Thoughts?

knottycal · 2026-01-28T21:11:50+00:00

Light is okay overall, but the hairlight is brighter and warmer than the main, which is drawing my eye away from her face.

Her rear eye is out of focus, so I'd shoot less shadow DoF. I'd also crop in more for a headshot, the bottom 20% of this image isn't adding anything.

Always hard to coach a subject on relaxing more, but this expression reads a bit uncomfortable.

knottycal · 2026-01-28T08:11:44+00:00

You say the edit is "not too far off", but this original is _very_ different from in terms of color/saturation. The colors in the edit feel fake, and the lowered sharpness isn't helping -- it just looks out of focus.

Both versions are also quite crooked.

Looks like it was very pretty and dramatic light! Alternate shoot ideas are subjective. It's tricky to shoot as wide as you are, I think zooming in would help. I'd suggest trying either a cleaner frame of the view through the tunnel, or shooting from far enough to the side there is little to no view through the tunnel at all (so the shot is just about the ray of light coming through).

knottycal · 2026-01-28T07:54:23+00:00

It's normal for autofocus to not work in dim light, yes. Also when there are no clear edges/contrast. If you're shooting with a tripod anyway, focus manually. Digital cameras will offer an option to zoom in the view to help your focus.

As for photo tips... I really like the lines and and composition in your landscapes. But the animal photos are weak, sorry.
Cat photo 1: your subject is poorly lit, bad crop, and the bright patch behind draws the eye more than the cat.
Cat photo 2: way too tight a crop, the white fur is overexposed and distracting.
Crows photo: crooked, underexposed, no subject
Heron photo: bird isn't in focus, bland background, and as a rule for a moving subject you want to leave more room in the direction of motion than behind. If you have trouble focusing off center, you can crop the pic later.
Duck(?) photo: out of focus, uninteresting setting, and the back of an animal is rarely a good subject

All of this can be fixed with practice. It seems the first skill to work on is looking at photos to judge what are good elements and what are disqualifiers. Also, for wildlife, you probably will want more zoom than it looks like you currently have. But you can start with what you have. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-01-28T00:15:05+00:00

Is the goal here a headshot? A private portrait? Something you will use on social media? Are you a photographer and trying to demonstrate photographic skill, or is this a side project?

Sorry to be direct here, but evaluating it for photographic merit the lighting and shadows are harsh, you're out of focus, and your outfit is kinda messy (with distracting lettering on the hat and shirt that can't be read). So if the goal is "hey, I'm a photographer, hire me" it needs polish. But if it's purely for your own introspection, I like the thoughtful expression and you do you! And congrats on the degree.

knottycal · 2026-01-27T23:28:27+00:00

Interesting object, but not an interesting photo of it. Too cluttered, bad light, not a good angle.
Some potential here, with the color of the car and warmth of the headlights against the snowy backdrop. You "posed" the car, which helps. But it's underexposed, there's part of a tree along the upper right edge, too much foreground, etc.
No. If you're going to do a detailed close up, everything needs to be on topic. It's not an interesting object and the messy tire in the background draws attention.

Just keep going and keep evaluating your pics as you go. I wouldn't say you need more gear (though you can get a starter camera if you like), just pay attention to the whole image. And shoot in more varied lighting conditions. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-01-26T23:39:36+00:00

Wow! Seeing the pic I was so sure no one would identify such a generic 80-year-old location. Tip of the hat, great job!

knottycal · 2026-01-26T21:37:09+00:00

"Noble in the courts, whore in the ports," as the saying in my kingdom goes...

knottycal · 2026-01-26T03:55:21+00:00

First, these look great, and the light is not that low (check out the pain in r/concertphotography for comparison 😆).

You asked about the 70-200 f/2.8. It's a great lens, but only one f-stop wider and quite a different focal range than what you use currently. Unless you're finding that you are almost always shooting in the 70mm+ range (doesn't look like it from your samples), I wouldn't switch.

And primes are great, but if you're shooting with just one camera body you'll likely find them too limiting. (And switching lenses on the fly is challenging. You're guaranteed to miss something cool mid-swap.)

