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KyledeC
9-Sep-2010, 16:18
Hello I want to hear some real honest critiques of my work. I am a student and I think that hearing some constructive criticisms will be beneficial to me and help me improve what I may need to.

Here is a link to my website:

http://www.kyledeclerckphotography.blogspot.com

And again please be honest. A critique from experienced photographers would really mean a lot to me.

Ken Lee
9-Sep-2010, 16:24
Looking at the b&w photos on my calibrated monitor, some appear to be under-exposed, and over-developed. Either that, or you tend towards a rather bold use of tones. Are you acquainted with either the Zone System or BTZS (Beyond the Zone System) methods ?

A photographer you might like a lot - who like you has an eye to strong tones and design - is Merg Ross (http://www.mergross.com/index.htm), an active member of this forum.

You might find it interesting to look at his work (http://www.mergross.com/portfolios.htm). Of course, strength is not the only element in his images: there is elegance, luminosity, mysterious depth, clarity, and more.

KyledeC
9-Sep-2010, 16:59
Thank you very much for your response! And I have studied the Zone System quit extensively. And I do like to create dramatic tones, but only when I believe it works for the image. And thank you for suggesting I view Merg Ross's work. Like you said it is very good, I like it very much! Again thank you for your response and advice!

Bruce Barlow
9-Sep-2010, 17:29
You're in love with foregrounds, and they aren't always working in your favor. Try, just to look, cropping some of your more pronounced examples to see if "less is more."

Yeah, there's an issue of tones, too. Careful letting you rocks go too light in some - it feels unnatural and distracts from the emotional core of the image.

I, too, am a Merg Ross fan. He's a fine printer, so have a look at how he handles the mid-tones. It was Brooks Jensen of LensWork who said that getting blacks and whites is easy, but getting satisfying mid-tones is often really hard. Brooks is the man.

KyledeC
9-Sep-2010, 17:38
Thank you Bruce! I appreciate your advice. I am definitely going to try your suggestion. Do you have any photographs in particular that you think eliminating the foreground would be better? As well as which photographs could use tonal improvement?

Thanks again, I greatly appreciate it!

jeroldharter
9-Sep-2010, 17:58
After you take the above advice, you might try your hand at bleaching. I find bleaching laborious, tedious, time consuming... but rewarding. It can be a lot of fun. I think it is easiest if you watch someone do it first. I fiddling around much to timidly for a long time on my own until I saw the light with the help of Per Volquartz. Of course, a heavy hand with the bleach is no good either.

Your photo with a rocky beach in the foreground with a lot of striated rocks could be rendered more dramatic by printing the tones darker and then bleaching back the highlights to make the rocks more dramatic. Easier said than done though. I find bleaching best for lightening small areas of a print that would be impossible to dodge.

KyledeC
9-Sep-2010, 18:02
I will definitely look into doing that. I have never experimented with bleach before, so it will probably take me some time to learn.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Sirius Glass
9-Sep-2010, 18:04
Great work! To the above, I would add that you should check that the vertical lines are vertical.

Steve

KyledeC
9-Sep-2010, 18:07
Thank you Steve! I will definitely work on that! A lot of my early 4x5 work has terrible vertical lines, but I have been trying to improve.

Fourtoes
9-Sep-2010, 23:55
Hi Kyle,

Just a comment on your website. After clicking on a portfolio and viewing the images theres a button to return to that particular portfolio home page but then no button to return to the main home page, so I have to press back back back back etc on the browser window.

Might be easier to add a home button somewhere.

Keep up the good work.

Tony

Marek Warunkiewicz
10-Sep-2010, 02:30
Agree with above comments and might want to add that yur horizon lines are off in a few cases. Looks like an error.

Ken Lee
10-Sep-2010, 05:03
To put a finer point on the issue of tonality:

It's one thing to find a subject that is already strong, and render it exquisitely. It's another thing to find a more ordinary subject, but render it strongly anyhow.

In the first case, we end up with an exquisite image that happens to be strong, but also looks natural and lovely: everything works together. In the second case, there is a danger that the image looks... contrived.

Of course, those are the extremes: What we do, always lies somewhere between the two.

Bruce Barlow
10-Sep-2010, 05:24
Thank you Bruce! I appreciate your advice. I am definitely going to try your suggestion. Do you have any photographs in particular that you think eliminating the foreground would be better? As well as which photographs could use tonal improvement?

Thanks again, I greatly appreciate it!

Foreground: "Catalina Coast," for example,where the rocks don't buy you much, IMHO.

Tones: "Merced River," where I'd like to see the bigs rocks glow, rather than be as hot as they are. Simmering them down won't look contrived, and in fact will look more natural. The water's a little too bright for my tastes, too. The question is whether the lighter overall tonal balance is expressive of the emotional content of the image. I don't think so. It's a quiet, serene feeling, I believe, at the core, which needs a darker (but not TOO much darker) overall cast. It should glow, to my taste, and you're a little above glowing.

Michael Smith talks about "outflanking" the print - going too dark AND too light in test prints, so that you can split the difference and get what best expresses the emotional content. Fred Picker used to say "go too far and back off." Well, I think you're too light, so see what too dark looks like and split the difference.

