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Fun with MF images - ARCHIVED - FOR VIEWING ONLY

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Don Libby

Well-known member
Professional – my immediate reaction to your images as posted are that they are too large for most computers and some who might be on dial up. Reduce the size so it becomes easier to view without having to scroll and you might get better/more feedback. Remember size isn’t everything when you post your images.

This is just my 2₵.

Don
 

Professional

Active member
Professional – my immediate reaction to your images as posted are that they are too large for most computers and some who might be on dial up. Reduce the size so it becomes easier to view without having to scroll and you might get better/more feedback. Remember size isn’t everything when you post your images.

This is just my 2₵.

Don
Oh i see, i am so sorry, because i resize all my pics almost to "1024" on the longest side for one forum that i always post there, so i copied those photos from that forum to post here, but it seems that 1024 is too large here with many photos, then should i keep it on 800 on the longest side? Also with 800 i feel it is not good enough size for many cameras to show best, maybe 1024 is not that big either but definitely better than 800, so forgive me, i will resize those photos and anything later, but what size i should use?
 

carstenw

Active member
I agree with Don, I normally read this forum on my laptop, and I cannot see everything on my screen. About 800-900 is the limit for me on the long side. The portrait of the boy seems to be 900x1200.

Quick reply before I go to bed, since you asked for some feedback in another thread:

The lens shots look slightly too strongly lit, in my opinion. The highlights are killing the detail underneath them. Other than that, they are technically well done, but also not different from regular product shots.

The watches looks much better, but again, they are technically well done, but not so interesting. These shots all need "an idea" to bring them to life. The blue background works, I think, but doesn't happen to be my taste.

The metal grating looks like the sort of test shot you do when you want to get minimum depth of field at near focus distance with a new lens :)

I like your portraits of your kids (I presume? I recognize your daughter, I am pretty sure). They look comfortable with you taking their photo. The boy looks slightly posed, but it is a nice pose. It bothers me a little that his near eye is blurred, and I would have used slightly more depth of field to get them both sharp. The portrait of the girl looks very nice, fun, like an outtake in a photo session. I think I would crop it a little higher to get rid of the bagginess of the dress. I think she is sitting, and her knees are holding the dress out, and it looks bigger because of this, which looks a little odd.

All of the shots are of a high technical standard I think, but as you hinted in the other thread, other than the portrait of your daughter, they lack a special touch, something unique. If you keep doing it, at some point I think something will come. After years of shooting, suddenly it came to me as I was repeating something I had often done.
 

Professional

Active member
I really like the 2 images of the kids. Plus it is good to not only see landscapes here.
Thank you very much!

And this is a different between me and you, you people really have nice and amazing landscapes, but we don't have nice landscapes here, even if there is but it is not good enough or spectacular as yours, also we are so lazy to go far for any good landscapes in my country that we know it is not so comparable to yours, maybe the desert which you like but we don't like.
 

carstenw

Active member
Well, I would love to make photos in the desert. To me, the desert is a very special place. I was in Egypt a few years ago, and spent some time in both The White Desert and The Black Desert, and loved shooting there. In '90 I did a motorcycle trip from Toronto to Ottawa to Vancouver to Los Angeles and back, and passed through Death Valley, Grand Canyon, The Painted Desert, Monument Valley and south-east Utah, whatever the desert is called there. I loved it!

They say that the best landscape shots are done by people who spend a lot of time there, not by tourists or travellers. Maybe you could try shooting in the desert and see how you like it?
 

Professional

Active member
I agree with Don, I normally read this forum on my laptop, and I cannot see everything on my screen. About 800-900 is the limit for me on the long side. The portrait of the boy seems to be 900x1200.

Quick reply before I go to bed, since you asked for some feedback in another thread:

The lens shots look slightly too strongly lit, in my opinion. The highlights are killing the detail underneath them. Other than that, they are technically well done, but also not different from regular product shots.

The watches looks much better, but again, they are technically well done, but not so interesting. These shots all need "an idea" to bring them to life. The blue background works, I think, but doesn't happen to be my taste.

The metal grating looks like the sort of test shot you do when you want to get minimum depth of field at near focus distance with a new lens :)

I like your portraits of your kids (I presume? I recognize your daughter, I am pretty sure). They look comfortable with you taking their photo. The boy looks slightly posed, but it is a nice pose. It bothers me a little that his near eye is blurred, and I would have used slightly more depth of field to get them both sharp. The portrait of the girl looks very nice, fun, like an outtake in a photo session. I think I would crop it a little higher to get rid of the bagginess of the dress. I think she is sitting, and her knees are holding the dress out, and it looks bigger because of this, which looks a little odd.

