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General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 02:10:05

Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 02:10:05: If anyone out there wants to check out some of my work:

http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com (http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com)

Feel free to leave comments and criticisms (be gentle!) haha

Thanks guys [:)]
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Carolyn on 19/10/2007 02:17:37: Meg, those are great! My fave's are The Barn, The Swan and The Lost Shoe.

Thanks for sharing those!
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Mirage on 19/10/2007 02:20:05: I lost a shoe once
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Karen W. on 19/10/2007 02:25:26: I LIKE ROMANCE AT MENFORD AND THE RED BARN
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: DoctorBeaver on 19/10/2007 08:14:17: Some of those are really impressive. Well done.

I think I may join that site & post some of my own pics.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Karen W. on 19/10/2007 08:25:21: Quote from: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 02:10:05
If anyone out there wants to check out some of my work:

http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com (http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com)

Feel free to leave comments and criticisms (be gentle!) haha

Thanks guys [:)]

Meg You have tons of beautiful art.. And I wanted to say I am sorry for your mood and I acknowledge it and understand it and worse of all For the first time in my life, I am starting to believe the same... Good luck to you..
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Alandriel on 19/10/2007 11:29:08: You've got talent young lady! [;D]

Love your pics - especially the pumpkin one but then I think I'm currently a bit biased

What camera are you using?
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Nobody's Confidant on 19/10/2007 14:34:20: I would appreciate them more if i could see.
Cursed demon who blinds and pains me!!
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: neilep on 19/10/2007 15:07:40: Quote from: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 02:10:05
If anyone out there wants to check out some of my work:

http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com (http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com)

Feel free to leave comments and criticisms (be gentle!) haha

Thanks guys [:)]

ewe know what !! ?....If I drank alcohol.... I would lay back with some port and cheese...perhaps light up a Havana.......gaze upon these amazing pictures....and I would feel Elegantly Wasted !!..They are awesome piccys Meg !!

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 15:32:46: Quote from: Alandriel on 19/10/2007 11:29:08

You've got talent young lady! [;D]

Love your pics - especially the pumpkin one but then I think I'm currently a bit biased

What camera are you using?

I use a Nikon D80, i dont have alot of cool accessories yet, trying to live off of only a student loan is hard enough without buying cool new toys. On that note - If anyone wants to contribute to the buying Megan a 70-300mm AF VR Nikkor Lens fund, I wouldnt object
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: another_someone on 19/10/2007 15:34:52: The following are merely my own personal opinions - you asked for criticism, and maybe it is hyper-criticism, so don't take it as an indication that I think they are bad pictures at all.

Like the 'Party on the Lawn'.

Like 'Sunset at Markdale', but maybe would haver preferred the terrain not to be totally blacked out - just to give the terrain a bit of texture, but not have it compete with the sky (realise this is not easy, since simply opening up would have given too much exposure to the sky - so either a graduated ND filter, or more work in the darkroom/on the computer).

'The Swan' is nice - but either a little to much, or a little to little - the disconnected back of the swan is a bit distracting - either a closer crop to remove it, or come further out to join it up with the neck.

The 'Romance at Meaford' is nice, but I would probably have reduced saturation (on the computer) for the grass area so as to give more prominence on the central subjects.

The 'Blue Hand' should have had more done to remove background clutter (this could all be done on the computer - blur, reduce contrast and saturation, for the background areas).

The 'Football' was a very well timed shot, and gives a good sense of the action, but again too much off field background clutter - much shorter depth of field would have helped. The most annoying bit are the power lines across the background - and maybe some of that can be removed, or reduced on the computer - although I recognise that the overall shot is too complex to easily create masks to do much of the work that could have been achieved by simply reducing depth of field on the original shot.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 15:35:01: And thank you all for your kind words. I feel that my photos lack a certian professional feel, but im working on it [:)]
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: neilep on 19/10/2007 15:48:23: ...actually..I luff the borders of the gallery between each photo the best !!

Hey !!....."lack a certain professional feel" ????...sometimes less is more......and what you do by nature I am sure some professionals try to do by design !!
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 15:57:32: Thanks George, I havent spent too much time with them on photoshop, but thats cause I havent really had the time, but I will totally take your advice when it comes to editing them.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Nobody's Confidant on 19/10/2007 16:24:20: Crazy, crazy neil
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Karen W. on 19/10/2007 18:05:17: They are Lovely Meg! Very nice.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: another_someone on 19/10/2007 19:22:57: OK - if we are showing off photos (and if Meg will excuse me for hijacking her thread - Meg, if you have a problem with it, let me know and I will split it off), I have some photos at:

http://bolgar.co.uk/Photos.php

Not trying to compete with Megs work, just piggy backing on the back of it (I believe Meg is doing a college course with her work - while mine are just holiday snaps with a bit of editing work done on them - and as Meg as said, she has yet to do the editing on hers).

