Photo Critique #147
tuts workshop

Photo Critique #147

on Jul 27th 2012 with 13 comments

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. It’s a great way to learn more about photography, express your viewpoint, and have your own image critiqued!

Quick Ground Rules

  1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
  2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
  3. 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

Photo Details & Inspiration

  • Canon PowerShot SX130 IS
  • 52mm full frame equivalent
  • f/4
  • 1/20
  • ISO 1600

I have very recently started into photography with my point-and-shoot camera. I was capturing the architectural designs of the monument that I was visiting when I saw the role lights played inside the place. I saw a kid walking by, and he made up for a great contrast. That is when I made this picture.

To me, the image is about vitality of light. While the light is bursting with energy, the kid seems to be gloomy and lost in his thoughts.

Photographer: Ujjawal Chauhan

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 most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!

 
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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

I was raised in the suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio. After high school, I left for Western Kentucky University where I obtained degrees in photojournalism and cultural anthropology. I am currently employed by CityBeat, an arts and entertainment weekly in Cincinnati. The work I am doing here is very rewarding and I suspect it will continue to be. I am available for freelance work in all areas of photography.  

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  • http://butenas.com Ignas

    Simply: overexposure (sometimes it could be good, but this time it is really annoying), picture is blurry and I can feel like lack of quality. But what I see good in this pic is the shapes and the moment. Maybe author can reduce some drawbacks with the post-processing, because doesn’t look that it was too much time invested in that. So nice try, nice point of view but keep working ;)

  • http://yashmatunited.blogspot.com Tom

    I like the composition and the kid walking in front of the door, but I don’t think the overexposed outside is helping out. It might have worked better for a color shot, I just don’t think it fits in with black and white where most of the time you are going for texture, feel and emotion of the shot.IMO of course. Inside is a bit dark too. burning and dodging might be able to remedy a bit of those though, as long as it isn’t used liberally.

  • http://billoutdoors.com Bill

    I think you had a great idea here. IMO, however, I think the execution falls short of what you wanted to accomplish. The bright outdoor lighting simply overwhelms the remainder of the picture. Any combination of a lower ISO, shorter exposure time, or higher f stop would have probably made this work better. A big distraction for me is how the light affects the boys legs and feet. There is also an area at the top that looks soft (what looks like a medallion on the upper right corner of the door. That could also be the result of the exposure time. Like I said, a good concept that you should continue to work on.

  • Frank

    I like the mood and the atmosphere. I agree that the boy does look lost in his thoughts. The blurred motion of the boy gives a nice sense of movement.

    There are many times that the action in a photograph is so instantaneous that you don’t have enough time to get it perfect. With that being said here’s what I don’t like.

    Your shutter speed is too slow, and therefore, any shake in your hands caused the stationary elements to be blurry. If your shooting monuments, a tripod is an invaluable resource. Here a tripod would have been perfect… allowing you to shoot the slow shutter speed to capture the boy’s motion, but at the same time keeping all the background elements sharp.

    The picture is very overexposed and because of that, there is no detail in the highlights at all. From my background as a newspaper photojournalist, the only time that you should really have pure white in your photograph is from specular highlights. An example would be the sun shinning off a chrome bumper or a highly reflective surface, unless your planing an artistic hi-key photograph.

    The overexposure of the photograph brings up another point. The shadow of the column outside is “growing” out of the top of his head. Very distracting in the overall composition. You do get points for quick reflexes and timing, but capturing the boy on either side of the shadow would have been preferable in this overexposed picture. If the picture was exposed properly, there would not be that stark contrast between the column shadow and the surrounding structure. The column shadow “growing” out of the top of his head would not have been as distracting.

    For a bright sunny day, your ISO of 1600 is way too high. ISO 400 or lower is more appropriate for bright sunny days. Your photos will have less noise at at lower ISO, better detail and sharpness as a result, and you will have more latitude if you need to adjust the photo later in Photoshop. That’s were the tripod also is a benefit. You can shoot in the shadows and inside buildings at a lower ISO with a tripod and gain all the benefits of a low ISO.

