I posted this in Photo Critiques, but no one seems to go there, so I'm reposting this here. This past weekend, I took a trip downtown in search of pure art photography. I shoot with a Cannon rebel t5i + kit lens, and this was my first time using it as it's an upgrade from my previous camera.

These are the best shots I got, and I'm looking to improve. Any comments or criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Nice.I like 'em all,Great job

Get off "auto" and shoot the same shot with a few diff settings. Also, play with shadows and lighting a bit in photoshop.

I "played" a bit with the rail pic. I would have cropped it a tad but I looked at the before & after and decided to keep the full size.








The shots are almost there, just shoot more and play with settings and photoshop more.

Where in Eastern Iowa? Town looks too small to be Quad Cities. Architecture looks like Dubuque, but I don't recognize anything in the photos.

Posted by Clockwork Where in Eastern Iowa? Town looks too small to be Quad Cities. Architecture looks like Dubuque, but I don't recognize anything in the photos.

Iowa City.

Posted by cdevon Get off "auto" and shoot the same shot with a few diff settings. Also, play with shadows and lighting a bit in photoshop. The shots are almost there, just shoot more and play with settings and photoshop more.

I didn't shoot any of these on "auto" - I mostly used aperture priority or manual. And thanks for the photoshop advice, I have it and Lightroom so I'll definitely work on some of my pictures.

Posted by cdevon Get off "auto" and shoot the same shot with a few diff settings. Also, play with shadows and lighting a bit in photoshop. I "played" a bit with the rail pic. I would have cropped it a tad but I looked at the before & after and decided to keep the full size. click to view The shots are almost there, just shoot more and play with settings and photoshop more.

Honestly, I like the 'before' pic better. But then again, I just have a bias against increasing the contrast in almost any photo. Sure, it pops more, but it looks edited. The first looks more natural; the way it would look to your naked eye.

imho digital cameras take "flat" photos. esp when grey and cloudy outside.

Wicked pics! I love old buildings, abandoned factories, and especially brick buildings...

The creepier the better!

- Artemis

Not a whole lot of subject matter in 3 - it somehow simultaneously feels both empty and cluttered. I advise to either focus on one item, or find an angle/add something to make it a more interesting shot. Similar complaints with 5, though to a lesser degree. I'm liking these other shots, though! Is this a whole abandoned town?

Posted by superphoenix Not a whole lot of subject matter in 3 - it somehow simultaneously feels both empty and cluttered. I advise to either focus on one item, or find an angle/add something to make it a more interesting shot. Similar complaints with 5, though to a lesser degree. I'm liking these other shots, though! Is this a whole abandoned town?

Thanks for the advice, man. Almost abandoned - it's a college town of 70,000. Iowa City.

Posted by cdevon Get off "auto" and shoot the same shot with a few diff settings. Also, play with shadows and lighting a bit in photoshop. I "played" a bit with the rail pic. I would have cropped it a tad but I looked at the before & after and decided to keep the full size. click to view The shots are almost there, just shoot more and play with settings and photoshop more.

first one was better

Really enjoy #4

Critique from me is a little limited because I'm strongly still learning, but having looked through these several times, the things I enjoy most about a lot of these images are the focus on finer textures (like the snow, and the rust on the fire escape). That's a very cool effect in several of these photos. If you poke around the forum, there are some nice editing tutorials to be had including one on a bracket and blend technique to bring down the effect of very bright areas and very dark areas... your shot out through those slanted-open windows might benefit from some playing around with layers, either in that way or simpler, to bring some more detail into the slightly blown-out exterior? Then again it might not. I can't make determinations about that kind of thing until I've actually done it and compared the original, but it's a thought.

It's so cool seeing images of this place that I obviously recognize (hey, I can see my work from there!) and then others that are totally alien (where the fuck did you find those grapes?!). I don't know how the rooftops/rooftop access is in Columbus Junction, but if you have a chance to get down there I think some of the views would suit your fancy. The highway goes kind of over the fairly crumbly downtown, and some of your rooftop shots in this set remind me of it.

Posted by crows Critique from me is a little limited because I'm strongly still learning, but having looked through these several times, the things I enjoy most about a lot of these images are the focus on finer textures (like the snow, and the rust on the fire escape). That's a very cool effect in several of these photos. If you poke around the forum, there are some nice editing tutorials to be had including one on a bracket and blend technique to bring down the effect of very bright areas and very dark areas... your shot out through those slanted-open windows might benefit from some playing around with layers, either in that way or simpler, to bring some more detail into the slightly blown-out exterior? Then again it might not. I can't make determinations about that kind of thing until I've actually done it and compared the original, but it's a thought. It's so cool seeing images of this place that I obviously recognize (hey, I can see my work from there!) and then others that are totally alien (where the fuck did you find those grapes?!). I don't know how the rooftops/rooftop access is in Columbus Junction, but if you have a chance to get down there I think some of the views would suit your fancy. The highway goes kind of over the fairly crumbly downtown, and some of your rooftop shots in this set remind me of it.

Thanks so much for the advice! I'll definitely look at some editing tutorials for that. Those grapes are on a stairway banister leading up to the back roof of Graze, the restaurant on the pedmall. And Columbus junction looks interesting and less guarded than Iowa City, when I'm around there I'll definitely take a look.

Nice!
Wow, I used to live in Iowa City. I should have recognized it.

When I lived there, thirteen-fourteeen years ago, there was almost nothing abandoned to explore - you had to travel to Waterloo for good abandonments.

