Friday Photo Critique #10
Friday Photo Critique is our weekly community project, where we publish a photograph submitted by one of our wonderful readers, then ask you all to offer constructive feedback on the image.
After a few days, I’ll update the post to feature the most helpful and insightful comments. You will also be credited with a link to your website or portfolio, so be sure to enter it correctly when submitting a comment!
Quick Ground Rules
- Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
- Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
- You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.
Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for Friday Photo Critique!
The Photograph
Photographer: Jenifer Ellwood
Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week. The post will shortly be updated with some of the most insightful comments.
The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site, and you’ll also be given priority to feature your own work in a future Friday Photo Critique!.
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If you keep in mind that the photo was taken “on the fly” then i will forget about the lighting.
But i am not very satisfied with the composition, i think the picture should be landscape because we have two objects placed horizontally.
And now we have an upper and lower part of the picture that are not in our interest.
I personally don’t like the fact that the point of interest is in the center of the picture i usually put them on some side and there is a saying that i use “Only snipers shoot in center”
I love your quote. I may just have to use it sometime. Thanks. ha
yeah right.. next time try to use the rule of thirds.. hehe
I feel like the brightness of the dollar bill (whatever currency) should be dimmed a little. It’s too bright.
Also, I think that, if it were possible, to get the person’s hand (the gloved hand) who is receiving the money to be a little sharper. Maybe they wouldn’t move during the shot (if it were staged).
Just my opinions.
You do realize that it’s not a “gloved hand”… it’s an elephants nostril. But close…very close.
Woops! Haha
Thanks!
yes thats right.. its like youre saying that you have a lot of money to gice to an elephant..
no meaning at all.. no offense.. i know photos are worth a thousand words.. but its just blank for me.. maybe the meaning is rich tourists.. or good tourism.. but be much more creative next time.. also the hand is a little bit too distracting because its like idle hands.. you cant just decapitate hands like that in the photo..
Hi All, Good to be back another Friday for a critique. I’ll just get to it…
I do not want to go into this image trying to find flaws and “what’s bad” about this image. So, in spite of the technical issues that will come down the line, there are only two issues that bother me. The first is minor in that the background is a little dark. I think creating some contrast between the subject and background would vastly improve the image overall. You can through some color correction and boost in there, but that is minor.
The second issue, being major, is something you can’t fix in this image and that is the framing of the subject. Right now, the image is boring in subject. At first glance, I thought “what’s that?” but as I look at it, I think that I would like to see the face of the elephant. I think that you zoomed in to close and focused on the money as opposed to the exchange between the person and animal. You could have captured the guy in the background and added more Bokeh in camera or in post. This event is not about the money, what can an animal do with money? But ask yourself, what can an animal do with people? That may have yielded a stronger image.
I’d have to disagree with earthrokk, I think just seeing the trunk gives it a bit of intrigue. I think shooting in landscape would have been better than portrait because the guy in the background is way distracting with his bright colors.
But yes, the background needs to be separated much more, not enough contrast between subject and background.
I have to agree with Casey, the guy in the background is a bit bright and colorful. Some more contrast between FG and BG would be great.
Also, I know it was uncontrollable, but the motion blur on the trunk is slightly distracting to me.
I also feel, compositionally, some of the negative space isn’t activated well enough. my eyes scan the photo from left to right, following the trunk, to the money, to the hand, then off of the photo. Some of the background isn’t even looked at.
However, I do love the photo! It has great appeal, and it’s a really awesome idea! I also love how crisp it is in the foreground. Excellent work!
In my opinion it is great, and I think the portrait mode you used is the best (in my opinion) for this situation! I love the detail and the originality!
I disagree with the portrait view here because there is not enough of the hand (at the least) in frame. Landscape Mode would give better flow as viewer reads the image. Your right with the detail. That was a good to capture as much as possible.
I, too, really like the detail and closeness. There are some minor technical issues, but I think they could all be fixed in post. A tighter crop, probably making the aspect landscape instead of portrait, and bring the midtones up a little bit. The foot in the background is slightly distracting, too, but if you don’t have any ethical qualms, you could remove that in an image editor, too.
