from Jo
Jo Cohen
critique of my photos. I know several newsgroups are suffering from missing
and disappearing posts that are being cancelled by someone.
A good friend died today, so I am not motivated to post the link again, but
may later if anyone would like a second chance.....
Life is precious, friends. Please make sure your friends and loved ones know
how much they mean to you....tell them, even if you think they know it. Tell
something something about them that you like or admire. Thank people more
often, even for the little things we take so for granted.
Peace,
jo
Whalen1
I went to your site but it took waaaaayyyy too long to load. You might
want to remove any excess data and streamline the load time somewhat.
As far as your friend dying I am sorry.
Jo Cohen
"Whalen1" <wha...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:3C2B502F...@mindspring.com...
> Jo,
> I went to your site but it took waaaaayyyy too long to load. You
might
> want to remove any excess data and streamline the load time somewhat.
>
> As far as your friend dying I am sorry.
>
Thanks, Whalen...it isn't exactly 'my site', it's done by a guy who set it
up for our newsgroup, but it has mainly my photos on it. I use Broadband, so
for *me*, sites load almost instantly. I'll contact him and tell him what
you've said. Did anyone else try?
Jo
Al Denelsbeck
Jo Cohen wrote in message ...
Jo, I'm also sorry to hear about your friend. Despite the fact it comes
to us all, it seems to take us out of stride for a long time.
I reviewed the postings I have and found no mention of your site, so it
appears it didn't make it to my server, at least. Best if you could repost
the link, or slip it into your sig file like some of us shameless pluggers.
I have an abyssmally slow dialup connection and frequently avoid websites
because they're concentrating on cute or innovative rather than streamlined
anymore, just for some general site-unseen feedback. I'll let you know more
when I get there.
Or if anyone else wants to post the link as well...
All the best,
- Al.
--
Remove an 'E' from Speed for direct reply.
Online photo gallery at www.ipass.net/~denelsbeck.
Roger N. Clark
> I was a bit disappointed that not one person responded to my post or sent me
> critique of my photos. I know several newsgroups are suffering from missing
> and disappearing posts that are being cancelled by someone.
Sorry to hear about your friend. The newsgroups tend
to be a little slow this time of year. I found your request
for critique burried in a thread on shooting in snow
that I didn't have time to read (the thread).
I assume you are referring to this site:
http://tourettic.homestead.com
Normally, I don't critique sites, but I'll make a few
comments this time.
I like your Antelope Light image. It's a little different
compared to the usual ones you see. The light beam
sort of looks like a waterfall coming out if the rocks.
Did you notice that the rock with the light beam coming out
the bottom looks like a face (a face looking to the left)?
The "eye" is a shadow in the rocks. Did you see this
face when you were there? Seeing things like this in the
field is what I like about doing nature photography--I've learned
to see and appraciate things in the outdoors much more.
And now I take more time observing it (of course sometimes,
when I'm with others, they think I'm just slow--little do
they know what they are missing).
I wonder what an image with the light beam coming out the
mouth would look like? Did you take many when you were
there so you might have a different perspective?
Many of your other images are not larger when you click on them.
I had no trouble with speed of the site (but I have DSL).
You have generally nice compositions, rule of thirds, etc.
A few small comments that in my opinion might improve
the images:
Cape Cod Wellfleet: the boat's front is cut off. I wonder
what it looks like.
Carriage: The wheel is cut off on the bottom front.
Lighthouse: the curb along the lower edge is distracting
to me, like a wall separating the viewer from the image.
I would move in a little onto the grass. A nice crescent
moon in the sky would be a nice touch in case you
can visit this spot whenever you want. In general I don't
like fences or things that separate me from the image.
I like things that draw me into the image. Others like
fences, so this is just a personal thing.
Keep up the good work.
Roger
Jo Cohen
Thanks, Roger! Yes, this is the site that has some of my photos. I am aware
of the critiques you mentioned (heck, I am aware of *many* more myself!).
I'd still love to hear from others. Be sure to click on "Older Photos in the
Gallery" for more.
Thanks, Jo
http://tourettic.homestead.com
Al Denelsbeck
Jo Cohen wrote in message ...
>I was a bit disappointed that not one person responded to my post or sent
me
>critique of my photos...
Of course, sometimes not hearing critiques is a *good* thing... :-)
Alright, here goes, and sure to be a long one. Bear in mind they're
opinions, from somebody trying to make it big himself (read: not there yet).
I do the same with my own photos, and all too often after the fact, rather
than before like I should.
Overall, a bit slow loading, but I noticed that the pictures loaded in
full with the opening and gallery pages, so clicking on the thumbnails
provided an instant larger-size example. Might be better only to load the
thumbnails, that way the page loads faster, the links are available very
quickly, and if you send someone there for just one photo, they won't have
to wait for all the others to load. Just a thought for your friend.
