In this week of “photo critique” I received more wonderful images. Let’s see them.

Portrait by FurSid

Original Image

Technical Aspects

Technically, this portrait is almost perfect. If I look carefully at the details in full view, I might say that the upper right eye is too dark and looses details. Exposure looks fine, kind of at the limit in the mustache area because of the strong contrast, which, otherwise, is good for the details and pops out the man’s expression. The main focus point is well placed on the eyes of the subject. Composition is very good.

Visual Aesthetics

The expression captured gives a very deep feeling and the sepia toning adds alot to it. Congratulations for such a pleasant portrait!

Spring time in the Mountains by Tudor

Technical Aspects

The image is well focused, with a proper DOF. However, the post processing resulted into some burned areas. Better pay attention at that. Composition is great: not just the right positioning of the flower, but also the slight radial feeling given by the grass adds to it.

Visual Aesthetics

Unlike classical spring interpretation, your’s is full of mystery. I sense that the flowers from the dark side of the picture are still “frozen” in the remains of the winter, while the other flower, the one that rises into the light, is the symbol of the spring yet to come. The vignetting looks good on this picture.

Do you want your photo to receive a critique at photoaxe.com? Send your image at laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com and next week your photo will be commented here.

In this week of “photo critique” I received more wonderful images. Let’s see them.

Sky reflection by Guillaume Lagace

Technical Aspects

There is a good sharpness that fits the transparency of the calm water. The blue color looks very natural. Some details over the rocks are visible and the contrast is good. About the composition, the image is well equilibrated with the lines formed by the rocks and the cloud reflexion.

Visual Aesthetics

It’s nice that you captured both sky reflection + see-through water on the same picture, but here’s a tip that will always work: try using a wide lens to catch more objects in the picture (like some mountain, forest, house, bout), otherwise the picture seems like an empty scene that doesn’t tell much.

Doug Dsmil

Technical Aspects

The lighting used for this shot comes from both back and front of the model. The back one is not necessary but it gives a special radiant mood that draws attention. The shape of the female model is nicely visible under the scarf, and, also regarding the scarf, it adds to the composition. The skin has a nice tone and it looks like it has been softly retouched. The technical skills used for this shot are definitely at high level.

Visual Aesthetics

I like the curve line formed by the scarf, I like the colors and the vibrant mood created by the back light. There is one thought I have in mind about this picture: instead of the few hair that is strongly visible because of the back light, I would have asked the model to show all the hair. This would have also filled out the frame more.

Do you want your photo to receive a critique at photoaxe.com? Send your image at laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com and next week your photo will be commented here.

In this week of “photo critique” I received more wonderful images. Let’s see them.

Boredom by Alex Watson

Technical Aspects

Unfortunately, in this photograph, the subject is not well focused. There is also a high lack of contrast. This kind of shot would have been better with a stronger lateral light and a black background.

Visual Aesthetics

The image clearly creates a special mood, but I would associate this mood with fear rather than boredom. Behind the mask there is an angry look. This look should be more visible – like there is a need for more details in the eye area.

Entra la Luz by Rodrigo Melgarejo

Technical Aspects

The image may not respect any traditional rules, but I still find it correctly done. The are sufficient details even if the light is powerful. There is a good contrast and sharpness. Nicely done.

Visual Aesthetics

I must say I love this photo. It’s very peaceful and it gives me a relaxant mood, full of hope for better days that are up to come. This mood is not only transmitted by the incoming light, but also by the warm light colors. I do find a bit distracting the fact that there a two different kind of curtains at the window.

Joey by Christine Eaton

Technical Aspects

There is a very pleasant lighting which combined with the DOF, clearly separates the subject from the behind scene. There is a nice diagonal composition and it is a very clear way of capturing the subject with all representative details (from the light in his eyes to the details of the guitar). There is a very good quality of the image in matter of colors, sharpness; even in high resolution there is no sign of noise or aberrations. Good exposure also.

Visual Aesthetics

Your model made a good pose. Everything looks natural and I really like this photograph. Keep it up so Christine!

