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Help choosing my top 5.

Apple fanboy

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Original poster
Feb 21, 2012
58,163
57,850
Behind the Lens, UK
Hopefully you guys here can give me a hand choosing the best of my shots from the last year. We are having a competition at work (just for fun) and have to enter our best 5 shots from the last 12 month.
Just to give you a bit of back ground, I only started this year and have a pretty basic set up. The other guys all shoot FF and have a range of experience and equipment. So I have narrowed down my choices to the ones below and I need to submit my best 5 by the end of the month. Any critique help would be much appreciated as I am hopeless at choosing.
1. A nice simple one to begin with.


2.The sun flare might not be to everyones taste but I like it.


3.A simple sunset local to me.


4.First of two B & W. I like the foreground interest as well as the tower in this one. In colour though it does nothing for me.


5.Many of you already gave me some advice on this one a while back. Pretty sure this one will make the cut.


6.My only HDR shot I have included.


7.Everyone loves a Ladybird. At the time of shooting I only had the 18-55mm and no tubes, so I liked this one.


8.Another simple tree I liked. Not sure why. Probably the range of colours.


9. This one and the next one are both from the same day. I like them both for different reasons.


10.
 
Thought I better do this in two stabs incase it times out!

11.Something different from me. I think I like this one because of the lighting and the time it took to edit!.


12.Another simple B & W of a sunflower on its way.


13.I like the fog in this one.


14.You probably remember this from the POTD thread as it was only last week.


15.So the last one I will show you. I like the range of colours here.


There others in my favourites set over on flickr but I think these are the best (although you are welcome to check out the others if you wish!) http://www.flickr.com/photos/98680861@N08/sets/72157639889975935/
So which 5 would you keep?
 
For me 13 & 15 are your strongest captures.

Is there any criteria at all which will be judged upon?
 
13 is my favorite also, but I like the lady bug and the last one with the pencils as well. All nice shots though:D.
 
7, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 15 are the best shots IMHO.

Number 15 is definitely your best capture - it's perfect and could quite easily be sold for stock!

I really love both 7 & 8 for their colour and lovely textures. 7 uses the rule of thirds well and 8 has nice leading lines.

I really like number 9, but I would prefer to see more shadow detail - particularly in the main tree to the right of the image. With the light coming from the direction it was, you would have seen much more colour & shape in the bark with your own eyes.

12 is really interesting - there are different forms in there, and once again, lovely texture.

13 is wonderful in its simplicity, but I'd like to see more details in the trees. The branches are too dark so you can't see their form. If you have photoshop, open the colour file in that & apply a Selective colour adjustment layer. From the colour dropdown select Yellows and move the black slider to -100. Then duplicate that layer 2 or 3 times by hitting cmd-J. If you then convert that image to a B&W you'll be able to apply a high amount of contrast but retain the detail in your greens.

Keep up the great work!
 
I think my eye is crooked so pix #2 is good one. But remember I don't have TWO eyes so it is hard for me to see what is the best one. :apple:
 
jjk454ss said:
13 is my favorite also, but I like the lady bug and the last one with the pencils as well. All nice shots though:D.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. I should point out this is my best work, behind every one of these is 100 crappy ones! .

----------
Badrottie said:
I think my eye is crooked so pix #2 is good one. But remember I don't have TWO eyes so it is hard for me to see what is the best one. :apple:
Click to expand...

Interesting. Technically this picture is all wrong, but I think because of that the composition works.

----------
swordio777 said:
7, 8, 9, 12, 13, and 15 are the best shots IMHO.

Number 15 is definitely your best capture - it's perfect and could quite easily be sold for stock!

I really love both 7 & 8 for their colour and lovely textures. 7 uses the rule of thirds well and 8 has nice leading lines.

I really like number 9, but I would prefer to see more shadow detail - particularly in the main tree to the right of the image. With the light coming from the direction it was, you would have seen much more colour & shape in the bark with your own eyes.

