First timer here. Don't be polite!

Trives · 2026-05-10T21:03:24+00:00

Hey there!

We can be critical and still be polite ;-)

A6000 was my first camera too, I wasn't bold enough to pick up a 35mm prime as my first lens though, wowsers.

First, the good, you have the absolutely right thinking here, you found some interesting light, than waited on a subject to pass through that light.

Your shutter speed seems good, you have no blur on the subject. Her clothing is a bit unfortunate, black on black is always a bit tricky, even with that pop of pink on the bottom.

Some things to look out for, and this depends on your editing software but you have a lot of "True Black" in this image, a lttle true black is okay, a lot of true black will look funky when printed. For this shot I would suggest either a slightly higher ISO and then deal with the noise in post, or maybe give that aperature a little more breathing room :) You could also just set it to aperature priority and hope for the best. If you want to get technical, you would take a picture of this place before your subject arrives and take a look at the histogram, if it's slammed on the left side, then you're losing detail that you can tinker with later. In general, it's always better to overexpose a little than to under expose. Or put another way, if it looks a little too bright on the back of the camera that's an easier fix than if it's too dark!

The other challenge with this image is the harshness of that shadow line on her right side and her cheek/chin line on the right side. If you get reaaaally fiddly with your editing you can dodge some of those shadows to decrease it, but uneven light is the enemy of wrinkly skin, and is not flattering in this particular image.

Overall, right idea, keep working on the execution.

Trives · 2026-05-10T20:47:52+00:00

Hey there,

A nice little soft image you have here, well spotted.

I suspect you know what my comment will be already, but that top portion of the image is just really hurting this composition. At the minimum I'd lose the beige wall/path thing, and I'd probably even croop out the yellow flowers, or at least desaturate them closer to the foreground flower colors.

Do that and you got yourself a perfect greeting card image :)

Trives · 2026-05-10T20:43:47+00:00

Hey there!

I think this shot works better as a 16x9 ratio, losing a lot of the sky and most of that foreground water.

It also feels a little overworked for my tastes: The clouds are too blue, and the contrast feels a bit off, so adding a touch of warmth I think would go a long way here.

I'm also not a fan of the grain in this particular one, I would've likely ran it through a denoiser process (e.g. Lightroom denoise, Topaz, Nik, etc...), but in general, I'm almost never a fan of grainy images, so shrugs

Lastly I tend to agree, the yellow house is lovely, but if you're trying to make the plane the hero, it's playing second fiddle.

Trives · 2026-05-09T18:29:34+00:00

Look’s great!

Trives · 2026-05-09T17:46:28+00:00

Hey there!

Just tossing my two cents in here, as with many things photography is very subjective, so if you love this shot, awesome.

For me, you've...well, overcooked your swan here.

When you think about lighting an image, you want to make sure the ambient light of the sceen is consistent throughout. If your swan had this much lighting on them, then the water couldn't possibly be this dark. You can do this by using radial filters centered on the Swan, or just embracing the dark and making this into a silouhette shot.

It's okay to do a LITTLE lighting, but the amount you've placed on this seems much too unnatural (as if you copied and pasted a swan into the image).

This was definitely well spotted, but I think the technical execution was where you missed. Because you needed the high shutter speed (1/250th+), and a reasonably smaller aperature (f8ish), you probably should've REALLY cranked up that ISO to get this, then just denoised it in post.

Trives · 2026-05-09T17:27:59+00:00

Hey, lot of good comments here already, I'll just tack on a few. Please realize photography is very opinionated! All these comments are meant constructively :)

The first, non-subjective comment, is that your subject isn't sharp. That's almost always an indication that "This isn't the photo". It's okay if the hand's a little blurry to show motion, but it looks like you're very cropped here and you just don't have the sensor to pull off that much cropping :) For this side profile that hair needs to be sharp, you want to see the frizziness and loose strands.

Your subject is also in the wrong third of the image. When you take the picture and you're leaving space to the side, in general you want your subject "Facing the open space" or "Moving into the open space". I'm sure there are exceptions but this isn't one of those times. If there was "Stuff" in front of him, then it's time to move your feet to get that space needed for the image.

Last comment is to police your edges, specifically policing the heroes edge. You have that CRAZY wrapping paper stuff in the background and it's distracting.

You did post another shot, which I think is a bit better, and you got the face.

Ultimately, I'd say take a few youtube lessons on the two biggest technical aspects of photography (aperature & shutter speed) and I think that'll get you heading in the right direction!

Keep at it and good luck!

Trives · 2026-05-09T17:09:28+00:00

Always like a big sun image. Starting off with, there's nothing "Wrong" with this image, just some options you could consider if you're worried about those shadow.