I know maybe some of my stuff might be over-edited as I was sometimes playing around with the tricks the editor could do.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 19/10/2007 22:13:26: I have no objections... we can change the name of the thread to check out my photoblog or something
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Simulated on 19/10/2007 22:15:19: I can't take pictures that good..
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Karen W. on 19/10/2007 22:16:24: Nope me neither!
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Simulated on 19/10/2007 22:16:58: yours ain't hat bad karen
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Karen W. on 19/10/2007 22:18:58: Quote from: Simulated on 19/10/2007 22:16:58
yours ain't hat bad karen

Thanks Ryan.. LOL!
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Simulated on 19/10/2007 22:19:42: What they ain't lol..I like the picture of the ocean
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Karen W. on 19/10/2007 22:22:22: HEE HEE HEE ! I found more birds.. best talk in diary!
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: Simulated on 19/10/2007 22:22:55: haha yes lets do
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 20/10/2007 21:33:30: Okay guys, the Poison Ivy Shoot is up

http://elegantlywasted.deviantart.com
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 20/10/2007 22:19:17: yah thats my bad.... wrong link... haha im a tool [:)]

http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com

i had sent the wrong link to my sister too [:)]
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: another_someone on 20/10/2007 22:35:02: Quote from: elegantlywasted on 20/10/2007 22:19:17
yah thats my bad.... wrong link... haha im a tool [:)]

http://elegantlywasted84.deviantart.com

i had sent the wrong link to my sister too [:)]

That makes much more sense - I was desperately trying to work out how the previous site related to you (the self portriat was particularly confusing).
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 20/10/2007 22:48:48: yah, last time I checked I wasnt a small Asian girl from San Fransisco.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: another_someone on 20/10/2007 22:55:42: OK, had a quick look.

The original Poison Ivy, and Poison Ivy 5, just about work, but not convinced about the others.

OK, minor details like the white skin where the bra straps were on Poison Ivy 3 are difficult, as is the fact that she really does not open her eyes wide enough (maybe some eye make-up could mitigate this - but others may be better at knowing what can be done about this than I).

Biggest problem is that you seem to have some fairly harsh lighting for what ought to be fairly soft shots. If you cannot use reflectors, or studio lights, then maybe use mixed on camera flash with natural light to soften the natural light (one of the advantages of Poison Ivy 5 is that it is largely in shadow, so takes some of the edge off the lighting).

The monochrome, in my view, again does not work. To use monochrome, you are reliant on high contrast and strong shapes and lines. The other shots make good use of colour, but here you don't even have the colour. The lips should then be darker (the soft pink may look great in colour, but does nothing in monochrome), but the eye's should not be in shadow (again, mixed on camera flash might have softened this, but would have done nothing about the lips).

Sorry, just my opinion - others may disagree.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: another_someone on 20/10/2007 22:59:18: Looking at them again, maybe what you are trying to achieve is something other than I thought.

I suspect you are trying to be more moody rather than glamorous - but in that case, the shots should not be that intimate and close up. The close ups would be looking for the eyes, and the eyes are just not strong enough to hold that.

For instance: Poison Ivy2 looks almost fierce, but to complete that, you want to force people to stand back, not to draw people in.

In fact, both of the pictures that I like, Poison Ivy, and Poison Ivy 5, are just a little further back (although they are also a bit softer).

Poison Ivy 4 has the problem that again you are close in, demanding that one look into the eyes of the subject, yet the eyes are hidden by the hair.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: another_someone on 20/10/2007 23:09:17: I think one of the problems I have, and maybe you have the same thing, is that it is one thing to take a picture of something you see as a detached observer, or to control the inanimate subjects in a picture; but a whole different thing trying to manage people to create the shot you want - not an easy thing to do, and I am hopeless at doing it.
Title: Opinions Needed
Post by: elegantlywasted on 20/10/2007 23:26:58: I have discovered that I am quite hopeless at directing people as well. This was my first attempt at a photo shoot, and I have discovered that it isnt really something that I am particularily good at. Mainly it was an excuse to try out some crazy photoshop tricks, but I found that the heavy work to the photos didnt do them any justice, so then I decied on a subdued effect.

Its all a learning experience so I'm not two terribly worried about the results.