Also, the varying sizes often gave too little detail for a good view of
the pic, and in at least one case this hurt it a bit. I know size and speed
are considerations, and this is a tricky balance.
Cacti In Sedona - Uses the contrast well, but lacks a stronger subject.
I'm inclined to think getting lower and using the cacti more would have
helped, wider angle and real close to let the cacti dominate. But I like how
the tree works with the deep sky.
Cape Cod Well Fleet - Contrast too high for this kind of shot, takes
away from the peaceful feel. Also, the boat is cut off, a no-no. Give your
subject plenty of room, this can be corrected later with cropping if
necessary.
Slot Canyon Tumbleweed - A great use of a too-photographed subject in a
different way. Slot canyons tend to work well as abstracts, and you provided
a strong subject, something new. It lost a bit in the jpeg, unfortunately,
and the weed might need a bit more contrast to stand out better.
Rhino - faces away, and the horn goes out of the frame. Your subject
should be facing you for tight portraits, and if facing away, use a lot of
space in the direction it's facing to imply attention/movement in that
direction. The viewer will try to identify with your subject. Remember that
classic painting of the girl lying in the field, with the house in the
distance? (I'm no good with paintings and names).
Vermont Field - The composition is okay, works well with the shape of
the farm buildings and the background hill, but needs something. This is one
that I'd try several different compostions for, and different times of day
too (hard to do if you're just driving past in a car, I know, but that's
what the pros would do). More space left or right, a cow in the foreground,
I don't know...
Antelope Light - A good abstract, with excellent use of contrast, but
seems to demand attention to a subject that isn't quite there. Is cropping
out more of the bottom an answer? I.e., are we drawn to a spotlight? Not
sure...
Sedona - Just misses. The contrast, again, is a bit harsh, and while the
column dominates while not placed dead-center (good), overall it seems to
want something. Another one to play with, trying to use the shadows and
shapes to produce something evocative (an almost-face on the column
perhaps). Maybe something in the sky.
Lighthouse - The light on the buildings is excellent, very dimensional,
good mood. The sea behind is necessary and sets the location. I'm inclined
to say, use more space to either side so the lighthouse doesn't sit right in
the center, which would make more of a scene than a lighthouse portrait.
Carriage - Too centered, says "here" with the carriage, though it's a
good angle, not straight on or right from the side. Go wide, go low, use the
field, use the wheels of the carriage from right up close, have it appear a
little tiny thing in the edge of a large empty field so you accentuate
abandonment. There's a lot that could be done. But when doing it, try to
hide that other wheeled thingy in the background - the viewer's eye jumps to
that too, for no good reason, and it takes away from the carriage as a
lonely sentinel in the march of--... okay, anyway, you get the idea.
Cowboy - A miss, unfortuantely. The cowboy faces away, losing personal
touch, but is too centered to be 'heading out onto the range'. Lots more
space to the left, let the cowboy move off. Additionally, a different
technique is to drag the shutter slightly while panning with the subject -
the horse's legs will blur a little, giving a dynamic movement (hard to do
right, but worth it when you do).
Tulip - flower and macro can be tricky, people seem to forget about
composition when taking pictures of them. It's... there. Not much more to
say. BUT, the use of the colors, even in the background, and the
depth-of-field letting the distracting bakground elements soften in
obscurity, were done very well, and accomplish a lot towards strengthening
the shot. Better than most.
Bee - Alright, I've tried to take shots like this, and it's damn hard.
Very good composition, the bee is in the right location and the light is
good, and you caught the bee completely airborne. Great job!
Reeds - Now we're getting into my kind of photography. But this one
lacks something strong, and the large dark space at the top is uninviting. I
like how you've used the height of the reeds and the pads extending
horizontally, but maybe at a different time of day, and with something to
focus on.
Yonder - This is an excellent shot, with one nibbling critical thing
that I'm going to say. The piling interferes with the sunburst. Seems minor,
but it crosses subjects that seem like they should be separate. Maybe it's
just me. But overall, the light, the sky, the pilings on the placid water,
and the colors throughout, all work together. Very good!
Solitude 1 - Great, excellent, fabulous! The subject is what makes the
shot, but the sky and water and the light levels all needed to be there.
Good placement of everything in the frame, one to be proud of. Very easy to
blow with any number of things (subject too centered, not in profile, sky
too bright, and on and on), and you did none of them.
Two little things. First, try cropping just a little more of the bottom
out, see if less dark space is more or less pleasing, could go either way.
Second, on this and other landscapes, watch your horizon, and keep it level.