    My last pieces of advice… 1) Learn the ratio between ISO, Shutter speed and Aperture (f-stop); all three work in a very strict relationship to each other. Learn how each of the three affect your photos. 2) No mater what anybody says when critiquing your photographs, remember that photography is very subjective. But listen to their advice and apply what works for you. 3) Shoot, shoot, shoot. When your shutter finger is about to fall off, shoot some more. Nail down proper exposure first, then focus on composition and finally experiment with pushing those skills to the limits.

    Good luck.

  • http://jarodonline.wordpress.com/ Jarod Online

    Well I am not a good photographer at all (yet), but you mentioned it’s about vitality of light… Why is he walking away from the light then? The light should be attracting him, not repelling him. I think this is a good shot though, besides the exposure (too much to me).

  • Denny Weigand

    Unfortunately, this image has no redeeming features. The pole growing out of his head? It’s hard to be kind when the image is terrible. throw it away and try again.

  • Sue

    Everything about this picture engulfs the small child. To me it is very out of balance. I love your perception of the photo though, with your thought on the light bursting with energy and the boy being gloomy. You are thinking outside the square, and to me anyway, that is a major factor when considering a photo. :-)

  • Bedanta Deka

    Ujjawal, a very nice attempt to capture what you saw and thought. However, you can consider following things in your next attempt:

    First of all, you were attempting to take a shot with a very high dynamic range (bright sunlights vs. dimly lit indoors), may be more than the dynamic range of your camera sensor. In such a situation, you can meter either for the outside bright light (indoor will be totally dark) or the inside (with blown-out outside). In this case, the camera light meter tried to properly expose for the indoors, blowing out the entire bright area. (Solution: blending multiple exposure or burning and dodging in post processing, etc.)

    This also led to the second problem: a blurry image due to the slow shutter speed of 1/20. This is too slow for a handheld shot, that too with a moving object (the boy was walking and look at his legs). While handhelding, the general rule is to shoot with a shutter speed higher than your focal length, which was 52mm in this case. So, you need to select a shutter speed of at least 1/60 or higher. (Solution: use a tripod if you must use a low shutter speed / learning how to hold a camera steady)

    These are some technical issues, you need to consider the compoisitional aspect as well (avoiding a pole growing out of somebody’s head as Denny pointed out / placing the subject at one of the intersections: Rule of Third / keeping the verticals upright, etc.)

    Sorry for a rather lenghty discussion. I am not an expert and I have also ‘been there, done that’, so just thought that keeping these things in mind while shooting might be of help.

  • Tiberman Sajiwan Ramyead

    I agree with Sue; allowing for the shorcomings of a point and shoot, Ujjawal’s feelings are fairly tangible in that shot.
    What settings would I have used with a DSLR, bearing in mind one has 2 or 3 seconds to capture such a shot? f/11, ISO100, and set to one or two stops of under-exposure on manual, and I would shoot it in raw.

  • Ian

    If this is about light and the boy, you could have achieved this a little better in two ways. Exposure and contrast. I the exposure had been better, the light would feed through the archway instead of blending it out. Second, if you contrasted the light to dark more the archway would become part of the background and the boy would stand out without the flooding of white light. The pole is incredibly distracting as well. The set up is nice and the idea is good, just needs a little adjustment and it would be great!

  • SD

    That’s not a pole, it’s the shadow of a column that juts out from the wall. Full agreement with comments previously made regarding technique.

  • David

    I like the idea and also the composition apart from the shadow over the head.

    Is everybody saying they would prefer details outside the archway but just blacks on the inside and a silhouetted boy?

  • http://www.facefirstcreative.com/blog Lela

    I think this photo has great potential. However, it is a shame that it is quite blurry and overexposed. I believe that if the whitest white that is between the arch is toned down a bit so that we can see at least the outline of what is there would make all the difference. Trying to get an shadow from the boy’s figure could add a lot too. Also, the photo looks like it was taken strait on. Try shooting from a different angle, probably from the bottom, to give the boy and the arch more drama.