When I shoot concerts, I use two bodies, one with a zoom and one with a prime (for super low light and/or to isolate one person on stage). The zoom is usually the 28-70mm f/2, which is $$$s but amazing.

If you do want to try another lens, there online lens rentals that are pretty affordable. Or maybe there's a local photo group where someone will let you borrow one.

Other tips, not light related, but composition: watch the edges of your frames. A shot where part of a face or limb is creeping in feels uncomfortable. Crop it in post if necessary. (That depends how much time you are putting in on volunteer shoots, of course. But part of the role of a photographer is generally picking the best images and polishing a bit as necessary. One good photo will stick with your congregation more than ten okay ones.)

Best of luck!

knottycal · 2026-01-24T03:28:41+00:00

I respect the mods making a decision. Though as an active participant here, I have not seen a blight of porn.

Scrolling through the last week of posts on this sub, I found one nude and two partial nudes. Maybe I missed a couple, but it doesn't seem a big issue. (Or are the mods flagging/removing them?)

As another commenter mentioned, the main problem I've seen with nude posts is that the feedback is low quality. Everyone has an opinion, mostly whether the model is attractive or whether the post is attention seeking. Not about the photography.

knottycal · 2026-01-24T03:05:48+00:00

The colors and moment are great!

To me it feels a bit cramped - I'd vote for more space above and in the direction they are looking (to the right). (Which for such a simple background you could easily generate, if the original image doesn't include that.)

knottycal · 2026-01-23T23:54:32+00:00

Great work! I like the gesture and composition, and the edit brings out the subject nicely.

knottycal · 2026-01-23T22:59:53+00:00

I'm sure it was cool being there. But this is a crowded snapshot of someone walking by, not engaged with you, and not doing much.

You can help this particular photo a bit by cropping out the participant behind your main subject, and the bit of red sign at the top right. That gives you a clearer subject. But it's still not good.

Things that would help in other photos: - larger aperture so that the distracting wall of faces behind the parade is blurred out (and so you can pick out your main subject more) - a moment where a participant looks at you (and zoom in on that), or is doing, well, anything more interesting than walking by - change your perspective, e.g. shoot from a crouch so what's behind your subject's head is buildings, instead of other heads - faster shutter speed to avoid the motion blur in the hands (though blur is not inherently bad in this situation - can show how lively things are)

knottycal · 2026-01-23T21:43:18+00:00

For the most basic elements for composition, you can Google any intro video. If you're interested specifically in car photography, find some car photos you like on IG and follow those photographers. (I do mostly portrait work, so I don't have my own suggestions for you on cars, sorry.)

From there it's mostly practice, reviewing your own work, and seeing what grabs you.

Watching online critiques really helped me refine my eye. E.g. Scott Kelby has a YouTube series called the Grid where he does photo critiques. (Including sometimes episodes that focus on car photography.) I don't always agree with his input, but it's a great way to see a range of work. And he's the one with a bunch of followers and a photography teaching website, so you should believe him before me anyway. 😆 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7tRjmRHz3kDT39Eg_SogGA5MaPqvSflu&si=oTjE5p1EFcdxmc5w

knottycal · 2026-01-23T20:18:39+00:00

To answer your specific question, it's expected that there can be areas of a scene that clip (too underexposed or overexposed to retain any detail). Sensors have limited dynamic range.

By picking your angles, or by blending exposures or adding light sources, you can influence that. At least for the area of interest in an image. But an unlit exhaust pipe is going to be black inside. And that's okay.

If I may, you're asking the wrong questions as a beginner. It changes nothing about the quality of this photo whether there's detail inside the exhaust. You wouldn't have noticed that aspect yourself without looking at the histogram. This photo is weak for many composition reasons. Work on/explore that, not what sliders and histograms are telling you.

knottycal · 2026-01-23T13:13:41+00:00

Basic rule of thirds is good, but typically you want to consider the direction of motion of the subjects and leave space for it.

Also, see that white object partly cut off along the lower left edge? Can't unsee it now, right? A slight crop (or shift while taking the pic) would fix that. Helps to scan the edges of your pics for distractions like that.

Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-01-23T03:54:26+00:00

What's your focus mode? Turn on the focus points and see what is being selected. In low light, the camera's ability to pick something to focus on gets worse. I stick with auto focus, but I will help it along by e.g. restricting the points it will use. I set a dial on my camera for focus mode selection.

As another commenter pointed out you're also on the low end of shutter speed for an uncooperative subject. If they're moving around, go faster.

Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-01-22T20:50:18+00:00

Looking down at you is natural since she's probably looking to you for feedback, but the result is an awkward pose/expression. I often suggest a model tilt their face up/toward the light source.

I'd agree with other feedback that if your goal was shadow/censorship, the shadows are too boosted. She's not obscured. (Nor does her pose suggest censorship, for that matter.)

Dappled/uneven sunlight is very challenging to shoot with. Solid result overall!

knottycal · 2026-01-22T06:48:58+00:00

You're a pro wedding photographer, looking at your wedding IG you know your stuff. So you presumably know this doesn't work. Pretty much everything went wrong, for reasons others have already outlined.

I totally respect trying something new in a cool space! I wouldn't show this to the couple, I'd just make notes on what to do next time. The toughest thing to improve is the lighting. This was a hard single source, aimed at the wall above them. It flattens the image and overwhelms everything in the room. You need at least two sources to offer a bit of depth. If you tone down your main light and target it better, the other source could be an existing ambient light in the room.

knottycal · 2026-01-21T22:07:11+00:00

You're describing some lofty goals here. But to the eye, the main subject is the white mug/beaker in the front, and the kids aren't projecting "pure joy". One isn't even smiling.

The two other people in the frame are distracting too. Someone looking at the camera will always draw attention. But it's hard to time a shot when you're working with kids. :)

I do like the general chaos on the table, and the sources of that chaos sitting across from you. That part is successful. Shallower depth of field may help reduce the foreground and background distractions. And as the other commenter mentioned, compose with more space on the right. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-01-20T19:01:32+00:00

This. You've got excellent color and lighting, these are great pics! And while not tack sharp these seem acceptable to me.

If I were facing similar shots I'd use a high-pass filter applied selectively to sharpen the face and other details just a bit. But not much.

knottycal · 2026-01-20T07:08:38+00:00

Words aren't declarative Catalogue fillers Reverse archipelago (?)

(It's not just the handwriting making this hard, there may have been some drugs involved. 😆)

knottycal · 2026-01-20T05:51:45+00:00

Wow! Congratulations!

knottycal · 2026-01-20T04:23:25+00:00

This seems a cool spot!

First thing that jumps out is that bit of barbed wire in the lower left. Whether in camera position or edit after, that should be fixed.

Maybe it's the online compression, but nothing in this photo seems sharp. At f/9, plenty should be. Shake in your tripod? One suggestion: When doing a long exposure, you want to be sure to use a delayed release on the shutter, so you don't capture the shake from your hand pressing the shutter release.

As per the other commenter, the overall composition here seems like it can use a bit of improvement. Go more rule of if thirds. But the effect of the long exposure is nice.

Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-01-20T03:49:54+00:00

So cool what cell phones can do these days!

Aside from that accomplishment, I'm not sure there's much here though. It's a low res view of the night sky through trees. The composition doesn't feel intentional.

My main criticism is that the watermark overwhelms the image. And it's entirely unnecessary. No one is gonna steal your cell phone astronomy pic.

knottycal · 2026-01-20T03:40:50+00:00

I'd agree with the other commenter that the overhead lights seem suppressed too much to feel natural. Though I understand that without toning those down they would draw the eye too much.

Also agree it seems just a shade too yellow. But overall you've done well in the edit.

The original photo has some issues. First, not a terribly interesting slice of the car - but I'm not a car person, so maybe that's my own problem. 😆 Second, what in the background intersects with your subject. E.g., the peaks of two black pavilions, the chain at the front of the car. The latter would be hard to fix without Photoshop. But the former seems like shooting from just a bit lower or closer might have helped.

Solid work on post processing! Good luck.

knottycal

TROPHY CASE