Two submissions for criticism

Following the excellent example of another member, I thought I'd submit some of my work for criticism. Please feel free to help me take better photographs!


The first was taken on the slops of the Acropolis in Athens at the end of March last year. I enjoyed the different tones of green and the fun of matching the DOF match the sunlit areas.


The second was shot in the temporary modern art museum in Athens. I think I was enjoying the composition so much I forget the incidentals (exposure, aperture, meaning, etc.).


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The first one looks nice, but it is really really small and so it's hard to tell much about it. Can you post a bigger version?


The second one is pretty much boring IMO I have to say, so besides that, I have nothing to say about it.

I would also be interested in seeing that first one larger. From what I can tell, I do like the contrast of the flowers to the dark background. The low angle to the ground gives the image a lot of depth. It is hard to get a feel for the depth of field due to the size, so I am inferring a blurred foreground and background. I do enjoy the contrasting warmth and cool colors in the second shot, but the fire extinguisher in the corner is not enough to make the shot very interesting. I think the empty space on the ground level is the problem. Also, the copyright angled through the middle of the shot is distracting--it would probably be better off in the corner, though maybe you didn't want it cropped out. You do own the copyright to your photos even without stamping them, as far as I know.

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Stefan,
I like the first one. To me the subject of it is the light, the rest of it is a nice warm scene that is enjoyable. I had a similar photo I took in Yelloewstone of a black bear in a warm spot of sunshine, and there were yellow flowers in the sun as well. I love it for the light. I submitted it for critique at another website, and it was universally disliked. They thought it was a bad photo of a bear. I guess what Iam trying to say is that if it is for you, and you get the point of why you took the picture, thats great. If you want others to like a photo, sometimes you have to hit them over the head with the subject of it. I still like my photo the way it is, I just understand that others don't get it.


For your second photo, I am not sure what the main focus is. My eye keeps leading to the fire extinguisher. The lines are good for this, but the extinguisherseems toosmall. Also the ceiling is very distracting to me. It wants to be the focus in my opinion, but doesn't hold it for long enough. If it is just for the interesting lines and patterns, I would try a few things, crop some of the ceiling out, clone out the extinguisher, just to try it, see if it works or not. I have tried to crop a little in my browser, and I think it can get better, but I don't know what your real focus was so its hard.


Thanks for posting!


Tom


Tom

I like the field pic. Try cropping out the one tree going the other direction in the upper right. Othersiwe there's nice symmetry among the various planes. A little more contrast between light and dark (lighter lights) is an idea too. I like it though.

Well, I actually like them both.


On the flowers I really like the illumination of the foreground, the color contrasts and the blur for the background. All of those components harmonize in this shot for me. Very enjoyable.


On the second shot I like the different angles, light elements and textures. I am sure that I would have noticed these things and paused to take a picture myself.

I like both shots - very nice.


I especially like the layers of interest in the landscape shot. The colors are very nice.


I really like the lines and various shades of light in the architecture shot. The only thought I have for this one is that you could bracket your exposure and very slightly darken the area of sky (?) showing toward the top right. I like it as-is too.