Spent some time on a family owned dairy farm about a week ago... I'm not sure about these pictures. I guess I like them, but I never feel like my shots have much of a long lasting captivation. They're neat for a while and then they're just pics. I would love to hear your takes--not only on technical details, but the impression each photo leaves you with. I have the pics ordered in what I think is the best-to-worst order. Thanks for looking!

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Collin Whitsett

I am in Indiana and we have a family owned farm. I like how your photos show the old, aged wood on the buildings

Scott

The problem with so many pictures like this is that they are essentially finger exercises for the photographer--seeing what you can see in a new environment.

These are pleasant--but what can you do with them?

The point I am trying to make is that you shouldn't quit doing this because it is the practice you need to be able to really deliver when the great opportunity comes your way.

This is how you prepare yourself for what comes next. Keep it up[!

I really do appreciate the comments guys.

Papageno--while I agree with the idea that some photographs are simply exercises in seeing,composing and exposing in new or different surroundings, I'm a little reluctant to say that it's all just practice for when those really good opportunities come along. I have to believe that a talented eye looking at the same farm could have found spectacular opportunities that I never even noticed. Part of talent is making a golden opportunity out of a situation where opportunity is hard to find.

Not trying to argue with you; I guess I'm a little dissatisfied with my work sometimes and looking for more answers now than I have in the past. Again, your input is huge to me.

Collin Whitsett

Try focusing on the details more than making barn side shots and such. The window in the first and last shots holds tons of potential with that old, dirty sheen on it... while the shots as you posted them are just shots of the side of a barn. Same for the door shot. The door and step are interesting, but the framing/crop includes too much "dead" content for me.

Try focusing your camera, and incidentally the viewer's eyes on the most interesting parts of the scene. For me, these shots are half way between interesting details and interesting full view shots of the buildings. As such, they are teasers for both of those views, and lose power as compared to either of the other two views of the same scene.

Lastly, for what it's worth... For my tastes, these three pics could stand a bit of post processing. Namely, a bit more contrast and saturation, a bit of dodging and burning, and a bit more sharpness/detail to really bring out the age and textures of the surfaces of these buildings.

Here's a super quick and dirty rework of the door shot just to show how much a little post processing can do for these shots. I hope you don't mind. This was a bit of curves for contrast and tonality, a bit of dodge and burn for localized contrast adjustments and tonality, some vibrance and saturation boost, and some sharpening. It would still be better if the right side of the door and latch weren't cropped out. I also think that taking the time to eliminate the grass before taking the shot would have made the shot better... but IMHO it's better than as it was posted. And I'm not being ugly, I'm just offering suggestions.
And again, this is quick and dirty Photoshopping. Taking your time with the original file and really working through it would produce even better results than I got here just playing with the downsized version.




Edited to add a quickie of the window shot. Again, I think different framing and crop with the window filling more of the frame would be better, but there's potential in these shots that hasn't been tapped. Some will no doubt find my processing over the top, but that's a matter of taste. Just giving you a different view of your own shots.

No ugliness felt in your suggestions .... I really appreciate them.

I tend to not be too keen on "over the top" processing in most shots, but I don't want to let a shot suffer for it. I especially love what you did with the window.

And I'm definitely glad you mentioned details... I'd been kinda thinking the same thing, but not seriously enough to go out and focus on details for a whole shoot, so hearing someone else mention it is good.

Collin

cjwhitsett wrote:
No ugliness felt in your suggestions .... I really appreciate them.

I tend to not be too keen on "over the top" processing in most shots, but I don't want to let a shot suffer for it. I especially love what you did with the window.

And I'm definitely glad you mentioned details... I'd been kinda thinking the same thing, but not seriously enough to go out and focus on details for a whole shoot, so hearing someone else mention it is good.

Collin

Glad my post was well received.

And you don't have to dedicate a whole shoot to details. My suggestion when you find a scene that catches your eye would be to first try an overall shot of the scene. In the case of these photos, try a shot or two of the entire structures and a little surrounding scene. Then move in and shoot where you'd "normally" shoot, like these shots. Lastly, move in even closer and focus on the details, going all the way down to close-ups and even macros if there's a macro in the scene worth trying. You may find that a wider angle shot, or a detail shot works best for a scene. On the other hand you may find that the way you've been thinking and shooting produces the best results.

Just mix each shoot up with different focal lengths and perspectives, and shoot from close, and not so close. Might be easier than totally abandoning your current "style" altogether for a full shoot. I'd be willing to bet that you'd find more real winners in your batch as well. I find that a lot of times the best shots I get are not the ones I normally would have taken. Go figure...