing the farming life, but I can definitely see how I did not capture the tranquility of what the challenge was aiming towards.

Heie, I also think your photo was fine, but take a look at the first place winners. Although your image was good and I loved the sawdust blowing around, if you take away that sawdust, it was an ordinary type shot without really any strength in the subject. It's head one in plain light.

Had you tried a closer shot, say looking up the blade toward the face, it might have been a better more unique view providing you used a strong composition. Think of other stronger angles that would have been unique including the flying sawdust.

But I liked the image and you need to keep shooting. Read up on composition and lighting.
--
Cheers, Craig

With regards to above, it never occurred to me to try that angle. Partly because if I did, staring a chainsaw in the face is not a hobby of mine, but mostly because the angle simply did not occur to me.

Composition and lighting are where my focus has slowly been turning to. I have just recently mastered what ISO/SS/Av are and how to combine them. Baby steps

-Heie
--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

 

[Guidenet]

With regards to above, it never occurred to me to try that angle. Partly because if I did, staring a chainsaw in the face is not a hobby of mine, but mostly because the angle simply did not occur to me.

I know. LOL It wouldn't be a hobby of mine either, but you see how strong it would be. How many would look at think the same thing? Impact!

Almost head on with the saw blade diagonally from bottom corner big to upper corner other side with the head up there and wood chips flying. Wear goggles. heheheh.

--
Cheers, Craig

 

[iMac therefore iAm]

I probably would have given it 2 stars because it's a decent photo, but no more than that because to me it doesn't fit the challenge.

Thank you for the encouragment. It never occurred to me the difference in the types of photos. I was just so confident that I succeeded in capturing the farming life, but I can definitely see how I did not capture the tranquility of what the challenge was aiming towards.

Heie, I also think your photo was fine, but take a look at the first place winners. Although your image was good and I loved the sawdust blowing around, if you take away that sawdust, it was an ordinary type shot without really any strength in the subject. It's head one in plain light.

Had you tried a closer shot, say looking up the blade toward the face, it might have been a better more unique view providing you used a strong composition. Think of other stronger angles that would have been unique including the flying sawdust.

But I liked the image and you need to keep shooting. Read up on composition and lighting.
--
Cheers, Craig

With regards to above, it never occurred to me to try that angle. Partly because if I did, staring a chainsaw in the face is not a hobby of mine, but mostly because the angle simply did not occur to me.

Composition and lighting are where my focus has slowly been turning to. I have just recently mastered what ISO/SS/Av are and how to combine them. Baby steps

-Heie
--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

--
Some cool cats that can use your help
http://www.wildlife-sanctuary.org

Even if you can't donate, please help spread the word.

 

[Rich Halferty]

I agree with all the others comments and would like to add that if the environment he is in indicates "farm life" then maybe standing further away/zooming out and including more of that enviroinment in the composition would have yielded a better score.

 

[freefallnick]

Composition and lighting are where my focus has slowly been turning to. I have just recently mastered what ISO/SS/Av are and how to combine them. Baby steps

-Heie

I'm about where you are and I agree, baby steps.. I agree with the other poster up above too, heck with the crowd! I post a lot of my shots on facebook where I have a decent amount of "friends" and family in hopes to generate some comments but 99% of the time no one comments on anything.
I think its a great shot you have there!

 

[Heie]

Composition and lighting are where my focus has slowly been turning to. I have just recently mastered what ISO/SS/Av are and how to combine them. Baby steps

-Heie

I'm about where you are and I agree, baby steps.. I agree with the other poster up above too, heck with the crowd! I post a lot of my shots on facebook where I have a decent amount of "friends" and family in hopes to generate some comments but 99% of the time no one comments on anything.
I think its a great shot you have there!

Thanks!

And I have a photography fanpage as well, with a bunch of "fans," but never receive any feedback/encouragement. It sucks for the motivation at times.

-Heie
--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

 

[eilivk]

It's not bad at all, a good action photo in my opinion, but maybe it's too "modern" and that could be the problem. When I see nr. 6, yours could be top 10. And one or two gave it a high score.

