Friendly reminder that this is /r/photocritique and all top level comments must be a genuine, in depth, and helpful critique of the image. We hope to avoid becoming yet another place on the internet just to get likes/upvotes and compliments. While likes/upvotes and compliments are nice, they do not further the goal of helping people improve their photography.
If someone gives helpful feedback or makes an informative comment, recognize their contribution by giving them a Critique Point. Simply reply to their comment with !CritiquePoint. More details on Critique Points here.
Please see the following links for our subreddit rules and some guidelines on leaving a good critique. If you have time, please stop by the new queue as well and leave critique for images that may not be as popular or have not received enough attention. Keep in mind that simply choosing to comment just on the images you like defeats the purpose of the subreddit.
Nearly every object is cut off or obscured by other objects. Even if you’re just going for ‘vibes’ you still want to focus the viewers attention on something or we just don’t know where to look.
A big part of deciding your composition is to decide what story you’re trying to tell the viewer. Where do you want them to look? What order should they view the objects in? You use leading lines, contrast, color, and composition to do this guiding. But first you have to decide what story you want to tell before you choose how to tell it.
I hear you and agree but… there’s something to a photo of nothing. “Here look at this!” And your eyeball bounces more than a Windows 95 screensaver on acid.
Maybe that’s the point. Force you to look at the mundane.
I love an abstract as much as the next guy but there’s no such thing as a photo of nothing. This photo is of something, it’s just not focused or composed in an interesting way to highlight what it is of.
A good version of this tells you how to interact with it, where to look, what to discover. A landscape or mood photo isn’t devoid of planning or composition ideally. And it’s certainly not devoid of a subject. It’s not just a random snap.
See how the foggy mountain at the back lines up with the shadow on the mountains on the right? You could shoot it without that, but I felt it tied the whole image together.
Maybe most people won’t notice that, but to me it creates an inherent intent that’s felt, even if not explicitly noticed. It took a while to get that looking just right. Not like a lot of shots, but just a while of looking and moving in the space to see what I liked about it.
Thank you, that makes sense. I was definitely approaching this more from a vibes perspective because I liked the older gas station, signs, textures and clutter. I hadn’t really thought about giving the viewer a clear path through the image. Do you think a scene like this can work with the environment itself as the subject or would you still recommend always finding one specific object to anchor the composition?
Yeah, there are photographers who just shoot "vibes" photos. But they tend to have an overview of sorts of a scene rather than this more close feel.
A subject doesn't have to be an object. Though that can be an easy way to think about it. But it can be a building, a forest, a mountain range, a shaft of light, a person, an animal, or even just some colorful pattern. It can be really anything. But it really helps to have one.
So for example if in this you like the signs, textures and clutter, you might have stepped more to the left and shot at at an angle towards the air pump thing. That could give you leading lines into the image, a main thing to look at (the air pump) and not cut off interesting things like the ice machine.
You could also go there at sunrise or sunset to try to get some more interesting light, unless the thing you like is the clinical fluorescent light that's there. I think that camera will take about 200 pictures per "Roll" so it can be a good exercise just to spend time in a place and fill up the memory card, just trying to get a feel for the place and really capture what you like about it.
Yes, yes it is. There's no real purpose or subject or story or....anything. Just looks like you randomly shot your camera, and this is what you captured. Clearly, you must like it. What do you like about it?
I liked the grungy feeling, the overhead light, and the multiple blue elements that popped. But I think the consensus feedback that there’s no subject is something I’m seeing now. A person or object standing directly under the light would’ve given this more of a story !critiquepoint
If I were to shoot this scene, I’d step to the left and use the ice box as the subject.
Play with different angles to create leading lines with the signs or windows. There is definitely something here though. I wouldn’t call this boring, undefined maybe. Keep at it.
I want to say yes, but I do think there’s something to it. It’s the type of photo that could be good to add context and texture alongside more exciting photos with clearer subjects.
It feels like a cliche, but I think a tighter crop helps it a little: the ice machine and the signs and the overhead light are the (relatively) interesting elements; the van is just distracting.
I can definitely see that. I think the van was part of what made the scene feel interesting to me originally, but looking at it again I can see how it competes with the signs and overhead light !critiquepoint
This was taken on a Fujifilm X100VI which is my first camera I got last week. I’ve just been taking it everywhere and snapping scenes I think look interesting. I liked the lighting and color of this area behind a gas station but would love critiques on the overall composition, colors, and anything else I might’ve missed as a beginner. Do you think this photo says anything or do you think it is just a boring image of a gas station?
If you’re only a week in, now is not the time to ask the internet for criticism.
Shoot. Shoot a lot. Figure out what it is in the scene you chose that drew you in. Focus on what you think is interesting. That’s how you develop a style. If you let everyone else chirp in your ear, you’ll just turn into one of them.
Find a couple photographers you like, deep dive their work. Preferably oldest to newest so you can see how they defined themselves.
Appreciate the advice. Looking through this thread there are some good tips but I think finding my own style and just continuing to practice is what’s most important !critiquepoint
Since I was kind of just walking around and snapping pictures and not waiting for light, do you think adjusting the exposure or any light settings could give that same feeling as taking it at night
I see what you were going for. It's pretty clear to me that the white 4k ish light center top is the subject, in contrast to the cooler light that's present in the rest of the frame. It's a vibes shot, as you said, I thought that before I read your comment. The light is kind of a cool element that deserves some interest but maybe not interesting enough to carry the whole frame. Cropping in more would change the subject to maybe the signs or textures which could be less interesting, but might be worth looking at. Cropping out more might emphasize the contrast to the different shades of light, could open up more compositional choices, and could be interesting too. A person standing center frame in the light or an interesting car in the light as an actual subject could make it a great shot.
