[Fleas]

I know nothing about photography, except point and click. I try to get focus, depth, light, color... but I only know what I like for nostalgia's sake.
So what makes a "good" photo?
Is this a "good" photo? What would make it better? What would make the exact same shot better?

Somewhere in Central Park, NYC
Canon PowerShot SX160 IS digital camera on full auto - if that matters. I did have to fool the auto-aperture by setting focus on a dark area of the ceiling before I framed the arches, otherwise the ceiling appeared too dark.

This is not a contest entry or anything. Just looking for constructive input.

Thanks,
-F

PS - they were playing "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and sounded really big with the reverb they were getting in there.

 

[bsieb]

If you crop off the top half of the image it is more interesting.

 

[jetboy23]

Just a pointer is the "rule of thirds". My initial instinct seems to be to look just over their heads around the top of the arches or about where the skylight is. This means i'm not looking at any subject at all until i look at the image as a whole. Then i finally notice there are ppl in the image and its not a photo of a ceiling.

 

[Hawgzilla]

Remove the upper 50% of the picture and you'll have something.

 

[Fleas]

Oh, this IS funny.

I was taking a picture of the tiles on the ceiling and thought I would expand the field of view. Without the walls or some background, it looked like it could be anything - like the bottom of a fancy swimming pool or something - and had no scale. The actual people are little more than props to me in this picture.

If it takes me 1,000 words to explain the pic, maybe it's not such a good pic... :lol:

Perhaps on a brighter day, the light under the arches would reflect more vividly in the ceiling. Then I would cut out the bottom half.

Thanks anyway.

-F

 

[MMS]

I think, AS people we tend to always think people are the subject of the photo. If you were going for the image of the ceiling, I wouldn't have included the people & vice versa. There are elements of a really nice image...there is just a compositional "problem". Just my 2 cents...which probably isn't worth that much. Have fun, keep shooting.

 

[bsieb]

The image works better as a pic of the ceiling, but the glossy flat ceiling eventually loses out to the eye-catching action and soft dimensionality of the bottom. It also feels a little top heavy to me, those frail tilting columns seem precarious and ominous. But I guess if a thousand words are said in response to an image it can be considered successful image. I could see the ceiling manufacturer or builder buying the image for a slick ad. :thumbsup:

 

[chrisx]

how important is the delete button

what percent of photos should be saved¿ less than 1%
what percent of photos should be deleted¿ more than 99%
what happens to photos after they get deleted?

Where do they go?

 

[Fleas]

what percent of photos should be saved¿ less than 1%
what percent of photos should be deleted¿ more than 99%
...

Totally agree. I took 3 hours of helmet cam one day and got about 3 minutes of decent footage. That's 1.67%!

-F

-F

 

[bsieb]

what percent of photos should be saved¿ less than 1%
what percent of photos should be deleted¿ more than 99%
what happens to photos after they get deleted?
View attachment 890675
Where do they go?
View attachment 890676

Speak for yourself and your images. None of the fine art photographers I know would delete a single image or throw away a negative. The importance of an image may not be recognized until later.

 

[rjedoaks]

Speak for yourself and your images. None of the fine art photographers I know would delete a single image or throw away a negative. The importance of an image may not be recognized until later.

Most shoot anything and everything, in turn end up with many poor shots . Someone skilled shoots smartly which mean fewer photos end up in trash.
Edit/ Almost forgot. I like the shot

Pedaling

 

[bsieb]

^Yes, big difference if you have an eye.

 

[bsieb]

Speak for yourself and your images. None of the fine art photographers I know would delete a single image or throw away a negative. The importance of an image may not be recognized until later.

This "bad" image was used to establish ownership of this stolen KMonkey to his insurance company today. Lucky for the owner it was not deleted. I was so glad I could help out! :thumbsup:

 

[Berkeley Mike]

Schools have been teaching people how to write for centuries and what thoughts do we have for the achievement of general literacy. No, everybody and their brother can not only take pictures but broadcast them to millions. Photo literacy is way behind.