Foo - Jon's Photography, please take a look. :)

Please people, anyone who views this, even if you know nothing of photography. Please let me know what you like and dislike about these photos. Photographers or not, just trying to get better. :)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/JonReflection.jpg








http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Gloom.jpg






http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Scarytree.jpg




http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Sunbeach.jpg




http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Foggyhill.jpg

Show me the white wimminz, jeez!

White wimminz? I ain't gotz none. My wimminz is brown.

White wimminz? I ain't gotz none. My wimminz is brown.

Thatz don`t getz me jiggie, yo!

The windswept tree and coastline are the best IMO (colour, composition, subject, focus).

Some of the others are overexposed/out of focus or just have a boring subject. 99% of art is taking away the extra layers. Let people see only the best of the best, and save the rest.

Here's a tip for selecting a great photo: cut it in half. If both sides are balanced, then you have circa 1/3 of a great shot.

Show me the white wimminz, jeez!http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/5825/whitewomenus2.jpg

I like the second one, but like Dipper said, it's a bit too balanced, which takes away some visual interest.

The windswept tree and coastline are the best IMO (colour, composition, subject, focus).

Some of the others are overexposed/out of focus or just have a boring subject. 99% of art is taking away the extra layers. Let people see only the best of the best, and save the rest.

I try to do that, make sure the photo is symmetrical and balanced.

Actually believe it or not, these 5 ARE my favorites. This is my first time shooting with anything more than a point and shoot camera. Lots of the shots I took surprisingly were out of focus, I prefer manual focus over the AF, but now I realize maybe I need to use the AF to get a clear shot. Also, I shoot most of the time in Auto-ISO and shots come out friggen so dang overexposed. Anyways, this was the 5 I liked from 150 shots in the first day of the camera. :p

I have lots more I liked, but quickly picked out these.

I have to agree with serendipper on this one. Also, I would start (or continue) to play around with some filters, especially with photos of sweeping, powerful landscapes. Also, black and white...best medium evvvarrrrr! You apparently live in a area that is full of potential, keep up the good work. :D

I try to do that, make sure the photo is symmetrical and balanced.Ah, but most would say that's something to be avoided, per the rule of thirds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds).

I like the 3rd one. The 2nd one made me think about when you did the sewer faceplant....yuck. The last two have kind of a Ansel Adams thing going on but I don`t care for that so much.

You can do a soft-focus effect, but it won't really work unless there is an object close to you that's in sharp focus for contrast. It's cool to push the f-stop in moments like these and see what happens.


The type of film you use is super important. I love filters as well.

I have to agree with serendipper on this one. Also, I would start (or continue) to play around with some filters, especially with photos of sweeping, powerful landscapes. Also, black and white...best medium evvvarrrrr! You apparently live in a area that is full of potential, keep up the good work. :D

I also tried the Hi-1 setting on the ISO at night many times. This is the only decent shot I got with it at Max aperture.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/TotemPole.jpg

Oh, and I do agree. B & W for the win. The camera won't let me take photos in B W, you can edit the photo in camera afterwards or in Photoshop.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Trees.jpg

Is your hair black?

I like the second one, but like Dipper said, it's a bit too balanced, which takes away some visual interest.

I completely see what you and dipper mean now. Thing is though, I wonder if I had angled the camera differently if the same affect would have been achieved. But it does look too balanced, with the puddle and the path directly in the middle.

Is your hair black?

Yes. :o

HOLY ****…………..Take a look at that second picture. Looks like the Grim Reaper awaiting at the end of the trail. That is him alright. :eek:

Do you guys see that? That is freaky.


Of course I’ve seen and had pass over me the Reaper (death) an occasion or two. Nice pictures btw. :)

One tip for dealing with shots that end up overexposed is to set the exposure compensation from somewhere between-1 to -2. You retain detail in the areas that may get washed up. You can use photoshop to add more exposure to the dark areas. Might have a little noise in the shadows. But at least that can be cleaned up, whereas detail that's washed out can never be recovered (clipped at all-white).

On #2 and #3, they both look left-heavy. I would've aimed to the left a little more so there wouldn't be so much blank sky on the right side. Also lift up #2 a little so you have 1/3rd puddle, 1/3rd road, 1/3rd sky.

The #4 is my favorite. If you can do a long exposure, like 5-10s, give that a try, it might give you more of the serene effect you're aiming for.

Good job, keep up the practice!!! :)

Jon took a picture of the Reaper.

Doesn't anybody see THAT? :eek:


LOOK at pic #2!

