Constructive Criticism Required

[Fixer8]

A couple of photos that were taken on Christmas Day. Need some constructive criticism.

http://uploads.webrats.com/files/1112/Icicles-1.jpg


http://uploads.webrats.com/files/1112/Frozen-Web_4.jpg

[STW]

I like both of the pictures there very much, and I am hardly an expert so I'll do my best at some constructive criticism for you.

The first pic might be a tab bit busy. Looks like you wanted to focus in on the ice, but the spider webs and purple painted siding draw the eye away from the main subject. Also the icicles are a bit fuzy on the outsides of the pic, while the center is in focus. Did you use center weighted metering?

Second pic is great but just a little out of focus...spider webs are hard as hell to get decent pics of simply cuz they are hard to focus on.

Keep shooting!

[CWB]

the angle on the eave picture is darn good ... the contrasting angles of the walls in the center draw attention , leading the eye up to the roof edge with the hanging icicles . the edge of the roof forces the perspective to the backdrop of a solid wall ... the terminus of the picture ... the main theme of the picture is preserved by not having a "busy" background . the overall balance of the picture is good .
i am not sure what is going on with the left wall ... are those icicles or "ghosting" ? it distracts from the composition . if they could be physically removed before the shot it would be a help ... of course there is always photoshop !

spiderweb shots are difficult to start with ... sort of like photographing nothing . adding fine ice crystals to them helps give substance but requires that the texture of those crystals be shown ... in this case two basic elements demand close attention : lighting and sharp focus .
using a dark background and shallow depth of field helps out along these lines . with transparent subject matter such as ice or glass , there are going to be sharp delineations in brightness levels ... the angle of lighting plays a big part in bringing out the properties of these materials .

try setting up shards of broken glass , bottles and so-forth ... experiment with different backgrounds , lighting angles/types and exposures . check out the differences between clear glass and colored types ... this will help you when it comes to setting up shots of ice ... and even then there are differences in the optical properties of glass and ice !

ps ... the differential in the focus of the icicles (and the whole pix) is due to the depth of field of the lens system ... the larger the apature openings the shallower the depth of field . of course , the quality of the lens to start with is important ... low quality lenses tend to have a lot of abberation .

[Fixer8]

Thanks guys,

CW the ghosting is actually a reflection...it is the window of the Wendy House.

The spider web shows fine crystals of ice. It was a really cold morning so I was also shivering...excuses, excuses.

Another few to get your teeth into.

Taken a few months ago
http://uploads.webrats.com/files/1112/B.jpg

Again a few months ago
http://uploads.webrats.com/files/1112/Bz.jpg

Look to the middle and what do you see?

http://uploads.webrats.com/files/1112/Whats-in-the-middle.jpg

[STW]

HAHAAHAHAAHA!!!!! I LOVE that third one! It looks like a little Tiki Totem or something.....but with a giant NUTSACK. How did you mirror that image? Was it done in Photoshop?

I like the first two of the bees as well...the slight blur gives them action.

[Fixer8]

STW,

I used Photoshop CS2. It was not until I mirrored the image that I saw the totem.

When I get time I shall try to take the image out and display on its own.

[Treis10]

cool thank you let me think about that a bit