Amateur Landscape Photos

These look dark on my screen.
If that's the effect you want then fair enough.
 
Peter123 said:
These look dark on my screen.
If that's the effect you want then fair enough.
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I've tried to go for a dark/cinematic sort of style for them though it's definitely possible my screens are calibrated to be lighter/more vibrant
 
I think they're very dark Joshua, I noticed the same on some of your dog photos. As Peter says if that's the effect you're looking to achieve then ok, but for me I'd prefer the shadows and midtones lifted.
 
jakeblu said:
I think they're very dark Joshua, I noticed the same on some of your dog photos. As Peter says if that's the effect you're looking to achieve then ok, but for me I'd prefer the shadows and midtones lifted.
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Thanks! I'll give it a try :)
 
Definitely look under exposed. :)
 
Anima said:
I've tried to go for a dark/cinematic sort of style for them though it's definitely possible my screens are calibrated to be lighter/more vibrant
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They definitely have a look and a charm and I can see what you were going for. I didn't see the dog pictures, I must have mossed them.

Well done for these and if they are in fact too dark at least these show you have an eye for framing and a good shot :D
 
They have a consistent style and from a quick look have detail throughout, the shadows aren't blocked so all good IMO. People do get used to a particular look though.
 
I like them, but personally I would agree they are a bit dark, and as said unless that was your aim.
The first one had very nice lighting when lifted a bit

But of course that is probably not what you were looking for

tr1.jpg
 
Hi Joshua

Nice and moody.

I like them.

Thanks for sharing.

Gaz
 
I like the first three as a set, all with the same moody dark tone, the fourth looks grainy but that could just be the way it looks on here.
 
Sangoma said:
I like them, but personally I would agree they are a bit dark, and as said unless that was your aim.
The first one had very nice lighting when lifted a bit

But of course that is probably not what you were looking for
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I'd be happy to provide you with the RAW file if you'd like :)
 
Crotal Bell said:
I like the first three as a set, all with the same moody dark tone, the fourth looks grainy but that could just be the way it looks on here.
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I think it was originally a touch grainy but I quite liked the shot. I'm currently looking at upgrading from my Sony A5000. So many choices!
 
Anima said:
I think it was originally a touch grainy but I quite liked the shot. I'm currently looking at upgrading from my Sony A5000. So many choices!
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If you like a shot, that's the most important thing :)
Yes there's a ton of choice out there. I wouldn't want to be without a viewfinder, I use it far more than the backscreen, but that's just me.
 
Anima said:
I'd be happy to provide you with the RAW file if you'd like :)
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I'm sure you can do as much as anyone else with it, just what you like yourself.
Lifting it a bit made it look rather like there was a beam of sunlight shining through, which I liked, but others may not :)

If you gave the RAW to 6 different people, you would probably end up with 6 different looking images, each one as they would have liked to have seen it
 
Sangoma said:
If you gave the RAW to 6 different people, you would probably end up with 6 different looking images, each one as they would have liked to have seen it
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That's so true. I think there's two types of critique.

Technical and compositional.
Where the advice may help you take images of a better quality or generally have more impact/interest etc. They may suggest alternative settings or placing yourself at different angles to get the shot etc, helping to achieve the right kind of results with your camera in certain disciplines.

Personal
Where people comment on how they would like a particular finished image to look in regards light/shadows/colour etc

The latter being very subjective, and of less value if your finishing images to look the way you like them anyway.
 
Crotal Bell said:
That's so true. I think there's two types of critique.

Technical and compositional.
Where the advice may help you take images of a better quality or generally have more impact/interest etc. They may suggest alternative settings or placing yourself at different angles to get the shot etc, helping to achieve the right kind of results with your camera in certain disciplines.

Personal
Where people comment on how they would like a particular finished image to look in regards light/shadows/colour etc

The latter being very subjective, and of less value if your finishing images to look the way you like them anyway.
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I think they are both subjective, and whether you like the way they look applies in bot cases you suggest.

When some one invites comments, all comments are of equal value :)
 
Sangoma said:
I think they are both subjective, and whether you like the way they look applies in bot cases you suggest.

When some one invites comments, all comments are of equal value :)
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Again, wise words.

There are people who will say "that's not a good picture" but they are always wrong. The only honest comment that anyone can make is "I don't like that picture", which is always valid.
 
I think you’ve achieved the look you were going for. I agree that they look filmic/cinematic. It feels like this is your distinctive style so I’d stick to it and with consistency you’ll find a following.

People are obsessed with getting the full range of luminosity, from blacks to whites, increasing contrast until it’s achieved; but I can’t see any pixels in the first two images that should be highlights let along whites. It’s a gloomy forest: it’s all going to be midtones shadows and blacks. Indeed 1 and 2 are probably the strongest images.
 
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Tom Pinchenzo said:
People are obsessed with getting the full range of luminosity, from blacks to whites, increasing contrast until it’s achieved;
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I don't think that is accurate, or a fair comment.

Different people have different ideas on what makes a scene look appealing, or how they could imagine that scene looks in real life.

None of them are 100% right or 100% wrong.

As has been said so many times, it is how it looks to you that matters more than anything else.
 
Sangoma said:
I don't think that is accurate, or a fair comment.

Different people have different ideas on what makes a scene look appealing, or how they could imagine that scene looks in real life.

None of them are 100% right or 100% wrong.

As has been said so many times, it is how it looks to you that matters more than anything else.
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I think my point was that a lot of people learn when they’re starting out that you need an image where the histogram is nice and stretched out, giving the full range of tones, and apply it as a rule to all their images, and apply it as critique to all other images, because it’s a rule that they learnt once. Saying that there are no white points or highlights is fair criticism if the image contains elements that are bright or white. I don’t know what, in those first two images, should be in the the top third of a histogram.

The OP asked for critique and he got plenty of feedback, which is great. But there was a lot that said they were too dark, so I was just trying to balance that out.
 
On my laptop with screen brightness maxed the images are dark and 'cinematic', but on my photo handling system with calbrated screen they're simply too dark to see *enough* to work as images for me. Following the last few comments, while image processing is all about doing it for personal taste, if you want to show pictures to others then it's important they are accessible for those people. It's not a case of having the full range of lights and darks in every image, but there needs to be enough info for most potential viewers on most screens to get an idea of what's in the picture.

None of this matters if you're the only person to see the pictures of course.
 
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