Doing something different is important and you did. But when you send photos to others don't EXPECT too much, but HOPE for good reactions. So keep on and try to get it better. And if you find a good "judge" among your friends... I have one telling me that maybe this is good and that not so good, and WHY, and I see it in a different light. Sometimes...

 

[Ed B]

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice picture but the face is underexposed (too red) and what is that red thing at the corner of his right elbow?

 

[Heie]

It's not bad at all, a good action photo in my opinion, but maybe it's too "modern" and that could be the problem. When I see nr. 6, yours could be top 10. And one or two gave it a high score.

Doing something different is important and you did. But when you send photos to others don't EXPECT too much, but HOPE for good reactions. So keep on and try to get it better. And if you find a good "judge" among your friends... I have one telling me that maybe this is good and that not so good, and WHY, and I see it in a different light. Sometimes...

Thank you very much for your input. The only thing I do not understand is your sentence "When I see nr. 6...top 10."

--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

 

[Heie]

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice picture but the face is underexposed (too red) and what is that red thing at the corner of his right elbow?

Wow, I never noticed that. That apparently is a bucket/pail that just happened to be there. And then his face in my opinion is shadowed as opposed to tinted red. I could be off, as seeing hue and slight color influence is VERY difficult for me.

-Heie

--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

 

[Ed B]

As I said, it's a nice picture but those are two reasons your photo may have been rated lower than you expected.

 

[eilivk]

"The only thing I do not understand is your sentence "When I see nr. 6...top 10.""

Well, in my opinion nr. 6 is strange, with the little strip of the sky, can't see much in it, so I thought yours was better.

About the red object at your elbow, I hadn't noticed. Did the same fault myself, photo of interesting street singer, my "advicer" said: what about that green handle and some other mess in the background? Important to really see what is in a picture, when you take it , and afterwards.

 

[Heie]

Yea, usually I am good about cleaning out the clutter and not having a mess in my background, but I was in a rush to make sure I got that photo because it was an action shot. I didn't have him pose with the saw.

Also, I still do not understand. what is "nr. 6" I don't know what that acronym is/what it means.

Thank you.

-Heie

"The only thing I do not understand is your sentence "When I see nr. 6...top 10.""

Well, in my opinion nr. 6 is strange, with the little strip of the sky, can't see much in it, so I thought yours was better.

About the red object at your elbow, I hadn't noticed. Did the same fault myself, photo of interesting street singer, my "advicer" said: what about that green handle and some other mess in the background? Important to really see what is in a picture, when you take it , and afterwards.

--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

 

[eilivk]

The picture that came in 6th place in the Farming Life contest.

 

[Heie]

Oh, now I understand. what does the acronym nr. mean? "number"?

And thank you for the compliment.

-Heie

The picture that came in 6th place in the Farming Life contest.

--

I'm a 22 year old cadet ready to graduate and serve as a platoon leader in the US Army that has an extremely voracious apetite for backpacking and adventure. I am also finally feeding my passion for photography while working on the fluency of my two languages other than English: Spanish and Arabic.

 

[Marty4650]

Like the others, I think your photo is good.

I think you placed low because there were other photos that captured the theme better, and were generally better compositions than yours.

While cutting fence posts does happen on farms, there was nothing "agricultural" about your shot. And if you look at all the photos that ranked higher, they were more on topic.... with crops, fields, farm equipment etc. Your shot could have been taken on a farm, or in someone's backyard in a suburban development.

I think for theme alone, your shot was destined to finish in the lower half of the entries.

As for the rest... yes it was a good shot, but the others were better in terms of exposure, composition and execution. But don't let this discourage you. You have a lot of talent for someone so young. Keep working on it.

And now the most important point....

CONGRATULATIONS on your coming graduation from the finest military academy in the world! My oldest daughter graduated in 2000 from the USMA, served two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and retired with the rank of Captain to marry and raise a family. And her husband is in Special Forces right now and is deployed.

Most people don't really understand how selective the USMA is.
You folks are today's warriors and tomorrow's leaders.

Thank you for serving our nation.
--
Marty
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marty4650/sets/72157606210120132/show/
http://www.fluidr.com/photos/marty4650/sets/72157606210120132
Olympus E-30
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