Is my photo crappy? :( :)

Hello,

I am trying to set up my portfolio and found this pic but when i am zoom it 100% looks blurry by the sides. In my opinion looks crappy, right?
Also, if if zoom a pic 100% and don't see any blur or pixelation would i consider that photo as a good quality ?

Thanks for your help and feedback,
G

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

If anything, I would have tried to aim a little higher, and get more of the cliffs and less of the foreground. I'm not there though, so I can't tell what that would give us. Your composition might be spot on. It would be a judgement call on your part. Personally I like to see less foreground in pictures like this and more background, but the picture is beautiful. I would not call it crappy at all. I'd be pleased with the results.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

Really sonicbuffalo...! Hmmm, what about this one, same spot but the waterfall.....i did not use a tripod at all.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

@gerfoto....you're right, I like the first one better! Great shot!

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

Hmm, maybe I am very picky with my photos...lets see what other people say about them.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

The first impression when looking at the first was; flat. It's like the colors faded or have been desaturated to a degree. Parts are nice, others look a bit washed out. It might have been the intent or it could be me. There's also little depth but again, that might be me.

I assume the waterfall is the center of attention, at least my eye travels there but, as has been said, it could have been positioned better.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

From a scale 1 to 10 both pictures ?

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

gerfoto said:

Hmm, maybe I am very picky with my photos...lets see what other people say about them.

Click to expand...

If you're looking for someone to say something negative about your image, I'm sure you will succeed. You seem to be a pixel peeper, and look for any tiny flaw. WHat you have to realize is that if you're trying to sell a photo, the parties interested most likely will not want to run a series of tests on the image. They either like it or they don't. Lighten up, and don't be so hard on yourself. It was a very good shot!

1st shot = 7 (I agree with J-see....it was flat with no depth)

2nd shot = 2 (shot not meant to be, just a learning experience)

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

Thanks a lot sonicbuffalo. Let's start 2015 with lots of positivism and flexibility with my own photo judgement.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

gerfoto said:

From a scale 1 to 10 both pictures ?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't know what to put on it. Mind you, it's a nice shot but whether I give it a 1 or a 10, or any in between, any number says less about the shot than they say about me.

I only mentioned what "bothered" me since nice or great usually doesn't help.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

Thank you all.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

One question; assuming you used a tripod for these, why do you shoot at ISO 200?

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

That picture was in my beginnings back in 2011. Did not use a tripod and i must have used a tripod and shot with ISO 100, right ?

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

gerfoto said:

That picture was in my beginnings back in 2011. Did not use a tripod and i must have used a tripod and shot with ISO 100, right ?

Click to expand...

You can shoot anything you like but at 100 you have close to a stop dynamic range more and half a bit tones and color sensitivity. If you pod, there's little reason to let that go to waste.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

gerfoto said:

View attachment 131810

Click to expand...

Crap? No. Good? No. It's a nice scene and there is lots to shoot here, but the composition here leaves me asking, "What is it you're trying to show me?" I love the deep color of the water and the waterfall, but I have to climb over all that foreground stuff to get there (none of which, btw, leads the eye anywhere). This is a snapshot of a place where photographs are taken. You needed to take a deep breath, slow down and find the photographs here, and then use the tools you have to execute them (with running water, a tripod and ND should have been at hand and used). From this spot there's a shot in and around here somewhere...



...but you'd be even better served to get in a position where you could cut out the foreground entirely, or use it to lead into what it is you want to show a little more effectively.

As for your question regarding blur on the sides, a lot of wide angles will distort and go soft at at the edge and I suspect that's a lot of it. Sometimes if you use profile correction in Lightroom/ACR any lack of quality in the optics will be further exaggerated. The 10-24mm zoom here is a decent lens, but you're shooting wide open and that will also tend to give you some softness and is likely the major culprit. Get to know your equipment and know where you need to set your aperture to get maximum sharpness.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

Thanks so much backdoorhippie. I am sure I have improved my skills since 2011. My tripod is my best companionship.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

While it's a nice image to look at... It does not jump out and scream "hey look at me!". There is way too much going on in the image itself, and finding a particular area like what BDH did to the image gives you more of an area to focus on. The colors are also very off and very desaturated, so I would say that it's not going to be anything that you should show for a portfolio, maybe as a vacation photo to your friends and family, but not when you are looking to either sell images or book yourself as a photographer.

IMHO, this particular image could have been more spectacular using an ND to save whatever natural color would have been there.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

You are absolutely right. I opted out not to upload those photos. Thanks so much for the constructive criticism.

Re: Is crappy my photo ?

I was checking the colors and there's plenty of data. I tweaked the shot, added a bit of clarity and contrast and slightly s-curved the RGB channel. How much is a matter of preference but it directly affects the flatness.





What I also often do is use the gradient filter in LR to create some minor exposure difference between two parts of the shot and adjust both their WB to their opposite direction.



There's a thousand ways to tweak a shot.

Thanks a lot J-See