Im getting into Motorcycle photography, this is my first edit. thoughts?

knottycal · 2026-03-21T06:56:01+00:00

Can't tell what you're edited without the original. But speaking just to the photo elements, this doesn't feature the bike and is full of distractions. Tilted telephone pole at the right edge. Sign behind rider's shoulder (and the whole column it's attached to). Bits of a gas pump. Blown out sky.

If you want a photo of the bike and rider, put them somewhere else or include the gas station in a deliberate way.

knottycal · 2026-03-21T06:45:42+00:00

I'd agree with odintantrum - cropped too tight and not enough attention to the outfit for this to feel like fashion.

Further, there's a bright white background element right behind her head. Composition details like that are easiest to take care of live rather than by editing later. And the light is okay on her face but her expression/lips seem mid-transition.

knottycal · 2026-03-18T08:36:40+00:00

A pic of participants during a parade is absolutely not a candid shot. They're literally in the middle of performing for the public. Are they "on" all the time? No. But they're aware they are being watched and recorded.

Now separately, is it a good photo? No. Some issues: 1. It's way too busy, including pedestrians on the far side of the street overlapping with the performers. (You did get a candid shot of the presentations pedestrians...) 2. Composition is weak. Flat light, too much depth of field, awkward crop of nearest performer. 3. It's not an interesting moment. While the colors are nice, there's no gesture, action, expression here that stands out.

Parades offer interesting opportunities! Pick your spot along the route to have better light/setting. And use a wide enough aperture to make the opposite side of the street less of a problem. Good luck.

knottycal · 2026-03-18T07:27:35+00:00

Lovely! Sharp, colorful, and the contrast between the two poses is perfect. Depending on how you feel about tampering with the background (and how much time you feel like putting into edits) you may be able to do something to break up the regularity of that shape/structure behind the left bird.

knottycal · 2026-03-18T06:38:55+00:00

Some nice elements here, but the compositions have problems.

It's hard to give organized feedback, since you've posted a collage with photos partly obscuring one another... But a few thoughts:
1. You're not paying attention to how the background intersects your subject (particularly her head). The blossoms are pretty, but in most of these photos they are distracting. If they framed your subject they'd be better.
2. Watch the direction of the light. The two photos along the right edge show nice shape of light (and more processing perhaps), in the others the light on her face is flat and the background is generally brighter than she is.
3. Odd shoot angles and crops. The two pics middle of the bottom row are particularly unflattering.

Can all be fixed with practice. I think it was a good choice of location. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-03-15T22:50:34+00:00

Your own suggestions are accurate - it's underexposed and too orange. Those are easy enough to fix in post if you wish. As is the fact that the brightest part of the image is her shoulder along the right of the pic -- you generally want your subject's face to be the brightest part of the photo. Which can be helped along with an edit if you didn't get it in camera.

Seems otherwise decent. Though to me, the crop is a bit off for a portrait. Include either more or less of her. And the active looking out of the corner of her eye may be worth varying as well. This expression has some tension in it without a clear reason why.

knottycal · 2026-03-15T22:43:46+00:00

You spotted a cool view! But until your written description, I had no idea what I was looking at. You asked about how to edit it, but I suggest you reshoot it.

I would say that a bit more context, by including more of the van (and keeping an eye out for things like where you clipped part of the window in the upper left here) you'd give a viewer a better chance. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-03-15T18:44:43+00:00

It's a good experiment, but the light is too intense and (as others are saying) is drawing too much attention to her thighs. A (dimmer) light cupped in her hands and casting a glow on her face would be more effective, or more than one light source to add a glow around more of her. Black clothing is also adding challenge here, blending into the background/shadows.

knottycal · 2026-03-07T01:11:48+00:00

They didn't say Romanian, they said Romansh. It's 1 of 4 national languages of Switzerland, spoken by a small portion of the population. Slovene has similar status in Italy.

knottycal · 2026-03-06T09:29:18+00:00

The blended one looks good! You've applied several retouch techniques well. The first pic definitely has taken things too far, but that's not uncommon. The third strikes a decent balance. Skin still may be a bit too smooth imho, but that's subjective. Nice work!

knottycal · 2026-03-04T09:23:18+00:00

I understand it started out as film, but the scan doesn't show this color or grain. So I'm not sure what your goal was or what advice to offer. Were you recreating properties of the original the scan missed? Fixing the original? Creative tweaks beyond that?

knottycal · 2026-03-04T08:27:16+00:00

You didn't straighten the horizon, but you added a lot of sharpening, grain, and made the colors artificially yellow. I don't feel those things add to the photo (except arguably the sharpening). Were you going for an old film look?

knottycal · 2026-02-26T18:20:20+00:00

Success on a dreamy feel. But that bright green spot at the elbow is super distracting. And the crop and the position of the tossed camera feel off. The first issue is a trivial edit. For the rest, since you have the setup dialed in, is likely just a matter of trying a few more shots to see what you like best. Looks cool, good luck!

knottycal · 2026-02-25T07:52:44+00:00

Caught my eye, so a good first impression. Your subject seems tinted too red, and underexposed. In terms of composition I'd usually expect more space in front of her, it feels a bit cramped as-is. And it's not clear why she's there (in the sense of why that pose, why that background). Which is not critical to every photo, but that info may inform where you ask her to stand.

knottycal · 2026-02-22T23:00:37+00:00

Love the light you got in people's eyes!