We went into the University of Iowa steam tunnels with Slim Jim once. I posted a thread about it here on UER and ended up getting called by the Iowa City police. Lesson learned- don't post sensitive shit on UER.

Posted by Clockwork Nice! Wow, I used to live in Iowa City. I should have recognized it. When I lived there, thirteen-fourteeen years ago, there was almost nothing abandoned to explore - you had to travel to Waterloo for good abandonments. We went into the University of Iowa steam tunnels with Slim Jim once. I posted a thread about it here on UER and ended up getting called by the Iowa City police. Lesson learned- don't post sensitive shit on UER.

Wow... you'd think, with how drunk this town has always been, that they'd have better things to do. I've heard cool stuff about the tunnels. There was an entrance into... something of the underground system, I've heard people say steam tunnels and beer caves both in this case? in the basement of my job's old space but it had all caved in

(And I doubt we're going to see a lot of abandonments any time ever until the U of I can't attract good faculty anymore, given house zealous the city is being about development. We're currently issuing demo permits for perfectly good, lived-in, operating business and homes so that high-end condos can be built for Chicago suburbanites. It's... real charming. Real. Charming. So charming. 8|)

Posted by IceBurgess

1. Nice texture, bland composition. I'd suggest a better background that carries the subject matter.

2. Bland and vague. The focal point establishes the beams as the subject, so the empty space in the right frame serves no purpose in the composition. My suggestion is to change the angle so that the beams take up the whole frame, using the same focal transition, so that the front of the beams are at left frame in sharp focus and they fade into bokeh through the transition to the right end of the frame.

3. There is no subject here. Get closer.

4. This is a good one. The berries are underexposed, so try playing with some interesting ways to expose them.

5. Highly subjective--these are the kind of shots that are hard to win people over with, but I like the feeling of this photo; good job there. I think it'll make a much better black & white.

6. Vague. If you're going to use leading lines like that, they need to lead to something. A bolt on a staircase is a hard subject to make compelling.

7. It doesn't look like any thought was put into the composition here. Do you carry a tripod yet? If no, then start.

8. This shot has potential, but the day you did it was not the right day. This is a photo you'll have to attempt many times before you'll really nail it, which is fine because it's assumed that it's not going anywhere soon. Keep trying and one day all of the right circumstances will line up. Which direction is this facing? Try going back at different times of the day for different lighting, depending on where the sun is.

Posted by yynk Honestly, I like the 'before' pic better. But then again, I just have a bias against increasing the contrast in almost any photo. Sure, it pops more, but it looks edited. The first looks more natural; the way it would look to your naked eye.

Agreed, people go crazy with saturation or "HDR" and too often make something cool into something that looks like a neon cartoon. This edit isn't THAT bad, but I don't like over-saturation... then again, I'm not an "advanced" critic.

What is an advanced critique anyway?

Advanced critique:

So, you want to shoot abandoned buildings. Great. Think for a minute: why do people care about my photos?

In all honesty, they likely don't.

See, you probably don't care about photos of model trains, or birdhouses, or wedding photos unless you have an invested interest in the subject (you like trains, you're researching birdhouses, or that's your cousin's wedding), OR the photo actually stirs and emotion in you.

If you just try to capture objects or scenes while you're exploring, you're likely to only ever intrigue people with a disposition towards exploring and abandoned buildings (us), or at best, people who will say "oh that's neat" if they're being courteous (like your grandma).

It's easy to capture subjects and show it to people interested in that subject and find an audience. Doesn't really mean jack shit though for being a great photographer.



Fuck that. Move beyond that. Say something with your photos. Don't hope something good will come out of your camera; decide to actively make something that everyone wants to enjoy.

Did you know that one of the greatest failures of cinema was the advent of sound? Silent films went from beautiful, complex, physically demanding performance drama working off of opera and theater that audiences of all countries could enjoy... into loud, static, dialogue-heavy films that only a single-language speaking people could understand, and took YEARS for them to learn how to develop story strong enough to counter this downfall.

DO NOT go for the minority audience with the weaker concepts; become a stronger photographer by going for honest, specific, universal appeal.




Here is the basics I've learned, but extending my process (cartoonist) towards photography:


1. pick your subject. A house. A room. A chunk of railroad track.

2. decide on an emotion you want to illicit in your audience. Joy. Loneliness. Frustration. Contempt. Overwhelmed. Dwarfed. Outdated. The more specific, the better, but don't think you have to decide immediately. Work towards something.

3. Try to guide the audience towards that feeling through your composition, exposure, focus, depth of field, color decisions, post production, etc.

4. Go back home, look through your shoot, identify what features of your process aided in that emotion, and what didn't. Refine, rinse, repeat. This is BY FAR the most important step. Become your own harshest critic, and look to your own opinion over all others.



Basically, understand that your viewfinder is a paintbrush, and it's your job to guide your audience into feeling something when they look at your snapshots; something that is the intention of the artist. Fuck that post-post-modernist art school bullshit saying that the subject needs to be ambiguous so the audience can create their own meaning. Those people don't know shit, and that's why they'll be forgotten to the sands of time.


You see, right now you might think that that the camera in your hands captures reality, but this couldn't be farther from the truth; the camera is there to lie in the way you want it to lie. All the camera does is capture little bits of reality that you tell it to, and then rearrange and give meaning however you see fit. Cameras do not tell truth, they tell what the artist wants them to say. If you do not know what you want to say, they will not speak anything to anyone, and no one will have interest. Accept that there is no absolute reality, and move beyond that into something greater, and has more magic.


Anything less and you're just a boring photo journalist.