Please people, anyone who views this, even if you know nothing of photography. Please let me know what you like and dislike about these photos. Photographers or not, just trying to get better. :)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/JonReflection.jpg



Yup, your camera works. Meh




http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Gloom.jpg

This picture rocks! Excellent composition, the exposure works for me. I'm liking the mostly B&W look with just a touch of color in the foliage on the right.



http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Scarytree.jpg

If this were in B&W it would closely mimic a great Ansel Adams shot. Good composition nice diagonal 1/3, 2/3 thing going on




http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Sunbeach.jpg

This reminds me a lot of a picture I took years ago, about this time of year too. In Cape May, NJ. It was about 11 at night, I shot low on a tripod max aperture, 30 second exposure on 400 film. The only illumination was from some street lights running up the boardwalk. Everything that could go wrong did. Ray trace streaks from the street lights, reciprocity failure from the long exposure, and massive grainy from the 400 film that was very pronounced when enlarged to 16x20. All together it made for a beautiful print.

I lost it in the divorce. Thanks for making me cry.


http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Foggyhill.jpg

Meh, doesn't move me one way or the other.

HOLY ****…………..Take a look at that second picture. Looks like the Grim Reaper awaiting at the end of the trail. That is him alright. :eek:

Do you guys see that? That is freaky.


Of course I’ve seen and had pass over me the Reaper (death) an occasion or two. Nice pictures btw. :)

i thought the same thing ,

but dont pheard the reaper

anyways cool pictures good work

It looks like a great area to find some nice pics. My suggestion would be to shoot in better light. Try the first and last hour of the day. Half hour either side of sunset and sunrise. Use a tripod if you have to.

Sometimes stormy days make great beach photos especially if there are some broken clouds or filtered light. As much as composition is important, it is light that makes the photo.

Please people, anyone who views this, even if you know nothing of photography. Please let me know what you like and dislike about these photos. Photographers or not, just trying to get better. :)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Gloom.jpg



I really like this shot with one critique. The exposure is good I think, and the hint of trees in the background give it a lot of depth. Just a touch of color makes it good, and I want to know who the hooded figure is and where he's going. As has been pointed out, it's very suggestive of the Grim Reaper ,but not obviously staged to look that way which makes it way cool.

The one critique I have is that he's too centered in the photo, but it's not an easy fix. If you had moved him left by swinging the camera right, you would have had the green more centered and lost the trees on the left. Going the other way you'd lose the interest of the ground sloping away to the right. Shifting left might have taken him out from behind the clump of stuff there. shifting right might have worked. Tough composition to make on the spot, if it was on the spot.

My general rule is that if I'm taking a photo "of" something, like airplanes for detail work or something like that, it goes in the center. But if I'm taking a photo that's supposed to express something rather than show something, it's not usually in the middle of the photo.

IMHO, the impression of the path leading to the vanishing point (just out of sight in the mist), far and away trumped any perceived need for adherence to the 'rules'. This minor infraction in no way detracts from an excellent composition based on alternate criteria. :)

Ah, but most would say that's something to be avoided, per the rule of thirds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds).

This was my first thought, too.

Nice photos, though, Jon. You've got a good eye for subject matter, but I think the composition is all that needs work. Assymetry is often more interesting than symmetry. That's why I think your first photo is one of the better ones. The subject matter is quite mundane but, as a viewer, it's difficult to figure out exactly what you are looking at. It throws a little bit of curveball, which I think is a good thing. You almost can't be certain what camera took this photo; whether it's the one in the photo or another.

Please people, anyone who views this, even if you know nothing of photography. Please let me know what you like and dislike about these photos. Photographers or not, just trying to get better. :)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Sunbeach.jpg

I liked this one--the subtle curve of the seawall is nice. The only thing I didn't like was that (at least on my monitor) the sun was so luminous that it made my eyes hurt. Perhaps a bit overexposed?

East Hill

Nice Jon! I really dig the second and third ones!

Jon I love #2, thats a great pic

#4 looks real good as well.

Very nice pictures. My only criticism is the framing of most of them. Rule of thirds is your friend. Oh, and its ok to crop your photos.

I hope you dont mind my indugence...A little crop and some added contrast.

http://johnkrawczyk.powweb.com/Sunbeach_FGedit.jpg

Nice job Jon, I like the tree the best.

Oh, and its ok to crop your photos.


I concur.......I removed the sun from the picture here

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff186/joesinboston/sunbeach2.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/JonReflection.jpg

Your hair looks weird.


http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z269/PinkyJonJon/Scarytree.jpg

I actually like this one. Very nice.

I concur.......I removed the sun from the picture here

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff186/joesinboston/sunbeach2.jpg

Even better.

One of my favorite crops is the 'cinemscope' widescreen crop. I use it quite often. Alot of people have widescreen monitors and TVs these days. With digital being pretty much the standard, i think the widescreen edit has a place.

