Photo Critique Club

[Riverbend Farms]

Can anyone critique these photos? They are for my county fair. Also please help me decide between 6a and 6b
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6a.

6b.

7.

8.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Can anyone critique these photos? They are for my county fair. Also please help me decide between 6a and 6b
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6a.

6b.

7.

8.

#1: Angle and lighting. I would even out the length below the flower with the length above the flower (centering it). The picture is dark, which taking this picture while the sun is out might have added to the lighting and colors.

#2: In my opinion, this picture is perfect. If I was to recommend changes on this, I would recommend the same as #1 by that big flower on the left.

#3: The colors are unique on this one. Putting it in landscape probably would have been better here.

#4: I like this one as well. Putting in landscape so the back of the hen isn't cut off might be helpful. The b/w hides any colors that may be unwanted in this picture (though it may be robbing wanted colors as well).

#5: I absolutely love this picture. For change, I would put it in landscape, put more space in front of the hen than behind, and remove the waterer because it can be a distraction.

#6a and b: For entering these in a contest, I'd be concerned about all the bird's shaft. I'd say he's coming out of a molt and he's not looking his "best" yet. (This is nothing against how the photos were taken!) On b, the look he has in his eye adds character to his picture, but I think a is a better picture.

#7: Remove the background distractions. The tote and the light-colored thing will automatically take away from the picture for not being "natural." The orange leaves are also distracting.

#8: This picture is also good. I would almost recommend coming up (in angle) a little, but isn't a huge concern. The b/w is good, but for the lighting, it almost makes the dog's eyes blend into the fur.

You did really good on these pictures. This is just my personal thoughts on these pictures and I would be interested in hearing what others have to say.

 

[azurbanclucker]

Can anyone critique these photos? They are for my county fair. Also please help me decide between 6a and 6b
1.

You've got a lot of negative space in this vertically. I would square crop it and put that bloom dead center. There's some lovely soft lighting here and if you give it just a bit of green all around it will pop.

2.

The focus is too soft on this. Your sharpest feature is the dead leaves on the left edge (really the whole left side). Make sure you have everything in focus and watch your depth of field.

3.

I like this one, but again you have a lot of vertical space that could be cropped down here.

4.

Your front hen seems to be nicely in focus and the very shallow DOF works here. The busy yard in the background is a distraction but there isn't a lot you can do about it unless you really go after it with some gaussian blurring or other post-processing.

5.

The hardware cloth yo'ure shooting through is a distraction for this one. You've got the focus nailed on your clucker, that's solid!

6a.

This one is better. That sunflower in the background looks shaky and my eye is drawn to it. Can you clone it out? Same with the paneling under it.

6b.

Not a fan of this angle.

7.

Nailed the focus again. The hadrware cloth is still a distraction.

8.

This last one is Tough. It's a solid shot and I like it. The contrast is very hard and there's not a lot of room for midtone textures in the face because of the lighting. You might play with some other B/W filters (red channel or IR for example) and see if you can put some more midtones into the face.