Your Photo: Our Critique

Michael Lerner submitted this image taken with a Panosonic DMC LX3, with an exposure of 1/64sec at f/3.2, ISO 200. This photo has some great elements, the diagonal ramp, the bright boats, the curved rope holding the boats to the main dock and the reflection in the water. It is a little on the dark side but the important parts of the photo are fine. The darker background plays a supporting role to the foreground elements. I would suggest cropping off a little across the bottom and the left side of the frame moving the boats and their reflection down a bit. This photo has a great mood to it and the bright boats add tension to the scene. Well done.

—Melissa Macatee
Contributing Blogger

This photo gets four and a half stars on the PopPhoto Flash rating system.

The PopPhoto Flash rating system.
*= This part of the camera is called the lens
**= Don’t quit your day job
***= Good, but not yet great
****=So close you can taste it
*****= Yes, a thousand times yes!

Want us to critique your shots? Send 'em to us!   

Comments

[FY]

That´s it. You are out of my RSS, i can´t believe that this had a 4.5 stars and i have seen A LOT better photos in here.

[Matt]

4.5 stars for what? especially compared with the image from a few days ago you gave the same rating to!
This is a simple snapshot with bland composition, a bland subject, taken in uninspiring light.
2 stars if that. this would be an image i would have tossed if i took it.

[L]

No offense to the photographer, but usually I have a gut feeling about which images will garner the higher "scores" -- when I saw 4.5 for this one, I thought, "Really?" It just looks too dark and cluttered to me.

[Joe]

Seriously? Melissa: It's as though your rating is 90% based on your mood, and 10% on the actual photo. The subjects (the boats) are dead center, and the lighting is flat. It's not my intention to offend the photographer - but what's the point of submitting a photo for comment if the feedback you receive is not genuine?

[Mike]

To quot the "landscape tips" from the link that appears at the top of this page:

• Keep your compositions simple and avoid clutter to make your images more powerful.

• Avoid putting the horizon in the middle of the frame. Decide if you want the sky or land to dominate the picture.

It's nice to know that the PopPhoto team has no interest in reading its own publishings....

[Jason Wyckoff]

OMG - 4.5 stars? I've thought that recently you've been over-inflating your ratings - but this is TOO much. Come on! If I give you a picture of a guy getting hit in the crotch, can I get 5 stars?

[Steve]

Oh my goodness... I hope the evaluator is a novice or a newcomer at PopPhoto.. else, I am flushing all respect I have for PopPhoto down the drain. No offence to the photographer, but I do think same as the above comments - poor composition, poor lighting.. PopPhoto (evaluator) - what were you thinking?

[Richard Vaun]

You've got to be kidding.... enough said.

[Ryan Orilio]

Come on. This photo does have some nice compositional elements to it. Yes it is a bit dark, but there is a lot of potential with the reflections, the colors from the boats, and the repeating shapes and patterns.

It is not great, but there is quite a bit of POTENTIAL here I feel.

[worried]

I have to agree with most everyone else. You have panned other photos for being too centralist. Not to mention this photo just looks flat.
You shouldn't give a high rating on what COULD be, but what is submitted right in front of your eyes.

When I saw this, I thought, two stars, maybe three.
Use a flash gun or longer exposure to give it shadows and depth.

I'm usually on the same page as the critic but this one, I feel, is way off. You are just giving the photographer false hope.