Great concept, and pretty good execution!
Little PS — I guess the only thing I would have done differently when the shutter was tripped is, since the action is horizontal, I would have gone for the landscape shot. Looking at it again, the hand just seems a little crowded out of the frame. Love it, though!
I’m looking for this photo again, and yes, I think this photo needs a little touch of Photoshop or Camera Raw. May be is a good idea increase some colors, increasing the saturation and a little bit of exposure, and in my opinion a little bit more definition the trunk could be look very good!
However it’s a really good work!
I would have liked to see more of the elephant because at the photo only shows the trunk of the elephant making for almost a creepy scary looking mutant alien hand. It the elephant head was also in the shot, it would have clarified the context?
Thanks for your time!
I think the image needs to be framed a bit better (or cropped) as it too large and there is unnecessary parts to the image, the photo is a tiny bit blurred around the tip of trunk, and i think the lighting and composition could be improved slightly.
first of all, lovely capture=)
what i have to say regarding this images is, i feel i dont have a specific target to rest my eyes upon. i feel the image is too crowded. there are 2 seperate stories behind this image. one is the snake with the hand and the money. and the other is the guy riding the elephant. im pretty sure the main reason behind this image is the first part, which is the snake along with the money givig hand. so i think the rest shouldve been blurred out, and the important part shouldve only been in focus, to have the viewer of your image receive your message instantly without getting lost in other unrelated elemenets of your photo. this is my main concern. my second one, is i think the compossition shouldve be a little different. i mean, i think the image wouldve came out better as a landscape since the main focus is placed horizontly, so that it takes up the space more effeciently
are me and tom the only ones who noticed that that’s an elephant? :S
Hhh, I think you can do it more better. The composition is bad, very bad… I cannot find the scope of the man from the background with the subject… also right under the money is the foot of that man from the background… it seems to be cut and out from the space of the image.
Probably you must re shoot this.
Nice moment. Like this shot anyway… but, I agree with the 1st comment, it would have been better to shoot this in landscape mode so that your eye is mostly focusing on the moment rather than being distracted by the other bits in the background. I’d maybe bump up the contrast so that you can see the patterns in the elephant’s trunk a bit more. Great shot anyway.
So much detail is hidden, but it’s not lost. A little tweaking with the shadows and highlights tho and now you can see great detail in both the money and the elephants trunk. I cropped a little differently, just enough to get rid of the straight stick.
http://www.zumodrive.com/share/2uR3NzAxYj
The first effect this photo had on me is that it made me stop for a moment to ponder what I was looking at. I think that is a good thing. It makes me smile.
Technically, this photo has some flaws. The bill is a bit over-exposed, there is motion blur on the tip of the nostril, and the contrast between foreground and background is low that the trunk almost disappears.
I think the idea is good, and funny as well. Great potential! But the photo does not do the idea justice with this composition.
Should I suggest any changes, there would be several. First and foremost, I think this scene should be shot in landscape. Also, the main focus of attention here is the money, and I don’t think that was what you planned, rather it was the exchange.
Although I saw/guessed that this is an elephant’s trunk, there are obviously many who didn’t. I therefore think that the elephant should be included in the photo as well. If the elephant’s head and some of its body was visible but blurred out in the background, the trunk would be immediately recognized for what it is.
There are also a lot of elements pulling the attention away from the main subject here. The colors on the elephant rider, his wooden stick and his foot with sandal all scream for attention. To remedy this, he could have been excluded from the shot by choosing a viewpoint a little to the right, or he could have been blurred more by using a wider aperture.
I think this photo, were it shot as I’ve suggested, would have been a great candidate for monochrome treatment! There is nothing in this photo that demands color. Quite the opposite. I actually think that monochrome would improve the photo in it’s current version as well, as it would remove some of the clutter (the colors).
The crop suggested by BVBeckman helps. Combined with black & white, this will lift the quality of this photo.
All in all I think this photo has great potential, and even with its flaws it gets to me. I aplaude the idea and hope you get an opportunity to redo this another time!
This is a photo critique by http://www.framedreality.com.