my art photography. critique strongly appreciated!
 

in portugal:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rastaqueen.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rastaqueen.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rastaqueen.jpg
in costa rica:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rastaqueen.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rastaqueen.jpg

in the dominican republic:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rastaqueen.jpg
at home:
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rastaqueen.jpg

please critique these, it would be greatly appreciated!

Wow, I really like the black and white Costa Rican picture! How did you get that effect with the water? I can't really tell if it was naturally draining from somewhere, but it definitely works very well.

On the Portuguese pictures, I would spend some time doing some cropping on all of them. On the orange picture especially, I think you could end up with something more interesting by limiting the scope of the activity. I'd also crop it a little tighter on the tree in the last one and maybe try to eliminate as much of the lake as possible. But that's me.

I love that black and white one!

I have to agree with The_Jazz on the pictures from Portugal. However, I think the last one's fine. However, if you do wind up cropping that one, I recommend cropping out either side of the lake.

thanks for your opinion! I can see what you mean by cropping, none of these pictures have at all been retouched with the exception of the water picture (cropping and making it b&w)
That was actually during a thunderstorm in costa rica, and it's just water pouring off tree leaves. That storm was such a drencher, it felt like someone had tipped over a cosmic bucket onto costa rica more than like a shower!

i'm liking that last photo, was it from flood water or just high snow that melted?

it was from flood water on the illinois river that later receded under the ice back to the river.

Hi, yelizaveta. Love your pictures!

It took me a little while to get used to cropping pictures and I still know next to nothing about photoshop. And I still am not a fan of overcropping pictures, even though I've done it a few times lately with some of my pics...really out of frustration more than anything else. But I try to keep it at a minimum when possible.

Like take your first photo for instance (which I like very much for its lines and subject matter!) - the only thing I would crop from that photo is the little bit of yellow window frame on the right edge (with maybe just a touch of the wall - a 1/2 inch or so) in order to make the position of the dog in the frame a little off center.

Does that make any sense?

But otherwise, I think it's a very personal thing and you should just play around with them and make them suit your own tastes. It's all for fun!

And you seem to have a penchant for big skies. So do I.

Welcome to TFP, by the way. :wave:

thanks mixedmedia, i am also a bit reluctant to crop, although i do play around with photoshop sometimes; definitely not enough to be called an advanced user.
also, i never had noticed i liked big skies, but now that you pointed it out, i thought back through my photos and realized that i indeed do like big skies! it's interesting that that never registered with me before! :)

I gotta get running but I just wanted to say that i especially like the second one, because it resembles an impressionist coastline. thanks!

the second one is a close-up of peeling paint on a door :)

Just remember that any step you take in PS can be undone, so there's no need to be reluctant. A good hint is that when you open the original, immediately rename it and save it, which creates a new file you can then play around with, so there's no worries about accidently saving an altered original.
I agree with Mixedmedia about the dog picture-crop off the yellow since it's not really doing anything for the shot. That's a good picture to fool with in PS; You can crop just the dog, blur the woman more, have some fun with it.
The oranges picture is an excellent set-up; the only thing I would say about it is that it's too equally divided into thirds-try taking just a tiny bit off the sky or oranges, see if that changes things.
Nice work!

it's not really a matter of reluctance, unfortunately. i just don't have much time to play. i have big plans once the weather gets warmer, though.

Love the second one, very modern and abstract which I am a fan of. Colors also a nice mix as well

I suck at critiquing, so I will just say how I would have changed it if I shot it. Gonna sound kind of harsh probably.

1st shot I would have used a wider lens to get the window and full door, or narrower and changed the composition in order to eliminate the window, put the dog higher in frame (get his back foot in frame), and get him out of the center of the frame.

Shot 2 doesn't do much for me. Fill flashed falling apart wall. Would have underexposed the shot and post processed it to add drama because, and I mean no offense, it seems quite boring.

Shot 3 I would have raised the camera, lowered the angle. Less sky, more buildings. Straightened the horizion in photoshop.

Shot 4 I would have found a better angle to show whats going on. As it stands, I feel it almost looks like the rope and such was an accident in capturing a fairly boring (due to lighting) landscape.

Shot 5. Interesting idea. Dunno how I would have changed it.

Shot 6 is fighting with itself. Whats the focus? Is it suppose to be the sky, or the trees? Its either got too much foreground or not enough foreground... not sure what you were going for.

Last shot. Different angle, remove subject from frame center. Probably tried to get much closer to the subject.