Photos and Critiques

From an on-line photography class by Carol Leigh

Developing Your Creative Edge #2

Assignment # 1: Fall Colors

From: caroleigh@c...
Date: Wed Oct 6, 2004 1:43 pm
Subject: Critique: CJ Middendorf (first 2 photos)

Mini Pumpkin Patch - What a terrific photo! The pumpkins stand front and center, the lighting's good, the repeating patterns of the baskets are good, depth of field is good (you can tell those are squash in the upper right). How could the photo be better? Don't know about the nubby squashy thing pointing in from the upper right . . . it's sort of out of context with the other stuff (i.e., pumpkins, small round squashes). Had that been three or so more round squashes, it might have been less jarring. And what about the squashes in the upper right? Would it have been better had you included the very tops of them, rather than cropping them down the way you did? I don't know, really. All in all, I'd say this is an excellent photograph. Kudos to you for finding fall color in San Diego.

Indian Corn and Pumpkins - I think this is what you were probably referring to when you said the photo wasn't as sharp as you'd wished. Yes, this one looks soft to me, from front to back. BUT. I think it's a very pretty little fall vignette. The corn husks seem to cradle the pumpkins and there's a feel-good essence to the photo. I'd say go buy a few pumpkins, some corn husks, and create your own vignette like this at home and see what you can come up with under more controlled conditions. This is a good photo, and worth re-creating with a bit more sharpness.

U-Pick
Good photo, CJ! I like the repeating forms of the pumpkins, the clarity of the sign and its jaunty angle. I also like how you placed the sign up in the upper right third of the shot. The strawberry plants are a bit dark, so if you'd not mentioned that they were in a strawberry field, I probably wouldn't have noticed! How could the photo be improved? Perhaps by lightening it up somewhat, although this could simply be a function of various monitors. This is what I'd call a documentary shot, good for stock photography, a story-telling marketable photograph. Nicely done.

Stacked Apples
Yes, yes, yes . . . I really like this one . . . for a number of reasons. The lighting is bright but not harsh, creating highlights on the apples, but not too much and no dark, distracting shadows. If what caught your eye was APPLES ON DISPLAY, then you've filled your frame with just that and as a result you've got an impactful photo. I like the repeating patterns, the repeating colors, the various levels that the baskets are displayed on. How could the photo be improved? Perhaps if the apples on the far right had been dark red ones instead of the repetitive reddish/gold ones, but that's such a minor point. There's a country rusticity here that's really appealing. An ARTISTIC documentary shot. I wish I'd taken it.

Sorry I called you a gimp.

Carol Leigh

 

Mini PupkinPatch
 

Indian corn and pumpkins
 


U Pick

 

Stacked Apples
 

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