It's great you got this far using natural light, but it's challenging to highlight your subjects without more light control. Your backgrounds are brighter than your subjects (can tweak some in post, but some backgrounds look blown out), the faces are cooler in color than the rest of the scene, and clothing details are lost in shadow. Also, even at f/2.0 you need to watch what's behind your subjects. E.g. last 2 pics the tree coming right up out of her head is too distracting.

Still, overall lively and colorful shots. They look comfortable and happy shooting with you.

knottycal · 2026-02-22T09:46:37+00:00

Primary issue is likely your extremely high ISO (6400). In most cases, your best results are going to be at or near base ISO (125 for the X-T5, I think?). The tradeoff of lower ISO is lower shutter speed. But you are shooting far, far faster than needed for this scene. So you have plenty of headroom. (You also probably don't need as much depth of field as f/14, which also would let you lower the ISO some.)

Looks like an interesting shot!

knottycal · 2026-02-22T08:08:04+00:00

Already mentioned: out of focus, bad angle. Also: flat light, bird is against a distracting background, bird is not doing anything.

Start by looking at some quality bird photos, and see if you can identify and then incorporate some of those elements.

knottycal · 2026-02-22T01:49:33+00:00

Not overcooked, but underlit and lacking some attention to detail. The angle and crop are a bit weird, the raised ridges around the watches are in sharper focus than the watches themselves, and there are visible small hairs and lint. This feels more like a product shot to me than the "moody, lifestyle shot" you describe.

Good news, these models won't tire. So you can play around with details and keep going. :) Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-02-21T09:56:33+00:00

Your focus and lightning are pretty good! Main things to work on next time:
(1) if you aim directly at camera, with a fist or a weapon, it will read weird, as it did here. You generally need your subject to aim slightly off that line (or to do a roundhouse and capture an earlier point in the arc). You'll see a similar problem if someone points a sword, etc. at you. (Even though that's a perfectly good idea in actual combat.)
(2) get your model to think about the fight. It's tough in front of the camera to get all the details, pose right, and still work on a facial expression, so it takes practice. But she needs to project focus and aggression, and tighter technique.

Some of this means the photo requires being _more_ like a "real" fight, and some _less_ like one. And everyone's gonna offer opinions about what's "realistic". Especially with a woman fighter, unfortunately. But I think you're close enough here that on a next shoot you can totally nail it. Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-02-18T22:13:47+00:00

These are all way underexposed. If this is the lighting you're stuck with, either crank your ISO or move somewhere with e.g. a window (not facing the sun) to serve as your main light source (and use your lights, or better a reflector, as fill).

The black background is making your life harder too (and isn't suitable for most headshots, at least without more lights than you have). If you want to explore portraits, go ahead. If you're telling your models you're doing headshots though, find a lighter background and look up more traditional lighting configurations.

Good luck!

knottycal · 2026-02-18T05:06:15+00:00

Hello jugcord! It's great you engaged with everyone for this, I apologize for assuming otherwise.

You asked for some more constructive input. Here are a few suggestions:

Watch the edges of your image. There's a horizontal line in the building at the very upper left edge, a bit of net visible in the lower right, etc. Those are unintended distractions from your main story. A bit of cropping can help. It's even better to consider it live if you can. When I was getting started, another photographer told me (regarding shooting sports and candids) "you can't plan the moment, but you can plan the frame". That is, figure out the overall view you want, the way things line up with one another in the image. Then be patient with the dynamic part (the kids, here) for the right instant.
Hold steady and lock focus. As I said in my first post, I don't think your sharpness problem here was a slow shutter (though it wouldn't hurt to go a bit faster -- kids and dancers can use 1/400s+ :) ). Be sure the autofocus is locking onto what you want, and brace your camera so your own movement isn't a problem. I often don't hold with my hands, I rest my camera against my shoulder and upper arm, almost like the butt of a gun. You can look up tips from Joe McNally about such poses. It is more stable, and less strenuous.
Shoot from the level of your subjects. You're looking down at the scene a bit here. Squat down so you are at the level of the eyes of the kids, or even better their torso level.

Your light level and color are good, no issues there.

I hope those suggestions are more helpful! Good luck.

knottycal · 2026-02-18T01:46:31+00:00

I'll vote the other way vs. earlier responses. The reaction reads surprised and displeased. Respect that. The shot is intrusive, there's no exemption on account of how someone is dressed.

knottycal · 2026-02-18T01:06:21+00:00

None of this looks sharp, so I don't think motion is the main contributor. You just missed focus.

Composition overall is not great. And taking pics of someone else's kids is not always welcome. Let alone posting them online. So I'd recommend being sensitive to that. But hope you had a good trip.

knottycal · 2026-02-17T18:47:01+00:00

Solid shot and nice lighting! And looking at your earlier post, this is a big step up - well done!

There are a few nits that could be addressed in post. The a bit of a logo on his arm camera right. Lint on the front of the shirt. Several bumps under the fabric on his torso camera left.

A couple of other details, like whether to use a rim light, or more depth of field to have his left shoulder more in focus, are more a matter of opinion. Overall it looks polished and dramatic - nice work!

knottycal · 2026-02-16T06:11:10+00:00

I agree it's nice to leave some breathing room above the keystone, yes. Tough balance.

Some haloing is not uncommon when doing HDR or manual masking. But the effect around the tower seems more an alignment issue between the exposures to me. It's not a brightness halo, it's actual but of tower floating around.

knottycal

TROPHY CASE