Your photos 30

Your photos (30)

Take Better Photos

Hints and tips
by Philip Grosset

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with comments from Philip Grosset

"Here are some photos taken over the last 20 years or so. The first is a K64 slide taken in Yosemite a number of years ago. It was cropped and manipulated in Photoshop to try to regain the luminosity of the slide. The second was a slide taken in Puget sound area a few years ago. The last 2 pictures were taken more recently as I was trying out my new Nikon 28-105 zoom." (Arnie Horwitz)

These are some very accomplished photos. The picture on the left would be more effective in its original slide form as detail is needed to bring it to life. It's certainly a dramatic scene.

In your photo (on the left), the ship is almost in the middle of the picture. On the right, I've moved it to the right but also kept in most of the sunlit part of the water. I've also painted out two small blemishes that can just be spotted in your version, one on each side of the wake.

You can't go wrong with this sort of big close-up as long as the sun is shining and, as here, there's a really suitable background. The colors are very pleasing too.

I'm a bit out of depth with this particular subject. Your photo (on the left) looks fine, but I'm not quite certain which part of the picture most interests you. Assuming it's the light and number plate area, I've moved in closer (on the right) to feature this more clearly. A subject like this would benefit from a series of photos, including one of the whole car. Your version may fall a bit between two stools: it doesn't show either the whole car or (what I assume is) the most interesting part in quite enough close-up. But these are all pleasing photos!

Reply from Arnie Horwitz: "Thanks for your kind and helpful comments. Even after doing photography for more than 20 years, I still can use some objective help with cropping pictures. Your suggestions were very good and improved the pictures. Here is one more picture taken last year in Paddington Station. Best wishes."

A very successful photo that well captures the atmosphere of the old station. I like it!

"Hi, This is my first try with a 645 Mamiya. I like the photos for the leaf shadow patterns but wonder what an expert thinks. Thanks/Rod"

Your picture, on the left, was pretty puzzling until I realised it was made up of two separate photos! The problem is that they are both too dark and too fuzzy to show up the leaf patterns very clearly. I've simplified it by selecting (on the right) just the brightest part of the lower picture.This looks less confusing, but the leaf patterns really still need to be sharper to show what they are.

Reply from Rod: "Sorry about confusion - was meant to be two photos each slightly different. I appreciate very much your critique."

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