Jack Baker’s edited photo of his wife

Technical Aspects

The technique you applied here is called selective colors. You did it well. There are no soft colored edges, the delimitation between the yellow flower and the black and white grass is clear and sharp. If you look closely, you can see some green grass over the yellow flower at the right.

Visual Aesthetics

The composition is simple and brings nothing special but it’s an OK photo. The number 3 is a good number to appear in a photograph. Also, I like this idea that comes in my mind while looking at the photo: a colorful spring comes out from beneath the frozen dead leaves. There is a powerful yellow on this image.

Do you want your photo to receive a critique at photoaxe.com? Send your image at laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com and next week your photo will be commented here.

In this first week of “photo critique” I received more wonderful images. Let’s see a part of them, and the others next week.

Ieva Miltiņa

Technical Aspects

Technically, this image has some problems. The most obvious one is the overexposure. It seems to be a very bright sun in that day, and one step underexposure would have helped. The other aspect is the lack of sharpness. The image is kind of too soft and when about portraits, I prefer to see the face details nicely sharped.

Visual Aesthetics

The warm tones and the clothes make me believe this is a portrait shot in autumn. I like this warm autumn mood. There is a vertical shadow on the wall behind the girl. I suggest to photoshop that since it is a bit distracting. Otherwise, I like the combined background (wall + trees) – it popes out the subject. Also, she has one hand rising out of the frame – you can still correct this by cropping the picture from the bottom.

Technical Aspects

There is a perfect timing in this shot and a good focus. However, I believe the subject is too centered. I would have followed the rule of thirds for this situation. Exposure is good in this case.

Visual Aesthetics

For a better approach to a perfect still life photo, you could have improvised a white background, or a light blue one, anyway, some uniform color. A uniform color behind the scene would have pop out the subject, making a big impact on the viewer. The color of the fruit looks very natural which is a very good thing for my taste in matter of photography.

William Hamilton

Technical Aspects

The image has a very good sharpness and black and white contrast. I believe that there are no technical problems within this image. Even if you pushed the B&W contrast at hight limits, there are no overexposed or underexposed areas. The sky looks pretty dark which makes me believe you used a polarizer: good so!

Visual Aesthetics

The composition itself is not bad, but there is a big amount of the sky that is useless in this picture. You can crop it to a panoramic-like frame. Thinking about the panoramic view, it would have been a good idea to include the entire tree at the right within the frame. I like very much the subject of this photo: it’s catching, story-telling.

Ryan Holloway

Technical Aspects

For this kind of photography (abstract patterns and textures), the are no difficult technical requirements. Exposure and contrast are OK. I’m not really understanding where this was taken, what this really is, but the composition is quite catching.

Visual Aesthetics

The yellow gives a psychedelic mood. I first tried a high contrast black and white version, but then I noticed that with B&W it looses the 3D perspective. The approach of some objects and the far objects not only give the idea of 3D, but I also feel some speed in my blood hurrying to get to the end of the dotted tunnel (you title “trip” fits). The are 3 white objects that I’m not sure they match here.

Do you want your photo to receive a critique at photoaxe.com? Send your image at laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com and next week your photo will be commented here.

In this second week of “photo critique” I received 3 wonderful images. Let’s see them.

Ieva Miltiņa

Technical Aspects

This is an instant portrait with a good natural lighting. I would have preferred a more shallow DOF. The fingers are out of the photograph so this not technically correct. Everything else (contrast, colors, white balance, sharpness) is ok. I notice some warm tones over the image but I like this. The image looks sharp, which is important from my point of view. White balance is good: the white is neither bluish nor yellowish.

Visual Aesthetics

It’s important for an image to be quick, instant, natural, but in this case, the position of the mouth is not exactly a pleasant one. I notice that the pattern of her clothes goes well with the pattern formed by the windows at the back. The message transmitted by the image is clear: the morning cigarette on the balcony (or something like that). The eyes look beautyfull and every detail on the face of the model look very good.

Technical Aspects

This second portrait is much better in my opinion. I am very pleased with the composition, sharpness and DOF.