I concur.......I removed the sun from the picture here

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff186/joesinboston/sunbeach2.jpg

MUCH better :D .

East Hill

The great thing about photography is that everyone sees something different. To be really effective, you only need to follow a few basic guidelines. Obey the rule of thirds, keep it simple, keep it uncluttered and dont waste space.

Your gloom shot is really good, but to me (and i stress, TO ME) the bottom half of the picture is unecessary to convey your message. Something like that would, for me, warrent a little massaging with the color palate to help that gloomy feeling and a good wide crop. Green is the color of life, grays are the color of despair. I'd do something like this...

http://johnkrawczyk.powweb.com/Gloom_wide.jpg

IMHO, the impression of the path leading to the vanishing point (just out of sight in the mist), far and away trumped any perceived need for adherence to the 'rules'. This minor infraction in no way detracts from an excellent composition based on alternate criteria. :)

Thanks Stacey!!!

I think my favorite is the 2nd one aswell as others. I saw this man walking off in the distance, and this huge deep puddle in the middle of the muddy path, and I saw a photo in my mind. When I opened it up and saw the picture "within" the picture, I cropped off the edges and got this.

To everyone else, the 5th picture I was going for that dark ridgeline, foggy skyline look. Except I really think it's a hard thing to pull off, at least for me it is. It's hard to take it from "boring random picture" to an exceptional picture that says something to the viewer. I don't know..

I also realize the beach shot, the sun is dominant and glary. I noticed that while taking the picture, I had hoped the sun wouldn't be so dang dominant, but it ended up so. I tried flipping the ISO down to 200 and the camera's auto-iso took the picture at below 200, so it was pointless. As far the tips of longer exposure, I'm not sure how to fiddle with the exposure length.

I'm still learning how to use the camera, but I'm still very unaware of the all the settings. I typically use lots of Auto-ISO, and manual focus. I don't stray alot from there.

The great thing about photography is that everyone sees something different. To be really effective, you only need to follow a few basic guidelines. Obey the rule of thirds, keep it simple, keep it uncluttered and dont waste space.

Your gloom shot is really good, but to me (and i stress, TO ME) the bottom half of the picture is unecessary to convey your message. Something like that would, for me, warrent a little massaging with the color palate to help that gloomy feeling and a good wide crop. Green is the color of life, grays are the color of despair. I'd do something like this...

http://johnkrawczyk.powweb.com/Gloom_wide.jpg

I think that actually looks quite a bit better.

But I like the puddle in it!! the way you word it, and after thinking about it, the water does indeed clutter up the picture for no reason. My only thing is, I already heavily cropped the photo, if I continue to crop it, I'll end up with not much to look at!

I think that actually looks quite a bit better.
My only thing is, I already heavily cropped the photo, if I continue to crop it, I'll end up with not much to look at!

The trick is to know when to stop. That really only comes with experience and exposing yourself to critisism like your doing here. That part was pretty ballsy of you. Photo editing is almost as much of a talent as taking the picture and a good talent to have as well.

Having the right lens will help too. If you dont have one already step up to a DSLR and make sure one of your lenses is a fast zoom.

The trick is to know when to stop. That really only comes with experience and exposing yourself to critisism like your doing here. That part was pretty ballsy of you. Photo editing is almost as much of a talent as taking the picture and a good talent to have as well.

Having the right lens will help too. If you dont have one already step up to a DSLR and make sure one of your lenses is a fast zoom.

Oh yes, I know I won't get better unless I ask for criticism even if they are all hated. Oh and, this is a DSLR, I think??? Nikon d40, it's the entry level 500$ compact Nikon DSLR. 6.1 MP. I have a 18-55 and a 55-200 nikkor lens. This is just a rental, got it a day ago, and this is my first time shooting with a camera of this caliber.

The things I've learned: Take tons of shots if you hope to have anything decent, which doesn't guarantee anything either way. Also, the photos that you think will look best, or looked best within your mind may not be the best shots once you look closer and crop.

The thing I do alot, I'll be driving with my GF, or be walking around. I'll see a shot in my mind, so I basically walk around taking pictures of everything under the sun. Har har. Literally.

jon, I think you have a good eye, which gives you a great platform to start from. Some people just don't have it. Once you get versed in a few of the basic concepts, I think you'll do fine. I like the tree pic, especially if you do it in black and white.

Oh yes, I know I won't get better unless I ask for criticism even if they are all hated. Oh and, this is a DSLR, I think??? Nikon d40, it's the entry level 500$ compact Nikon DSLR. 6.1 MP. I have a 18-55 and a 55-200 nikkor lens. This is just a rental, got it a day ago, and this is my first time shooting with a camera of this caliber.