12 is really interesting - there are different forms in there, and once again, lovely texture.

13 is wonderful in its simplicity, but I'd like to see more details in the trees. The branches are too dark so you can't see their form. If you have photoshop, open the colour file in that & apply a Selective colour adjustment layer. From the colour dropdown select Yellows and move the black slider to -100. Then duplicate that layer 2 or 3 times by hitting cmd-J. If you then convert that image to a B&W you'll be able to apply a high amount of contrast but retain the detail in your greens.

Keep up the great work!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed feedback. I shall certainly take that all into consideration.
 
#2 and #8.

The flare in #2 is first-class flare, and unusually positioned.

#8 is subtle, but there's a lot going on. The colors are muted but in this context, that makes them excellent. The DOF works for me.

The others are fine, but too standard for my taste. Of course I'm not the judge.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Hopefully you guys here can give me a hand choosing the best of my shots from the last year. We are having a competition at work (just for fun) and have to enter our best 5 shots from the last 12 month.
Just to give you a bit of back ground, I only started this year and have a pretty basic set up. The other guys all shoot FF and have a range of experience and equipment. So I have narrowed down my choices to the ones below and I need to submit my best 5 by the end of the month. Any critique help would be much appreciated as I am hopeless at choosing.
1. A nice simple one to begin with.
[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/9861680574_7c18ff31b8_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

2.The sun flare might not be to everyones taste but I like it.
[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3810/9881409223_c3d3da9e4b_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

3.A simple sunset local to me.
[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3720/10044124355_52c95f2dbe_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

4.First of two B & W. I like the foreground interest as well as the tower in this one. In colour though it does nothing for me.
[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3764/10007669135_3dba7a70b8_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

5.Many of you already gave me some advice on this one a while back. Pretty sure this one will make the cut.
[url=http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5483/10410669685_099eaa7bd4_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

6.My only HDR shot I have included.
[url=http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2817/10390217355_1bec47d8df_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

7.Everyone loves a Ladybird. At the time of shooting I only had the 18-55mm and no tubes, so I liked this one.
[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/10429517883_151e22504a_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

8.Another simple tree I liked. Not sure why. Probably the range of colours.
[url=http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7365/10656311105_e85909d661_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

9. This one and the next one are both from the same day. I like them both for different reasons.
[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3798/10808620563_aa39e41781_b.jpg]Image[/URL]

10.[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3748/10808375806_6fcfc57330_b.jpg]Image[/URL]
Click to expand...

1, 7, 10 are solid. 9 has potential with color correction and 4 has potential with composition cropping.
 
Some of these would be stronger if they were cropped. I never try for a uniform aspect ratio. Some of mine are wide and some are square.

For example #6 has some foreground that could be cut, I'd take about 1/2 of that out and then the sky has a bright part near the top. I'd crop that so the top of the image is all dark, then the water stands out more

I cut the background in the bug photo to create triangles, stronger graphic

Here are your photos after some quick edits
10390217355_1bec47d8df_b.jpg


10429517883_151e22504a_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
2, 9, 12, 13 and 15 if I had to choose five. I love your macro pencils - easily your best shot to date. It's good to see someone improving as the weeks go on.
 
MacRy said:
2, 9, 12, 13 and 15 if I had to choose five. I love your macro pencils - easily your best shot to date. It's good to see someone improving as the weeks go on.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the complement. I have really enjoyed the last 6 months or so. I've learnt loads, but still have such a lot to learn!

Thanks for all those that took the time to vote. I have to hand these in tomorrow, so here are how the votes panned out.
Image/votes
13/5
7/4
9/4
15/4
2/3
So I'll let you know how I get on in a week or so.
 
add another one for image 13.

As another mentioned, you should look at cropping some of the images. Somehow the choice of what is in the frame itself gets distracting and thus, not drawn in as much as could be.
 
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