By the way, do you really want that piece of rock in the lower right? It draws my eye out of the photograph, which is another way of saying that it distracts me from what the picture is about. Slide a piece of mat board up from the bottom to crop until it goes away. Better? The best thing would be to go back, move the rock, and keep the space under the big rocks with the partial one out of the way, but that might not be feasible unless you bring a platoon to help you move the rock. Standing in a different place might be enough.

And for cropping - don't reprint yet, just take a piece of mat board as you just did and cover the bottom, moving up until it feels right. Yup, feels. There's no right or wrong, but you'll feel the emotional energy change as you move the board. Sometimes I do that and amputate on the rotary trimmer. No reprinting required.

Have fun!

Stephane
10-Sep-2010, 08:13
- Main Header
High quality fine art print. Why not just "Fine art photography"?
It is like in science, people always saying "cuting edge", "frontier", "High resolution/precision". Blablabla.

- Artist statement
Your picture looks like a digital shot with "shadow highlight" PS work.
Needs to be worked on. "I am a student studying" is a bad start.
Also you say "abstract perspective...", there's no abstract besides the couple of macro shots.
"I create timeless pictures", not pretentious for a student? Rather say something like: "traditional photography gives a timeless feel to the pictures..."
To many "I", "my"...

- Upcoming shows
Empty, sure. But then it will be empty until you have some exhibition. Why not call it "News" and then you can insert all your past shows.

- Prices
No price there. Then rather call it "orders" or Prints...
Call? what number?

- General navigation
not so good. Need a tab with home on all pages, because some are dead-end.

Hope this helps

Good luck!

reyno bundit
10-Sep-2010, 08:28
i really love your colour shots, fantastic , especially the 35mm shots, they stand out from the 4x5.

your black and white looks a little pushed around in photoshop, lots of peppering in the blacks which indicate poor exposure and a lot of tweaking for the computer screen.

i think it takes a long time to switch from the smaller format to larger format as it appears you may recently have done.

my advice wait until your 4x5 skills catch up to your smaller format skills before you advertise them as fine art prints, dont peak to soon and shoot yourself in the foot

great 35mm colour . just love it

ROL
10-Sep-2010, 09:23
Kyle,

I believe all the above comments are pretty much on target, including the ones aimed at your site construction, and should be taken seriously, as you have obviously done. I recently reworked my own site using "blogging" software. You may want to check it (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/) out as well as the article I wrote on Making a Fine Art Print (http://www.rangeoflightphotography.com/news/Making+a+Fine+Art+Print).

Keep going!

KyledeC
10-Sep-2010, 09:34
Wow thank you all for the advice! I am taking it all very seriously. I really appreciate it! I am going to make some major changes to my website, and hopefully that will improve. Thank you Stephane for being specific. It's very helpful. I am also going to be working on the tones of some of my images. Thank you Bruce for being specific on which images need the tonal improvement. That Merced River is a very difficult negative, so it doesn't surprise me that you suggested I work on its tones. If anyone else has specific images in mind that need improvement, than I would be very appreciative to hear what they are. Again thank you all for taking the time to critique my work, it means a lot!

Larry Gebhardt
10-Sep-2010, 09:43
I agree with most of what the previous commenters have to say.

On much of your color work you are suffering from the limitations of slide film, especially where there is white water. Trying color print film in these situations would help keep the highlights from blowing out as they have. It will also tend to be lower contrast, which would improve many of your images in my opinion.

On the black and white i tend to think you are printing with too much contrast, or your exposure isn't capturing enough detail in the shadows.

I really like your Grass and Fog image. I think you got it just right. The sky in your Summer Storm in the Tetons is perfect, but I would like a little more detail in the foreground and the mountains.

dperez
10-Sep-2010, 11:45
I like where you are headed. major props to you for putting your early 4x5 stuff out there. The one thing that immediately comes across to me on a number of images is the horizon line seems to be off.

It may have been something that you intended to do, or maybe the camera was level but the horizon just appears to be off level because of the terrain. Again, I don't mean to say that it diminishes those images, it's just a tad bit distracting to me in some instances.

With all that said though I think you will only improve with more experience, so I look forward to seeing some of your new work.

I enjoyed your Locket meadow shot... It reminds me of my time living in Flagstaff. You might also take some time in the Lake Marry area. You can get some very good sunset shots there, and it's only 5-10 minutes south of Flagstaff. Also, check out the County Road 419 to Leupp and on to Dilkon. There's a lot to photograph there. You might also take a short drive up the 89 to Silver Saddle Road which is off the 89 just a few miles north the Flagstaff Mall. Check out the neighborhoods around there, I have found some interesting things to photograph.

Good luck.

venchka
10-Sep-2010, 12:32
Hi Kyle,

Just a comment on your website. After clicking on a portfolio and viewing the images theres a button to return to that particular portfolio home page but then no button to return to the main home page, so I have to press back back back back etc on the browser window.

Might be easier to add a home button somewhere.

Keep up the good work.

Tony

I totally agree. A fatal flaw in the web design.

Ken, Bruce & others covered the visual aspects of your work more eloquently than I. I agree with their opinions. There is also an element of personal taste involved as well. Some may like the dark and brooding approach. On the other hand, I prefer a harmonious blend of as many tonal variations as possible.

Good luck & good light.