Chris2061 Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 New here and to photography in general. I've uploaded several of the photos I am happiest with. Can I get some honest (hopefully constructive) feedback on them? There are only 5 right now but I want to know if what I have might be of any interest to a potential buyer. Thank you all very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Morrison Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Welcome... Five pix? Maybe ask for a critique when you have a few more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Looks like a good start.. 4 out of 5 are a little dark for me... I'd be tempted to drag the histogram to the right a touch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinS Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 They look good to me. The first one might be a bit dark, but maybe not. I hope you find this forum helpful; I have over many years. Welcome! Adding place names to your landscape photos would increase their salability. A user might need to show what a certain place looks like, so adding that to the keywords (oops, tags) covers that possibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 51 minutes ago, John Morrison said: Welcome... Five pix? Maybe ask for a critique when you have a few more... I didn't want to start uploading a bunch of stuff if what I have is junk. Thanks though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 I agree they all need a little brightening, maybe some spot brightening just on your butterfly in that one. As mentioned, you have to be very specific when doing editorial shots. Take your forest image. First I want to reach in and just pull it down a bit on the right to straighten it ever so slightly. I feel like its leaning downhill. Your caption should read exactly what you see and where it is. Something like: Forest footpath in Parkville Nature Sanctuary in Parkville Missouri USA. Trail through woods. Some added tags: Parkville Nature Sanctuary, Parkville, Missouri, USA, United States, America, footpath, woods, path through forest, path through woods,trail through woods, trail through forest, etc. You have 50 tags, think of combinations people may use to search for this type of image. Even go through All of Alamy for the past year using %trail% as a search term and see what search terms people have used. You may come across some that you didn't think of. I do this and it surprises me how sometimes obvious ones don't come to my brain. Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 1 hour ago, geogphotos said: By the way, I like them Thank you for that. I appreciate the encouragement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 32 minutes ago, Jill Morgan said: I agree they all need a little brightening, maybe some spot brightening just on your butterfly in that one. As mentioned, you have to be very specific when doing editorial shots. Take your forest image. First I want to reach in and just pull it down a bit on the right to straighten it ever so slightly. I feel like its leaning downhill. Your caption should read exactly what you see and where it is. Something like: Forest footpath in Parkville Nature Sanctuary in Parkville Missouri USA. Trail through woods. Some added tags: Parkville Nature Sanctuary, Parkville, Missouri, USA, United States, America, footpath, woods, path through forest, path through woods,trail through woods, trail through forest, etc. You have 50 tags, think of combinations people may use to search for this type of image. Even go through All of Alamy for the past year using %trail% as a search term and see what search terms people have used. You may come across some that you didn't think of. I do this and it surprises me how sometimes obvious ones don't come to my brain. Jill Sounds like to need to learn about brightening up my photos a bit. Thank you so much for the suggestions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 1 hour ago, geogphotos said: Brighten them up and add proper captions. Alamy is mainly an editorial agency rather than providing concepts for designers. Where are those woods, what type of woodland, what trees are there, what does it illustrate? ( Can you imagine it in a textbook, what would the text around it be saying?) When you fire the shutter think to yourself 'What is the caption for this picture'? If you can't think beyond 'pretty scenery in mountains' or 'bug on plant' ( just making up examples here) then maybe not worth it. Be specific. And add more light Can you explain (briefly) what an editorial agency is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 2 hours ago, Matt Ashmore said: Looks like a good start.. 4 out of 5 are a little dark for me... I'd be tempted to drag the histogram to the right a touch. I assume you are talking about doing that with some photo editing software...?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 31 minutes ago, GS-Images said: I'm using an uncalibrated monitor from where I'm writing this at the moment, so I can't be sure, but they all look too dark to me. Reading the other replies, I see others think so too. If you haven't calibrated your monitor, it's essential you do that with a hardware calibrator if you want the best results. From your answer to someone else above, it sounds like you aren't shooting RAW? You really need to shoot RAW and process yourself. Your images look great otherwise, nice and sharp and composed well. It is hard to tell with just 5 images but I do see a lot of potential. Just sort out the monitor calibration. Good luck, Geoff. Thank you for the complements. That is encouraging. You are correct, I am not shooting RAW. I will look at doing that. I assume there are software packages that will allow me to work with these types of files? Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 Lightroom is more specifically designed for photographers and is easier to learn, in my opinion. You can still get it as a standalone program though you may have to start out by choosing the subscription and then refine your choice to the standalone version. A lot of people will probably tell you it's better to get the subscription but if you are like me and slow to learn Photoshop it can seem an unnecessary program to have. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinS Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 The software that came with your camera might be helpful here, especially if Canon. I use an older version of Photoshop Elements, mainly for dust spotting and adding metadata. For raw conversion and adjusting I use DxO Optics Pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 13 hours ago, Chris2061 said: I assume you are talking about doing that with some photo editing software...?? If you can get it right in-camera then all the better.. either by using exposure compensation or by using spot metering on an element of the scene with appropriate colour/lightness. But otherwise, yes, deal with it in post-processing. Looking at your first image, I would have used Lightroom to lift shadows and increase exposure by about half a stop. Other applications can do the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 1 hour ago, Matt Ashmore said: Looking at your first image, I would have used Lightroom to lift shadows and increase exposure by about half a stop. Agreed. You can learn a lot by looking at other pictures of similar subjects. If you click on the thumbnail to go to the Preview page, there is a selection of similar images further down the page. You will see that although there is not an enormous difference, it is noticeable that they mostly have more punch than yours, with the light and the colours jumping off the page rather than being subsumed by it. Don't overdo it though. That type of image still needs to look natural. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 22 hours ago, geogphotos said: Photoshop CC is the industry standard. Monthly subscription for less than $10. Would this software allow me to work with RAW photos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted September 4, 2017 Author Share Posted September 4, 2017 On 8/31/2017 at 14:17, GS-Images said: I'm using an uncalibrated monitor from where I'm writing this at the moment, so I can't be sure, but they all look too dark to me. Reading the other replies, I see others think so too. If you haven't calibrated your monitor, it's essential you do that with a hardware calibrator if you want the best results. From your answer to someone else above, it sounds like you aren't shooting RAW? You really need to shoot RAW and process yourself. Your images look great otherwise, nice and sharp and composed well. It is hard to tell with just 5 images but I do see a lot of potential. Just sort out the monitor calibration. Good luck, Geoff. You talk about a hardware calibrator for my monitor....?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Limb Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 Get you monitor calibrated before you bother with any software - software will not cure a poor calibrated monitor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris2061 Posted September 4, 2017 Author Share Posted September 4, 2017 29 minutes ago, Matt Limb said: Get you monitor calibrated before you bother with any software - software will not cure a poor calibrated monitor! Can you recommend a monitor calibrator? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Limb Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 I am using Spyder 5 PRO - calibrate my monitors about once a month. But remember, you will need the software and the hardware Have a look at: http://www.datacolor.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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