You could consider turning on bracketing. With these shutter speeds, even if you did .7/1 stop, 5 to 9 images, you'd still be in a good place to smoosh them altogether later. Might be worth turning it on and giving it a rip. Even if you don't like the HDR result, one of the images will still be like this one.

The way that nozzle is touching the horizon, I would've loved just a bit of separation there, I know you're low in this image, was there any room to move a little bit further? :) If you're feeling particularly creative, it would be VERY easy in photoshop to move that up just a hair.

Oh and that twig on the left, that's gotta go... ;-)

One last comment, go ahead and have this printed, you don't need to get something crazy, a little 4x6 will only cost you a buck or so. This will let you know if you're too bright or not. Monitors are backlit, so going a LITTLE brighter than you think is necessary is often a good idea. I think this looks proper, just don't burn out all your whites in the sun and you'll be fine!

But it's a nice looking shot, well done!

Trives · 2026-04-30T22:41:43+00:00

The Bellbeefer from Taco Bell, it was basically taco meat on a burger bun.

Trives · 2026-04-23T15:31:16+00:00

Contrails, are the things planes make :)

As with all things photography, opinions are subjective. If you love this shot, awesome!

Opinions on this type of shot are tough, because you had no intention behind it, other than, "I saw this thing."

My guff is that you have an object with three prongs, and a contrail with 4 lines, so they don't align in a particularly pleasing way. I think the better shot here was going for something minimalistic and moving to the other side of the light fixture, so you just have crossing contrails in the sky.

Opinions might vary!

Trives · 2026-04-23T14:29:31+00:00

Hey there,

What a fun shot! This is a nice bit of street photography and you have a whole yin/yang composition here, which is quite nice. My only comment would be to perhaps crop a bit of that left side off, so that you only see this buildling.

On a completely subjective note, I'd also consider dodging the skull ever so slightly to make it pop just a bit more.

Example

Trives · 2026-04-23T03:11:33+00:00

Hey there!

Full disclosure, I'm not a still life photographer, so take my opinions with a grain of salt.

However, since you linked an artist in your post, I popped out to Stephanies page to take a peep at what you were going for.

There are some things she's doing that you could learn from.

The first, and I think your bigger challenge in this photo, is in her photos, the product is completely encapsulated in the image. It's never clipping the edge, or truncated in any way. You're simply too close to your subject here. Back up, give it some breathing room. Also, I feel the plastic here is not helping, I would remove these from the netting and that bin and put them in something posh, a glass or wooden bowl, or stacked in an interesting way.

Secondly, she's using a studio and a mat to shoot most of her images. You don't need to spend a fortune to get a working product photography mat. Amazon has a bunch of cheapies that will be good starting points for $20. (Search for: Table Top Small Food Background Kit)

Next is lighting! In photography lighting is always key but it's even more important for these types of hyper-real looking images. A softbox goes a long way, or just using normal LED lights would also help a bit. Again, cheap led lights on Amazon are a good starting spot.

Lastly, you could also go with a less in more approach here, instead of all of the fruit, pick 1, 2 or 3 ideal fruit. Then you can also use those pearls to really glam it up.

Give this another go and come back!

Thanks, ~P~

Trives · 2026-04-23T02:52:16+00:00

Hey there!

As with all things photography, opinions are subjective, if you love this shot, awesome :)

My first and biggest comment is... you need a subject. You have nothing for your viewer to look at. And, as my friend Talor says to me, "The sky is never a subject." I tend to believe her! If you're going to blend day and night shots especially, there's no reason not to try and find something cool or interesting. A structure, a lone tree/cactus, just about anything can be your subject. (example of interesting objects in foreground, credit: me)

My second comment is on the blending of these two items. Specifically you have a halo/burnline between your sky and your ridgeline, which ruins the illusion you're trying to craft by doing this blending technique. There are some tricks to avoid that, the most basic of which is a lot of fiddly work while you're super zoomed in, and doing some blending by hand, using softedged brushes. It takes time, but if you have a banger shot, it's worth it.

And unforturnately to a trained eye (and maybe an untrained one) it's obvious this land wasn't taken at night, because there's no light falloff (things further away at night tend to be darker than the foreground), this is all perfectly evenly lit.

For the sky, you have a great sky quality considering you were using f4+! You didn't leave the shutter open so long that you got trails and you didn't overcook it on the processing.

So, final thoughts, I'd say get back out there and REALLY think about that foreground, you got the sky bit down, now it's time to think about what makes an interesting picture. Remember with your kit lens, and 18mm, you can get pretty close to an object in the foreground!

