Fort Polk is having a photography contest. There are several categories including peopl, places, things, and military life. I think there's a couple more, but I don't have any images in those categories
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For another instance, I also find myself quite interested in the 6th image of the river [?] because of the way it appears to be comprised of both black and white and color, but the framing of the scene is both tilted, and feels somewhat unfocused: I'm not sure where to look. The trees entering from the left edge are too dark to be an active part of the scene, but too prominent and create too strong a vertical, so that they then compete with the tower. The highlights at the bottom edge are distracting and compete with the horizontal highlights along the "horizon" [where the river meets the trees beyond] and the vertical highlights from the tower reflection. The tiny bit of other tower sneaking in along the right with the fallen branches cause me to look over there. In essence, there are many things going on along the edges of this image that pull the eye all around without actually giving it anything to settle on. Which detracts from what should be a focus on sheen of the water and the rising mist and the wonderful moods and light variations created within that space.
Actually now that I dissect that image, I think you could level its horizon and do some judicious cropping and turn it into a contender.
But these are the kinds of details that it takes a really long time to "learn" how to look for when you're on-site composing a shot [because you're also thinking about your light, and depth-of-field, and all the other things there are to think about at the moment of taking a photo], so while you're developing those skills my advice to you would be to shoot shoot shoot multiple frames from multiple angles of everything. Climb on things. Lay on the floor. Walk all around. Digital makes it cheap to do this, so there's no excuse not to. You should have what amounts to a "roll" of each of these subjects. Then as you look at your images afterward you'll start to see things you didn't see while shooting. Eventually you'll train your awareness to see them in-camera while you're making the shot. You have to remember to not just look at your subject, which is of course where your attention is drawn in the first place, but to look at everything around your subject that is entering your frame and becoming part of the image as well. Our brains are very selective at focusing attention when we are standing there looking at a thing, so it takes training your eye to see everything else, too, because the photograph is not selective and in the end will give equal attention to everything that enters its frame.
I'm out of time right this instant but I'm happy to discuss this further, answer any questions you have based on what I've said so far, and/or comment on the other images if you want me to. Or I can also shut the hell up, because this may have been more critique than you were looking for. ;)
On the 4th photograph, I couldn't decide which I wanted to be vertical the Parthenon or the fountain. I went with the Parthenon, and I guess having done that I should have just cropped out the fountain.
I don't know how much of your photography is done in a studio or more controlled environments, but some of these shots were taken in situations where security or the stability of the environment are not always constant. In a perfect world, I'd love to shoot a few "rolls" to get the perfect shot, but some of the things I shoot and the way I shoot them it's just not going to happen.
For another instance, I also find myself quite interested in the 6th image of the river [?] because of the way it appears to be comprised of both black and white and color, but the framing of the scene is both tilted, and feels somewhat unfocused: I'm not sure where to look. The trees entering from the left edge are too dark to be an active part of the scene, but too prominent and create too strong a vertical, so that they then compete with the tower. The highlights at the bottom edge are distracting and compete with the horizontal highlights along the "horizon" [where the river meets the trees beyond] and the vertical highlights from the tower reflection. The tiny bit of other tower sneaking in along the right with the fallen branches cause me to look over there. In essence, there are many things going on along the edges of this image that pull the eye all around without actually giving it anything to settle on. Which detracts from what should be a focus on sheen of the water and the rising mist and the wonderful moods and light variations created within that space.
Actually now that I dissect that image, I think you could level its horizon and do some judicious cropping and turn it into a contender.
But these are the kinds of details that it takes a really long time to "learn" how to look for when you're on-site composing a shot [because you're also thinking about your light, and depth-of-field, and all the other things there are to think about at the moment of taking a photo], so while you're developing those skills my advice to you would be to shoot shoot shoot multiple frames from multiple angles of everything. Climb on things. Lay on the floor. Walk all around. Digital makes it cheap to do this, so there's no excuse not to. You should have what amounts to a "roll" of each of these subjects. Then as you look at your images afterward you'll start to see things you didn't see while shooting. Eventually you'll train your awareness to see them in-camera while you're making the shot. You have to remember to not just look at your subject, which is of course where your attention is drawn in the first place, but to look at everything around your subject that is entering your frame and becoming part of the image as well. Our brains are very selective at focusing attention when we are standing there looking at a thing, so it takes training your eye to see everything else, too, because the photograph is not selective and in the end will give equal attention to everything that enters its frame.
I'm out of time right this instant but I'm happy to discuss this further, answer any questions you have based on what I've said so far, and/or comment on the other images if you want me to. Or I can also shut the hell up, because this may have been more critique than you were looking for. ;)
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I don't know how much of your photography is done in a studio or more controlled environments, but some of these shots were taken in situations where security or the stability of the environment are not always constant. In a perfect world, I'd love to shoot a few "rolls" to get the perfect shot, but some of the things I shoot and the way I shoot them it's just not going to happen.
Reply
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