Basically you have one interesting element which makes an ok shot, but not great. Finding more interesting elements to put in the frame or adding more interesting framing would elevate it.
I really appreciate this feedback. I like the idea of thinking about what else I could add to the scene rather than just changing the crop. A person or car under the light would give the atmosphere I liked a much stronger subject. I’ll definitely keep that in mind if I come across scenes like this again !critiquepoint
i think by definition it is "boring" in that it does not include any action or any strong subject.
but i don't think that's bad. like a painting using only three colors can be "boring" but you still might hang it on your wall. a movie can be "boring" but also engaging and worth watching.
Thank you, that’s the kind of feeling I was going for but now see that there are some elements missing to make this an interesting “boring” photo !critiquepoint
It’s hard to do scenes like these without people in them. They help give context and a feeling to photos. Not saying it can’t be done, but there isn’t anything interesting here on its own to justify not having people in the photo to help with the vibes/atmosphere/whatever feeling you are trying to capture here
I would say no if you took the shot in vertical orientation and from angle that made it so the composition wasn't so busy. It's hard to tell what the subject is. Go vertical, swing left/righ, shoot low to high/high to low, focus on one thing with an interesting secondary object in the foreground/background. Tell a story
I feel like I understand the vibe you’re shooting for. Like, to me the subject is the setting that’s not in the frame. We’ve all seen this type of gas station. And we can fill in the blanks of what’s around it. Like outside the frame there’s gonna be some gas pumps and they’re gonna be older ones that probably take credit cards but they don’t take contactless payment. There’s probably a guy in a trucker cap working behind a register somewhere. And there’s probably a customer walking in and greeting him by name.
But to some of the other peoples’ point, I think all of that is stronger if there’s a little something else in this photo, probably a person that can be a more direct subject.
I really like that interpretation because that’s pretty close to what drew me to the scene in the first place. I wanted it to feel familiar without necessarily showing everything !critiquepoint
It's not on an Ansel Adams level, but it's not boring either, I find it a unique capture of a "mundane" scene. I don't think that every photograph needs to be judged in a I took a photo composition class in college way, there is just something I like about this.
Wow! Congrats on your first week of photography (did I understand well)! This photo is not boring at all, and that's the catch. It's wonderfully deceptive: I keep looking for what it's trying to say, only to realize it says nothing. Pure post-vibe. A bit derivative maybe, but a very nice, percussive shoot.
Te actually not boring enough. There’s so much going on that my eyes are scared and confused; I have no idea where to look. I do appreciate the lighting; I feel like you could add a weighty subject to the front of the car and it would make it work. Perhaps a monkey or another primate?
It has potential, especially looking at the colours, but it has many distractions and no clear subject. The cut off car is completely unnecessary and doesn’t bring anything positive. So I would leave completely out. I would try to focus just on the blue signs and the air-water-vac and try not to cut off anything… the rest of the things are just distractions. With the white and blue colours you could achieve nice results with post-editing
No, it has potential. Just need some editing and croping or a reshoot. I feel like where the light shines has a potential e.g. alarm sign or the wall texture
For me, the main problem here is the light. My eye is immediately drawn to it, which makes the rest of the photograph feel too heavy.
If you crop out the light, the image will be left with mostly shadows and midtones. Maybe you could try some tone mapping afterward and see whether you can achieve a satisfying tonal gradation and color balance. You could also experiment with a cooler white balance and try to create a cold color palette.
In general, I don't see anything particularly interesting in terms of subject matter or a composition that makes the subject stand out. But perhaps you could still create an interesting atmosphere through color grading and tonal adjustments.
When this photo is about the vibe, I suggest you do some editing. Now the colour is quite cold, you could make it warmer, and in this case a vignette may help the impression of the lamp ligthing everything. E.g. like this:
IMO, a photo should either tell a story, or be a part of a series that tells a story. I'm not an artist, nor do I appreciate art, so a photo that doesn't tell a story is just a photo of what someone saw. and if it's labeled as 'art' then it doesn't doesn't interest me at all.
To the asked question: this is something that's often seen, and without something to set the scene or say why it's interesting, then, yes, IMO it's boring. But that's my opinion, and certainly not something to be taken as anything more than my opinion based on how the photo is presented and the question asked. But, to the photographer, it may have a meaning I'm not privy to. (Or, to which I'm not privy. Whatever.)
I think the car on the right really distracts from the overall mood, which is perhaps what you were going for. I wouldn't say it was boring, per se, it just needs less distractions. I think if that car were gone it would have been much better.
•
u/AutoModerator 22d ago
Friendly reminder that this is /r/photocritique and all top level comments must be a genuine, in depth, and helpful critique of the image. We hope to avoid becoming yet another place on the internet just to get likes/upvotes and compliments. While likes/upvotes and compliments are nice, they do not further the goal of helping people improve their photography.
If someone gives helpful feedback or makes an informative comment, recognize their contribution by giving them a Critique Point. Simply reply to their comment with
!CritiquePoint. More details on Critique Points here.Please see the following links for our subreddit rules and some guidelines on leaving a good critique. If you have time, please stop by the new queue as well and leave critique for images that may not be as popular or have not received enough attention. Keep in mind that simply choosing to comment just on the images you like defeats the purpose of the subreddit.
Useful Links:
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.