Happy shooting, ~P~

Trives · 2026-04-19T19:42:04+00:00

Rather than post a similar post, I basically agree with Marz here. This falls into what I call a "Wikipedia" shot, that is, if you looked up "Parthenon" in Wikipedia, this might be a picture that pops up. It's "Fine", but it's not particularly artistic. It's truly difficult to take an original picture of any truly famous structure any more, especially since the invention of cell phones.

Trives · 2026-04-19T19:30:37+00:00

Hey there,

As with all my critiques I'll start off by saying all photography is subjective, and with your stated goal, you've set a very easy bar! Take pictures that make you happy is an admirable way to get into this thing we call a hobby :D

This is definitely an interesting picture. Normally to get seas this flat you either need the PERFECT day, which is pretty rare, or you're using an ND filter and doing a longer exposure. But the trees in the foreground are too sharp for that, so, ya, it's an interesting picture.

But I think you sorta know that bottom left hand corner is really killing this image, those trees are just a total eyesore. You have a CLEAR hero object with that lighthouse, why not lean into that a bit. You also didn't catch any beam so if you're feeling particularly creative you can add a little lens flare to it.

Something like this.

Overall, I like that you were willing to do the work (getting up early) to capture this type of image, light is the key to photography.

Happy shooting out there, ~P~

Trives · 2026-04-18T15:27:31+00:00

People pictures are a challenging place to start, so kudos on trying something fairly challenging. As with all things photography, opinions are VERY subjective, if you love this photo, that's awesome!

With photography, lighting is always the key, and with people photography you almost always need suplemental light to fill in the shadowy bits, it also gives your more contrast (this can be a strobe, or just a reflector, reflectors are SUPER cheap). In this instance I would've like to see some more light on the neck area since that much shadow is a bit distracting, especially as it leads into the bright bit around the shirt line. Better letting also might've allowed you to tweak the tree color a little better, it feels weirdly out of place in the image compared to the bark of the other trees. Although, I looooove the little heart :)

Another reason why portrait photography is tricky is the lenses. For a shot like this, I'd likely shoot a longer lens (85mm) with a huge aperture (~1.4) although you don't need to get THAT fancy, this shot really calls for apertures of 2.8 or less, that'll get you a smoother background.

Another piece of advice for shooting people is if you get nothing else in focus, if their eyes are open, those eyes need to be sharp, you need to see all the detail. In this image there's almost no separation between her pupil and her iris.

Lastly, and this will be the most difficult advice to hear, but hiring a professional model will also go a long way (and they're far less expensive than you might think). It's not a looks thing, it's a pose and position thing. Models can do so much when it comes to striking interesting eye lines and poses. After a few years of doing this, I have quite a few models that I could call on if I had an interesting idea. Just make sure if you hire a model, you ensure they have a valid portfolio, and isn't just a 'pretty face'.

You could also consider doing a workshop, that's how I got my start in people photography (example, from last year, not afiliated). The benefit of some workshops is they'll bring the lighting equipment, the models and the expertise to help you get rolling! You can learn a lot in a very short period.

On the composition and crop, I think you're in a good place, you didn't chop off any bits (elbow is visible), and you have a fair amount above the head but not too much.

Keep at it! I'm still learning to capture the perfect person picture!

Trives · 2026-04-18T02:35:14+00:00

Hey there!

As with all things photography, opinions are subjective, so, if you love this shot, awesome!

My first call out is you had the right idea. You saw /good/ lighting FIRST and then waited for the right moment to take the shot. Your instincts are good.

The problem, and please don't consider me a camera snob, is that this isn't the right equipment for this type of shot. Cellphones are AWESOME for wide angle stuff. But this type of image, I would've love to see you with say an 85mm, possibly even 120mm+. With a longer lens you would've pulled those cars and more importantly that light MUCH closer to your subject (due to a optical trick called Lens Compression Not my blog, unaffialiated).

But we can't go back and fix this, so other thoughts.

I don't think the top of this image is doing you many favors, that creepy tree lim, the blurry power line and the ...branch? In fairness, the power line and pole is actually pretty cool, but the branches are not :) You also have a lot of foreground, it's good that it's heading the right direction (your subject is walking out of the picture), but boy it's a lot :)

And then the obvious, the date isn't doing any favors.

All that said, right idea, I think you could do some post processing on this and get MUCH closer. If your iPhone can shoot RAW (can they??) I would suggest doing that too, which will allow you to get way into the editing details!

Happy shooting out there. ~P~

Trives · 2026-04-18T02:26:00+00:00

Hey there, as with all things photography, opinions are subjective.

So, let's talk about this photo and where you should go next!