I do this all the time (tilting, I mean), even when I'm trying to be
careful, but correct it before I show it to anybody. Well, usually.
Acadia - Another strong landscape, one that loses a bit in jpeg sizing.
Use of the waterline and the sky colors is excellent, and the moon adds the
final touch. Without it, not half as strong (dub it out and see). Even a
full moon would probably have been just a nondescript white spot - the
crescent is excellent. Good job!
Banjo - Good use of the background for a more dynamic portrait, but just
smacks a hair too much of 'snapshot'. Maybe a little closer, or a little
farther away, to really strengthen it. Also, good use of the bright snow and
sky, a difficult situation. Far better than most people's pet portraits.
Having Banjo looking to the side is great, very contemplative (Don't you
love how we put our emotions into animals? Banjo might just as well have
gas...).
Horse - Not too bad for a difficult time of day (really, whenever
possible, avoid strong midday light unless you really need the contrast).
The light on the subjects is good and even, a little muted, but the
background then becomes too bright and the colors wash out. A very tricky
situation to try and get good results in. Might be worth it to try and
balance the light in a photo editing program, if you like the portrait. Or
crop tighter, maybe vertically.
She's On Top - Filthy, filthy, filthy! This does NOT belong on a family
newsgroup! But still, strangely compelling...
Even better, check out the smug look on the male's face.
Maybe it's just me...
Peacock - This is a good composition - the use of the tailfeather fan is
correct in the frame, and the bird looking back over its shoulder adds the
right feel. If it looked anywhere else you'd have far less impact. But the
ground clutter just destroys it, taking attention away and completely
removing the subject isolation. It's really too bad when a photo gets
affected by things we have no control over. You just sigh and try again (or
Photoshop the hell out of it, but that's cheating...).
Overall, you have a pretty good eye for composition, just needing a
little refinement. I'd lean towards trying different films (though contrast
can be caused by printing and scanning as well), and experimenting with
light/time of day and wider angles. You use the colors well in all your
work, and usually avoid distracting elements.
I haven't done that much critiqueing in a long time, interesting
exercise. Again, just one opinion, without taking into account anything like
how long you've been doing this, selection of lenses or conditions, et
cetera. But then again, neither is anybody else, really - everything will be
judged on the pic itself.
Don't get the idea that I've mastered all this either, and as I said, I
do this with my own shots before throwing about two-thirds right in the
wastebasket. Feel free to offer any critique you like, as strong as you
like, on my own as well (and this goes for anybody else that's hung on this
long).
Keep it up, and have fun!
Rick Decker
there any classes on composition in your area? It would help a lot for your
portfolio
Jo Cohen
thought of. The cowboy came up on me and I snapped this with an idiot
camera, was surprised i even got it!
The other horse photo is of me, with a famous Tourettic (yes!) Sulky race
horse, but I didn't take the photo.
The one of Banjo WAs just a snapshot, taken up at moosehead lake.
The Carriage shot was taken years ago, I believe with an instamatic, years
before I knew much !
Good points on the rhino - I took it profile while I could.
Canyon shots were luck.
Good points about getting wider or finding more of a subject.....
The Vermont field bores me, it was a drive by shooting!
Would you believe the Bee shot was without a tripod? Actually, most of those
were without a tripod, something I don't do anymore much!
Happy New year! jo
"Al Denelsbeck" <denel...@speeedfactory.net> wrote in message
news:10096118...@speedtest.speedfactory.net...
Postman
| I went to your site but it took waaaaayyyy too long to load. You
might
| want to remove any excess data and streamline the load time somewhat.
To repeat the test ... here 2-minutes to get to the first fully loaded
thumbnail ... did I say thumbnail? I meant FULL-SIZE image scaled down to
the thumnail page.
And of course, 40 K of animated jif + several "text as gif" banners all of
which had to load first ...
If you have fast access (or more likely, if you are loading from cache) you
ain't seeing how slow the page is.
It depends entirely on your target audience: if that is only ISDN broadband
surfers ... fine.
If you want a wider audince, I'm afraid the site is amateurish to the point
of being a complete turn off.
Some say 15 sec, I'm patient but by 30 sec I've usually hit the back button
for ever.
http://tourettic.homestead.com
Nope, I have written all this (and nearly 5 minutes are up) and there is
still little to show for it on the page.
The code shows a lot of script ... for a simple looking page ... perhaps
that is "homestead stuff"
Anyway: the two images I have seen looked fine (lighthouse and carriage)
but ... its so SLOOOOOOOWW
If you didn't get a crit of your images ... maybe it is simply that people
didn't get to them ;o(
BoT
| As far as your friend dying I am sorry.
Yup, that is life, it happens to 1 in 35000 of us every day ;o(