Parkour. Critique required

[Biomech]

Hi,

I've just signed up with the forum and was hoping I could get some constructive ideas on my photos. I'm fairly new to photography, most of my photos done on a Sony DSCW80 compact and others on a Fuji S6500 bridge/hybrid.

I'm constantly amazed at how everyone elses photos are so smooth, sharp, vibrant and void of defects/noise :P and would love to get my photos up to that kind of standard.

I hope you'll excuse me repeating myself, but I'll put these comments with each forum category post. Thanks in advance



Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/6.4
Focal Length: 6.2 mm
Exposure: +0.95
ISO Speed: 100


And two more here:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/...616099418e.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3574/...caf5974e8c.jpg

[oldwolf]

What exactly did you want critiqued? You might want to look at the critique forum rules stickied at the top before the mods get here.

[Biomech]

Thanks for the response.
In general, I'm just looking for people to pick holes in it and advise me on what I can be doing better.

[ericw]

When viewed large the dude doing the jumping is really really noisy. You photoshopped this or something trying to sharpen it? Or the camera tries on its own? I think the problem is two-fold:

The focus is off - it looks like the older guy standing on the steps is in focus but your subject is not.

Shutter speed is too slow - motion stopping shutter speed varies, for some things 1/125 might be motion stopping. I know for skateboarding you need closer to 1/1000, and I'm assuming this action's probably about the same.

Also the whole thing really feels underexposed. You'll need to open up that aperture in these kinds of conditions to get a good exposure and plenty of shutter speed. On the upside you have a really cool subject. Hopefully these guys are your homies and you can have another try.

Other elements of the photo (composition) seem good, but I'm on the fence about whether the tilt works here or not.

[natek313]

I agree with a lot of what ericw stated.

Your subject, the one who's jumping, is more out of focus than the man on the stairs. Also, I don't know if it's just me going crazy, but it looks like the older gentleman doesn't have the lower part of his legs. ??? It looks like his legs are chopped off from the knees down. Did you do any post-processing that may have accidentally caused that?

The exposure is a little low. If you shot this in RAW, try bumping the exposure up a little bit and playing with your color balances.

Your picture is clear and what is in focus is pretty sharp. I really like the perspective you shot this from as well. The tilt doesn't bother me. I kind of like it.

A few of my friends do parkour as well, and this has given me more ideas for some photography. Thanks for that!

[Nathan deGargoyle]

Originally Posted by natek313

I agree with a lot of what ericw stated.

Also, I don't know if it's just me going crazy, but it looks like the older gentleman doesn't have the lower part of his legs. ??? It looks like his legs are chopped off from the knees down. Did you do any post-processing that may have accidentally caused that?

If you look at the railing you'll see he is standing on a landing halway down the steps. His feet are obscured by the step he is on.

Hi Biomech. I really like this shot. Yes it's a bit dark but I think that adds to the urban grunginess and that looks to be what you were going for. A trifle out on focus maybe but a good imaginative and nicely composed shot all the same.

And how much did you have to pay the old geezer to stand there. He makes this shot.

[natek313]

Originally Posted by Nathan deGargoyle

If you look at the railing you'll see he is standing on a landing halway down the steps. His feet are obscured by the step he is on.

Touché. Haha. I didn't notice that. Strange, because I looked right at the rail. Ah well. I guess it turns out that I am, in fact, going crazy.

[Jim Bryant]

Looks like you added people through the photoshop layer technique, like the man with no legs.