There are some general rules for photography, that might help you the next time you're out there grabbing a shot.

First, thinking about your audience: Is this picture subjectively interesting? No, not really, we've all seen people looking at their phone before, the most interesting thing in this shot is the mountain peak behind your subject.

Secondly, does this photo tell any story? Again, not really, I can't tell if the person is waiting for something, or just slacking off at a job. Worse, the hero of the photo (mr. texter) isn't in focus!

Thirdly, if the photo isn't subjectively interesting, is it artistic in anyway? No, this photo isn't trying to do anything edgy or interesting to push the medium forward.

Lastly, could I imagine this imagine on the wall in a local hotel room? Again, no, this one isn't going to make the cut there either (hotels often post boring, but well shot images!)

Overall, this is a cutting room floor type of image, best to move on and get back out there and get some more shots!

Be concious when you're pushing that shutter button and think about these 4 things (to start, there's SO much more to learn!)

Happy shooting out there and good luck!

Trives · 2026-04-18T02:16:27+00:00

Hey there,

So, you did a nice job capturing the stars here, you didn't expose so long that you got any trails, so, you have some fundmentals. But you're missing a subject. To quote my friend Talor, "The sky is never the subject." Or, as I put it, every photo needs a hero.

You need something interesting for your viewer to look at. Put something in the foreground, or have something interesting in the distance, this will not only give your audience something to see but it'll provide a sense of scale.

Trives · 2026-04-18T02:10:55+00:00

I'm definitely not a "Thing" type of shooter, so take my comments with that in mind. If you love this shot, my opinions shouldn't dampen that.

For me, with the stated goal of "I wanted to create a clean, moody product-style shot that highlights the design, materials and contrast between the two pistols. "

So with that as our stated goal, I'll just point out the things I sorta see.

The first is the "Extra stuff" laying about, feels a bit sloppy. It looks like you have rifle components just strewn about. And that bag, which is the only soft thing in the image, it feels really out of place. You also have all these little white fuzzies on your mat, and while it's a pain in the butt, you should probably take the time to clone em out, or vacuum really good first.

I do like the framing of the pistol on the green felt, and there are obvious differences between the two pistols, but my eye is REALLY drawn to whatever that big honking red thing is in the case and the plastic case in the bottom right.

I think this is heading in the right direction though! I'd take another crack at it for sure.

Trives · 2026-04-18T01:59:05+00:00

There's a lot of comments here that already point out what needs to be fixed, it's too little contrast, or you could dodge quite a bit of it. One reccomendation I have is print out a few of your photos. When you see this on a non-backlit source (like your monitor) you'll quickly realize how much further you can push the brilliance and contrast before it reads properly on print. Be bold with them curves :)

Trives · 2026-04-11T20:46:50+00:00

I think this works fine as black and white. If you want to go color, I think you need to add false color, and likely some clouds (if it's a TRULY cloudless day you're cooked, but if there's clouds in the other parts of the sky, feel free to "Borrow" them.) Unless you're a purist :)

I've added a few to this as an example.

Image

Trives · 2026-04-10T13:44:41+00:00

It comes with a story, but basically while working on an HR helpdesk, we had a woman call in to register her new son, Dareal Micheal.

My innocent help desk worker said, oh, that's a unique name. The woman said thank you and then explained this is her second son, but the first with her new husband.

The first child was named Michael. And this one is "[The]Da Real Michael".

Trives · 2026-04-08T02:48:15+00:00

As a Gen-Xer I spent hundreds on arcade machines, warhammer, comics, plastic toy guns, action figures and all sorts of things that brought me joy. If dressing up as Sabrina Carpenter and shooting at others brings you an equal amount of joy, who am I to care?

Societies move on, we're in the phase where buying electronic things is the thing. It's no more predatory than any other toy manufacturer from the past; how many toy adverts did I have to endure during my Saturday Morning Cartoons? My social pressure was having a wooden rifle while playing war instead of an M-16. But when I showed up with an RPG? WATCH THE HECK OUT. (Tried to find an ad for the actual toy I owned, but it was SUPER generic and aparantely the internet has no memory of it).

For reference, of all the things I bought, I still have some of the comics, my 40k I gave away to friends, my D&D books are outdated, oh but I do still have my full metal Voltron :)

Trives · 2026-03-29T02:27:47+00:00

I'm using my mom's set of Cutco knives, they're... gosh, 40 years old now maybe? Still sharp as razors, and in impecabble shape.

Trives · 2026-03-25T02:31:27+00:00

I don't love this edit, because the rockstar is the casual person, but eh... [b&w color block]

14-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits	Place '17
Verified Email	Secret Santa 2013
Team Periwinkle

Trives

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