All of the shots are of a high technical standard I think, but as you hinted in the other thread, other than the portrait of your daughter, they lack a special touch, something unique. If you keep doing it, at some point I think something will come. After years of shooting, suddenly it came to me as I was repeating something I had often done.
I know what do you mean with "Idea" or let's say, a creative way or look, i also don't feel anything about those photos mostly, and those are all just test shots even my daughters, until now i don't have anything i shoot with MF that is truly nice and great and artwork or masterpiece, for product and still life i have many ideas but all of them above is with one light only which is not placed correctly, it is a test as i said, but later i will make better look productive and creative shots whether with MF or just Canon.

The boy is not my kid, he is an adopted son by my sister, also his pose was natural, took it suddenly when he was not in attention, i like the lighting thought regardless of the focus point [which was nightmare with Hassy] or DoF, i have another shots of my daughters which are slightly better than those, i will post them later.
 

Professional

Active member
Well, I would love to make photos in the desert. To me, the desert is a very special place. I was in Egypt a few years ago, and spent some time in both The White Desert and The Black Desert, and loved shooting there. In '90 I did a motorcycle trip from Toronto to Ottawa to Vancouver to Los Angeles and back, and passed through Death Valley, Grand Canyon, The Painted Desert, Monument Valley and south-east Utah, whatever the desert is called there. I loved it!

They say that the best landscape shots are done by people who spend a lot of time there, not by tourists or travellers. Maybe you could try shooting in the desert and see how you like it?
I don't like much desert shots, it could be interesting and we can have something nice from there no doubt, but if i don't like the nature that i live within then it is no matter whatever i do i can get something interesting then, it doesn't matter about you live in that place and you don't enjoy or feel comfortable or happy there, all my best shots are from my travels unfortunately.

For you, you are welcome to the desert



 

Don Libby

Well-known member
I’ll normally size images between 800 and 900 on the longest size for those uploaded here. I normally keep images that I link larger.

Don
 

Professional

Active member
I’ll normally size images between 800 and 900 on the longest size for those uploaded here. I normally keep images that I link larger.

Don
OK, next time i will resize to 800 or 900 on the longest side, the problem for me is when there are many forums have their own rules for images size to be upload [some 750, some 800, others 1024, few 1200]
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
OK, next time i will resize to 800 or 900 on the longest side, the problem for me is when there are many forums have their own rules for images size to be upload [some 750, some 800, others 1024, few 1200]
Please don’t misinterpret what I said I do as this forum rules. This resizing works for me and only offered as a suggestion.

What you need to do is find a size that is suitable to you while not going overboard.

Don
 

Professional

Active member
Please don’t misinterpret what I said I do as this forum rules. This resizing works for me and only offered as a suggestion.

What you need to do is find a size that is suitable to you while not going overboard.

Don
to be honest, the best size i really prefer is 1200, if lower then 1000, i was happy to find forum that accept up to 1024 or 1200 so that i post there more, now if i have to post many shots on many forums with different sizes for each forum then it will be a nightmare for me, also to have a fix or uniform size for all my shots to be posted in all forum may be helpful but maybe sometimes some will ask me for larger up to maximum size the the forum rule for a reason, if i post here a lot then i will use this forum size mostly, but i rarely post here anyway.
 

carstenw

Active member
1200 is quite large and I know of only one forum which supports that size: this one. I use 800 for every forum, just because it fits nice on the screens of even those who have laptops. Anyway, your choice.

I really like the desert shot with the tree, although the large B&W looks like it might be over-sharpened. I would use a bit less vignetting, but that is just me.

I also like the two dune shots, and I like the treatment of them, but you are right, it would be hard to go back to a desert like that every weekend and make more photos. Too uniform.

I saw on imageshack that you have some nice landscapes as well. Scotland? I love the shot of the lone stone in water with the dark sky!

It seems that you do have some really nice shots, but just a few of each kind. Maybe your problem is not your talent or experience, but simply that you are too afraid to throw stuff away in case it is an inadvertent masterpiece (which almost never happens).

A few years ago I wanted to know how good I had become, and started looking at all my photos. Looking through thousands and thousands, you lose the overview completely, and I always had the feeling that there was a better one coming, and never really got the feeling for how good it all was.

Then I made a portfolio of my best shots. I cut and cut, and was striving for keeping only my very best shots, and to keep no shot which was not quite as good as the rest. In the end, from 10,000 shots I kept 36.

When I look at the 36 today, I would keep maybe 3-4 as my best, but it was a very useful process for me. It was important to put up shots for which I would make no excuses. What I also noticed is that I had a little of this, a little of that, and I decided then that I would try to work more project-oriented, to re-visit places and to build up a larger set. I chose the cemetary shots and the technical detail shots which I also love to do.