The things I've learned: Take tons of shots if you hope to have anything decent, which doesn't guarantee anything either way. Also, the photos that you think will look best, or looked best within your mind may not be the best shots once you look closer and crop.

The thing I do alot, I'll be driving with my GF, or be walking around. I'll see a shot in my mind, so I basically walk around taking pictures of everything under the sun. Har har. Literally.

It's funny you say take a lot of shots which is a good way to learn. I'm reminded of the story behind Ansel Adams' Clearing Winter Storm. He sat at the spot ready to take that photo for over a week. When he saw the shot, took one frame and left. Of course much of the work was done in the development but you get the idea. When you get it down you know when you've got the picture.

jon, I think you have a good eye, which gives you a great platform to start from. Some people just don't have it. Once you get versed in a few of the basic concepts, I think you'll do fine. I like the tree pic, especially if you do it in black and white.

Thanks bro!

How have you been doing with the Pentax? you should post up some pics in this thread.

I actually got to try out a Pentax k10d the other day. I really like it. Interesting enough, I really don't have any preference in bodies, I feel fine with any size. I tried a d40, d40x, d80, k10d, 20d, and rebel xti. They all feel well, but overall I'm very much attracted to the nikon menu style. I think I'd like to start out with a d40x, and upgrade to a d80 later. The pentax does seem enticing, as you can see I like dreary rainy shots, so that body might be the way to go. Hmmm.

Pheard, nice shots there. I especially like the tree pic. It seems to have an energy and movement to it.
Very nice.

The great thing about photography is that everyone sees something different. To be really effective, you only need to follow a few basic guidelines. Obey the rule of thirds, keep it simple, keep it uncluttered and dont waste space.

Your gloom shot is really good, but to me (and i stress, TO ME) the bottom half of the picture is unecessary to convey your message. Something like that would, for me, warrent a little massaging with the color palate to help that gloomy feeling and a good wide crop. Green is the color of life, grays are the color of despair. I'd do something like this...

http://johnkrawczyk.powweb.com/Gloom_wide.jpg

That would make a badass sig.

Thanks bro!

How have you been doing with the Pentax? you should post up some pics in this thread.

I actually got to try out a Pentax k10d the other day. I really like it. Interesting enough, I really don't have any preference in bodies, I feel fine with any size. I tried a d40, d40x, d80, k10d, 20d, and rebel xti. They all feel well, but overall I'm very much attracted to the nikon menu style. I think I'd like to start out with a d40x, and upgrade to a d80 later. The pentax does seem enticing, as you can see I like dreary rainy shots, so that body might be the way to go. Hmmm.

pretty well, but we've been getting wacked with some freezing weather over here, so i haven't gotten a chance to really explore the camera. Hopefully this week i'll get out and really try to get some goodones.

Thanks bro!

How have you been doing with the Pentax? you should post up some pics in this thread.

I actually got to try out a Pentax k10d the other day. I really like it. Interesting enough, I really don't have any preference in bodies, I feel fine with any size. I tried a d40, d40x, d80, k10d, 20d, and rebel xti. They all feel well, but overall I'm very much attracted to the nikon menu style. I think I'd like to start out with a d40x, and upgrade to a d80 later. The pentax does seem enticing, as you can see I like dreary rainy shots, so that body might be the way to go. Hmmm.


Unless the D40 is limited to what lens will work with it, upgrade lenses before bodies. Lense never obsolete themsleves. Bodies do, so you might as well keep the one you got. Lens make or break shots, the bodies just hold a CCD chip and few controls. Once you start getting your basic shots down, you'll want to be able to control depth of field too. If you get into shooting birds or sports, a fast zoom and/or tele really shines. I get great results from my Nikon f/2.8 80-200mm zoom. It's a steal of a lens for 900 bucks. I use it quite a bit to shoot local bike races. Depth of Field can really set the mood of the shot just as much as the terrain. Here is one I sent to the velonews.com pic of week contest a few weeks ago. It was shot wide open, so that the only thing in focus was the lead rider. It didnt win. :(


http://johnkrawczyk.powweb.com/TheBreakaway3.jpg

2, 3 and 4 are quite nice. I tend to not look at photos with an overly critical, overly schooled pov. Cropping and framing, however, are important. My first thought when I saw #2 is that I'd like to see less water at the bottom so that you don't see it's a puddle in a roadway. Less sky as well to create more of a landscape ratio. I can see how #4 posed a tremendous challenge given the extremes in lighting, shadow, and water movement. Bracket, bracket, bracket! Do you recall how many pictures you attempted of #4?

That would make a badass sig.

Someone beat me to it - the landscape scale.

From the same race day...

http://johnkrawczyk.powweb.com/TheBreakaway.jpg