spacecadet2185 Loc: K.C. Mo. USA

Happy New Year!
This will be an interesting year for me. Being retired and trying to learn photography. If I can post a picture next December that has less than two paragraphs of good honest criticism I will feel successful. 😄 I've been following this thread all night. Talk about a crash course. My head hurts, my brain shut down two hours ago and I'm still having fun 😜. Thanks for the excellent tutorial. May you all have a safe and wonderful year.

Ron

PS Another milestone, I now understand the first three pages of my owners Manuel 😳

ediesaul

This must be a Mars/Venus thing. I also don't see the need for the car. The fact that it is red might have been important if one could see more of the color, but then the car would distract even more than it does now.
I had no idea that this is an SUV, maybe a macho metaphor? In any case, I, too, think it is extraneous and agree with bebo1998. Otherwise, it's a GORGEOUS photo: the composition, the colors, the story.

Please let me know what you think of these photos. I also enjoy taking pictures of other photographers.

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bebo1998 Loc: Baltimore MD area

The first one speaks to me. Her effort to get the camera closer while remaining safe - the body language says it. The framing is perfect.

redhogbill Loc: antelope, calif

I do and don't agree with the truck being in the photo.. as a person who is a catfish fisherman I think this is a great photo, {the bells on the end of the pole's, hands in pockets , and transportation to and from, a man and his thoughts contemplating life!! and no one to bother him!!}......
you state the SUV is "red" which if it was "red" in the photo,it would not ad "juxtaposition" to the photo as posted.
but being the SUV is a "tan..ish" hue in the photo it does add juxtaposition to the photo {sky and water}
if the SUV was cropped out you would have a photo "more " universal and appreciated by a larger audience
also if the SUV was not there, it would add more isolation{ to the fisherman} and we all know that isolation does draw out emotions!!!!!!
... as for hauling a boat, anybody who has done this kind of fishing would know that on a levee{steep banks no boat ramp! }, the only boat you could use in this particular instance is a blow up raft or 12' aluminum boat, which nether require a SUV!!!!
I think you should crop the SUV out and see what it does to the photo!!!! and ask for opinions !!
like I said, I like the photo, as is,....BUT....{I think there is a whole other photo there screaming to get out!!!
{{{this post took me 40 min. to write, so if I end up parroting someone else , I did not see your post!!!}}}}

IMHO!!!!!!!

EDIT.... I downloaded your photo and cropped it, I like it!!!!

bebo1998 Loc: Baltimore MD area

SS: I can almost hear Bob Seger singing from the radio but the (red) vehicle is still distracting.

Think I'm going to take my little beige (Acura MDX, loaded) thingy out for a nice ride today.
:-)


:wink: :wink: :thumbup: :thumbup:

bebo1998 Loc: Baltimore MD area

:thumbup: PS: I used to travel to ARK on business, and made friends with a group who took me cat fishing on the bayou. Tying the lines to the trees, etc., then puttering back at night to check the lines. The next day they had a big "fry" with hush puppies, the works. Very cool! Another pre-camera moment that I wish I could re-live w/digital. :|

Nightski

I like the truck in the photo. Guys and their trucks ... I get it ... I'm a girl and my Jeep. :-) There is nothing I love more than being out, alone, independent, with my Jeep and my camera and nobody is there to bug me! I'm sure it is the same for this guy and his fishing pole. I bet his SUV is stocked with all the essentials too ... Coffee, water, a little food, extra clothes, and a biolite campstove in case he feels like staying out late. LOL The SUV is the new locker room for everything important!

That being said, let's talk about the logistics of the photo. If the Jeep were to be cropped out, the shot would be unbalanced. If the shot were taken at a different angle the fisherman and poles would not be at the right perspective.

One more thing .. I was driving through the middle of South Dakota and I came upon this big lake/river .. and it was rainy and nasy outside. These two guys were fishing there and they had poles set up like this. Lots of poles .. I bet they had 10 poles. They got them all set up and went and sat in their truck and waited .. I watched them while I cooked my eggs on my bio-lite. It was the middle of South Dakota! No place to eat ... and I almost ran out of gas .. but that's a whole 'nother story.

Nightski

Edie, I love the way you have capture the lady. It tells the story of a lady on vacation. That being said think about getting out your telephoto as well next time. If you slapped a 100mm or 200mm on there you would compress the scene making the photographer look smaller and giving scale to this grand place.

Nightski

Wow! BMW! Love this shot ... so funny!

bebo1998 Loc: Baltimore MD area

Sunflower season 2014 - Jarettsville, MD

Nightski

I love, love, love that second shot!! I love sunflowers, I love that you are shooting a real live painting artist. I love the colors.

Nightski

Bebo ... that's not you, is it? That would be one cool selfie .. and you know, I think it's a great idea to use yourself to add interest to a photo if needed!

Photographer Jim Loc: Rio Vista, CA

So, the Rose Parade is on the TV, I am sitting around still in my slippers, as are the rest of the relatives, and I'm pondering some ideas and reactions that I have as a result of reading this thread. and this may be where I diverge a great deal from many. While I found much of the discussion to be interesting, I find myself wanting to yell out a warning. While graphic elements and patterns can create interest, juxtaposition can invite intellectual and emotional reaction by creating comparison or contrast, and while conscious incorporation of various environmental elements may help establish a sense of place and/time, when it comes to "strong composition" everything discussed here is ultimately trumped by how well one understands human visual perception and can control visual weights and balance within an image.

If, after reading through this thread, one were to walk away believing, for example, that including a wonderfully clever juxtaposition of two elements in their image will elevate that image to one that has a strong (or for that matter, even barely acceptable) composition, then they are at risk of having their compositional skill level become unproductively side-tracked. It is quite possible to have an image that contains some incredibly interesting graphic elements, for instance, and still be a very poorly composed and weak image.

Ultimately, there is a reason we have a well-known and generally accepted "Rule of Thirds", but do not have a "Law of Juxtaposition", or "Edict of Edginess". In the long run, it's a lot like playing baseball; if you really want to be successful, there is still no substitute for mastering the basics.

Sunnybuck Loc: Pleasanton, Kansas

Edie, I really like your first photo. What catches my eye here more than anything in this photo, is the precarious position of the photographers left foot and her somewhat over extended left ankle. The thought that she's just about to slide off into the crevice behind her adds tension to the photo for me. It also adds to the thought; the extent that photographers will go to get that one in a lifetime shot.

Nightski

May I add strict attention to focus or the intentional lack thereof? And may I also add that a boring well composed image may very well be a wall hanger in different light?

Having said that I am very grateful to SS starting a thread that has given me so much more food for thought. I showed up at preachers grove that day with juxtapostion in my head from this thread. I don't think I nailed that shot, but it gave me some fresh ideas on shooting that place. I think I should have had the second tree more OOF or backed up and gotten it in sharp focus. And it was getting a little late in the morning. I have a rule never to shoot daylight sky in the forest. I broke that rule that day to get the juxtapostion.