Visual Aesthetics

I love this natural smile, I love the coloring, the tones, the softness of the image in overall and the sharpness over the eyes. It really catches me. What I don’t like is the position of the watermark. It’s disturbing and I would have rather placed it in some corner. This image is worth to be featured in some magazine.

The other 2 images will be commented next week.

Adrián Mihálko

Technical Aspects

Even if there is an obvious underexposure, this image is a good example of exception from the rules. I noticed, in the high resolution image, that there is no noise but some pixelation in the shadows area, probably because there was some noise reduction applied. Nothing wrong with that – it’s not very visible. The image is rather soft than sharp but in this case it’s the right thing for entering the atmosphere of love.

Visual Aesthetics

Kudos for making a creative picture! Originality is much appreciated. The image creates a special mood and I’m sure this will make a great gift for someone special. I like the idea that the light forms a hearth while entering the darkness. Maybe you can consider duo-toning the image since there are some green and blue pixels there that don’t make much sens. Great job!

Do you want your photo to receive a critique at photoaxe.com? Send your image at laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com and next week your photo will be commented here.

In this first week of “photo critique” I received 2 wonderful images. Let’s see them.

Alexander Artemenko

Original Image

Technical Aspects

The image looks sharp, which is important from my point of view. White balance is good: the white is neither bluish nor yellowish. Everything is focused like a landscape should be. There are no overexposed areas, neither underexposed: every detail is visible. There is no visible noise (anyway, in this case, noise might have actually added to the mood of the scene). In other words, technically, this image is perfect.

Visual Aesthetics

The composition is just great: a perfect golden triangle. The scene is eye-catching: you got the wagon, a dramatic sky, snow over the railway. The perspective is somehow common but I can’t figure any better one for this scene. This image has a very dramatic look, which is a very good thing. The dramatic feeling can pop out even more by giving the picture more contrast over the levels adjustment, and then convert it to sepia. But the natural colors of this original image are nice too. There is one element in the picture that I might have removed it with clone and healing brush: the crane over the wagon. Overall, I like this dramatic shot! Keep it so!

Rick Veazey

Made with: Pentax K10D. Pentax DA* 50-135 f2.8 lens at f2.8 1/1000th sec shutter speed. ISO 800.

Technical Aspects

It’s a very good shutter speed you used there: neither the players nor the ball have motion blur. Even if ISO800 is not a low level of sensitivity, there is no visible noise so this is another bonus. I relay like the DOF: not too narrow to completely blur out the tribune, neither too large to make the busy background distract from the main players. White balance, colors and contrast look just fine.

Visual Aesthetics

The first thing I noticed about your image is that you really pushed the shutter at the right time: you got the player in a nice twisted position and you also got the ball in the scene. It would have been even better if you could catch this scene from the opposite position to surprise the player looking more toward you and the viewers of the photograph. However, there is one little thing that disturbs me: the second player is not completely inside the picture. I suppose you were very concentrated on the standing player and the ball and had to be quick to do not miss the opportunity, so you did not have the time to properly compose the picture with the other one inside the frame. Overall it’s a very good sports shot! Congrats!

Do you want your photo to receive a critique at photoaxe.com? Send your image at laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com and next week your photo will be commented here.

On photoaxe birthday (January 16) I promised you that photoaxe will become closer and closer to you and your needs. Now here’s what I wanted to say with that:
There is a new category which consists of photo critique.
You just send me an email (laurentia.fr[at]gmail.com) with a low resolution picture (max. 900 px wide) and then, each weekend from now on, I will post up to 6 or 7 pictures with their critique. If your photo is posted on your blog or some web gallery, mention that and give a link. You will receive a trackback.

You can send up to 1 picture per week. If in one week I receive more than 7 requests, the ones that won’t get critique in that week, will follow up next week.
This critique will be split in two parts: the Technical Aspects and the Visual Aesthetics. Depending on the amount of post-processing, I will write a few words on that too. A conclusion phrase will state “what I like and what I don’t like”.
This been said, I’m now waiting for your critique requests. I promise to give constructive advices so that your photography will improve.