The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is the power pole at the entrance to my grandmother’s house. I pass it every day and never noticed the block of wood nailed to it. I was on my way home from photographing damage from a summer storm and stopped here to look at the field. The piece of wood jumped out at me with the texture and the green background I had to take a picture of it.
Specific Feedback
I am new to editing and composition, before I just shot in auto and hoped for the best. I will take as much info as you are willing to give
Technical Details
Shutter speed was 1000
ISO was auto but 12800 probably
Aperture was f4
I adjusted the blue and green saturation
Increased the clarity and sharpness
I think you have come to the right place to learn. NPN is the only place I am aware of where you can get honest feedback and truly helpful suggestions for improvement, both of which help to make your photography journey pleasant.
I really like your introduction image! The texture and details in the pole are really good and the contrast between the pole and the background (BG) is strong and well balanced in my view.
I like the balance of the composition as well.
I do see some digital noise in the BG that can be reduced by using noise reduction software or even with Lightroom (Lr) or Adobe Camera Raw (ACR).
Do you use Photoshop (Ps) by any chance?
Just a note on which Category to post in, this doesn’t really fit the Abstract Category because it’s pretty easy to tell what this is.
I think it would be a closer fit for the Non Nature Category in my view but one of the moderators would be better at making that determination (and they can move it for you if they feel the need to). Don’t worry though, it can be a bit confusing at first, no harm done.
Also, I downloaded your image to get a closer look at the camera settings used and I’ve included a screenshot to show how to find the camera settings for any of your images.
BTW, I’m happy to see that you exported it in the sRGB color space!
As shown in the “Details” section of the properties window, the settings were:
Aperture - f/11
Shutter speed - 1/500s
ISO - 1250
Focal length - 400mm
With a Fujifilm X-T5 camera
The ISO at 12800 had me stumped because the noise level seems fairly low for 12800.
Anyway, I’m super happy to have you join us and I’m looking forward to seeing many more of your images!
We’re all here to help each other improve our photography skills and to have fun doing it.
Wow, thank you for all of the great feedback! I thought I’d get a few fix this drop that not much more. This was more helpful than all the YouTube and online articles that I’ve been using to try and figure things out. I truly appreciate the feedback.
I’ll try to keep an eye out for your images as you post them so I can try to offer a few tips along the way.
Are you familiar with how the aperture opening size effects the depth of field (DOF)? DOF being the amount of the image that is in focus? This also effects how much the background (BG) is blurred.
I’m not implying that the DOF or the BG blur needs improvement because what you have in this image looks good. I’m just trying to figure out what areas you may need help with.
As an example, if you wanted the BG to be a bit more blurred, you could have used f/8 instead of f/11 and still have the pole in focus at 400mm focal length (I assume you were roughly 35 or 40 ft. away from the pole?).
Welcome to NPN, James. Merv gave you some great advice (he’s one of our most helpful contributors). I really like the starkness of the pole with that odd block nailed to it and its contrast with the out of focus pastoral background. It makes for a very nice composition. I also like the fact that you didn’t remove the metal label in post processing.
As a relative beginner in photography and to this site, you;ll get confused by terminology a lot, so don’t be afraid to ask for explanations if you don’t understand what someone said. Also two of the best ways to learn are to read as many critiques of images on the site as you have time for and after a few weeks start critiquing images yourself. You can keep it very simple-just try to identify what makes the image appeal to you or if there’s a jarring element that you wish were different. Remember, critiques are all a matter of opinion and yours is as good as anyone else’s. There’s also a link to an article on the art of image critique in the main critique forum introduction that is well worth reading.
Welcome again, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the journey.