Maybe it would be helpful for you to do the same. What is the point in having shots critiqued which are not your best? You talk of other, better shots. I would recommend only posting your best shots, and then to listen and think about the critique you get from those, and forget the other photos you have completely. Start from your very best, forget the rest, and move forward from there. And give up the idea of the accidental masterpiece, at least for now.
 

Professional

Active member
1200 is quite large and I know of only one forum which supports that size: this one. I use 800 for every forum, just because it fits nice on the screens of even those who have laptops. Anyway, your choice.

I really like the desert shot with the tree, although the large B&W looks like it might be over-sharpened. I would use a bit less vignetting, but that is just me.

I also like the two dune shots, and I like the treatment of them, but you are right, it would be hard to go back to a desert like that every weekend and make more photos. Too uniform.

I saw on imageshack that you have some nice landscapes as well. Scotland? I love the shot of the lone stone in water with the dark sky!

It seems that you do have some really nice shots, but just a few of each kind. Maybe your problem is not your talent or experience, but simply that you are too afraid to throw stuff away in case it is an inadvertent masterpiece (which almost never happens).

A few years ago I wanted to know how good I had become, and started looking at all my photos. Looking through thousands and thousands, you lose the overview completely, and I always had the feeling that there was a better one coming, and never really got the feeling for how good it all was.

Then I made a portfolio of my best shots. I cut and cut, and was striving for keeping only my very best shots, and to keep no shot which was not quite as good as the rest. In the end, from 10,000 shots I kept 36.

When I look at the 36 today, I would keep maybe 3-4 as my best, but it was a very useful process for me. It was important to put up shots for which I would make no excuses. What I also noticed is that I had a little of this, a little of that, and I decided then that I would try to work more project-oriented, to re-visit places and to build up a larger set. I chose the cemetary shots and the technical detail shots which I also love to do.

Maybe it would be helpful for you to do the same. What is the point in having shots critiqued which are not your best? You talk of other, better shots. I would recommend only posting your best shots, and then to listen and think about the critique you get from those, and forget the other photos you have completely. Start from your very best, forget the rest, and move forward from there. And give up the idea of the accidental masterpiece, at least for now.
AWWW, so you saw my other photos from imageshack? ok, not all from Scotland, i have some from New Zealand, Paris, Switzerland, and last USA [ofcourse there are few from my country UAE].

The point is, on another forum i am so happy as really i post my best, but those my best are from Canon only, still i didn't use my MF much yet, and i do what you talked about, i have a folder with only my best shots over the 4 years, my top best, i saved all my thousands of photos on many HDD but i choose my top best only and put it on one folder, and i add more anytime i have more, but i don't post all my top best on the net as well, i choose some of my best to post, but also i post something else as i want to learn from mistakes i did on another shots, any shot i can learn from it, and also some people said, one shot that may not work for you it may work for me, so what is best for you could not be best for me, many times i got amazed that people vote or prefer shots that i don't consider it as my best.

Another point, i travel only once every year for short time, so if i visit one place i make it as it is the last visit, so if i did great there fine, if not then i missed it, i wish to live in USA or Canada or Europe where there are landscapes and people and wildlife and commercial and so, in my country it is rarely i can do all that in good way, and with so high temp and humid and not good transportation in many places and traffic and busy at work, all those will make it difficult for us, i checked many many websites and competitions, about 20-30% winner shots or masterpiece can be from our region, and i am not that so talented to increase this to about 70-80% anyway, and as i said before, all my best top shots were from my travels, how amazing i travel for about 2-4 weeks only and i don't know where to go there mostly and i went back with amazing outstanding shots from there, how if i live there then?

At the end, forums are differing, some can see all or most of my work as an art, and other will not see one great shot, and few will choose some of my shots as winners, so it depends to whom or where i post, i pro will see my photos different than a talented and different than an amateur and so, so my question is: should i post only the best or best of the best? i don't have that many of the best anyway, if i post my best now then i may wait about 5-8 months to post again, what i should do then?
 

carstenw

Active member
At the end, forums are differing, some can see all or most of my work as an art, and other will not see one great shot, and few will choose some of my shots as winners, so it depends to whom or where i post, i pro will see my photos different than a talented and different than an amateur and so, so my question is: should i post only the best or best of the best? i don't have that many of the best anyway, if i post my best now then i may wait about 5-8 months to post again, what i should do then?
That depends on your goal. If you just want praise, post on the other forums. If you want constructive criticism, post here and other forums where they give fair critique.

My goal in being here is to learn about equipment and technique, and to develop my art. If I don't get praise, then so be it. If I can earn some, I know it is real here. On some forums I get lots of praise even for photos I see flaws in. That doesn't help me (well, it helps my ego :)).
 
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