Can I have a critique please?

I have loved shooting film ever sense my high school photo class stared. This was around January I believe so I am quite new to photography and I would like some advise from others. I do not know where to post this so I apologize if I posted it in the wrong place. Here are my photos, thanks!

Edit: Photo groups:

Old cars: 1, 2, 6, 7.

Old buildings: 8, 10, 11, 12.

Clouds: 3, 9, 15.

Neon lights: 4, 5.

PPIHC race end: 13, 14.

Hope this helps.

And please be as brutally honest as you can.

frankly a good critique would involve knowing what you want to achieve.

Not really a coherent set, but I see some good narrative in some of your images; a weegee-style of immediacy;
the second image showing people with outstretched hands to the approaching car stands apart.

Some famous photographer once said: Your first 10,000 images are your worst.

Keep practicing. There are some technical issues, perhaps with your shutter, and light leaks.

A lot of them were nice pictures but outside of any context lacked an impact. I thought some exceptions were the photo of the cloud texture and the one with the white race car and people stretching their hands out. I liked those.

I realize now that I should had grouped them up. I will edit my post saying which ones belong in which group.

horacekenneth said:

A lot of them were nice pictures but outside of any context lacked an impact. I thought some exceptions were the photo of the cloud texture and the one with the white race car and people stretching their hands out. I liked those.

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How do you recommend I make my photos more meaningful? Make them into groups? If so I now realize I should have done that and will be sure to do it next time.

frank said:

Some famous photographer once said: Your first 10,000 images are your worst.

Keep practicing. There are some technical issues, perhaps with your shutter, and light leaks.

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Yes, those photos were shot with my AE-1. I just sent it to Garry's Camera Repair so it should not be a problem in the future.

LifeIn35mm said:

How do you recommend I make my photos more meaningful? Make them into groups? If so I now realize I should have done that and will be sure to do it next time.

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As previously stated, we need to know the context and purpose of these images. What are you trying to express?

cliveh said:

As previously stated, we need to know the context and purpose of these images. What are you trying to express?

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For the ones of the old cars and buildings I want to express loneliness. Then with the neon lights and clouds I want to express uncertainty. I would also like to know how to show other emotions so I can do so if the picture comes along.

LifeIn35mm said:

For the ones of the old cars and buildings I want to express loneliness. Then with the neon lights and clouds I want to express uncertainty. I would also like to know how to show other emotions so I can do so if the picture comes along.

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One word themes can certainly apply to those photos, but so can others. Just because you want to express those things, doesn't mean the viewer is going to hear see them. You might want to dig deeper. WHAT about the buildings express loneliness? WHAT about the clouds express uncertainty? See if you can capture your answer in the frame. Try to build a body of work around one "expression", but with different subjects, and hopefully the viewer can see the common thread that binds these differing subjects together.

LifeIn35mm said:

For the ones of the old cars and buildings I want to express loneliness. Then with the neon lights and clouds I want to express uncertainty. I would also like to know how to show other emotions so I can do so if the picture comes along.

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Then in your own words:- "And please be as brutally honest as you can". They don't convey that emotion to me, but some of the shot angles are interesting.

What do you consider your strongest image in this series?

For me it's #2, the old truck. What distinguishes the image from the rest of your series, is we see the truck on its own, without a lot of distractions. It's well known that automobiles due to having headlamps which stand-in as eye and the grill or bumper which is like a mouth, are perceived as having a bit of personality due to these face-like features. I think this comes across in the image, the truck appears to be facing a direction, rather than merely pointing. So we see the truck as an individual, rather than just an example of a truck. We see the truck from a low vantage point, it looms over us.

For the majority of the images, I feel like I'm far away from the action. I remember waiting anxiously for a telephoto lens so that I could get close to the action, but for some reason, zooming in really doesn't work. I'd suggest getting closer to the subject, so that it fills the frame.

Food for thought

Some of these seem to be casual snapshots and do not really follow any concept for an image.

Assignment (make the best image that you can).

1) "Still Life" Make a still life image with some sort of artificial light source. This could be a bowl of fruit, flower in a vase or anything else that you want.

2) "Portrait" Make a portrait of yourself or of someone else. You can use artificial or natural light. Try to make a posed or at least semi-formal sitting. Keep sharpest focus on the eyes and work to capture some emotion or sense of the individual. Sometimes people photography is out of your "comfort zone".

3) "Landscape" Make a landscape. Sometimes the quality of light is more important than the location. To add interest or a focus to the image, put something in the foreground.

General tips: Try to tighten up your process. If you are really interested in a critique of your work, make the images the best work that you are capable of. If you are printing in the darkroom, work on contrast control and keep all of the technical variables under strict control. No dust on negatives, and work as clean as possible. If you are just scanning your negatives, it can be hard to visualize what those negatives are really capable of. Some of these sort of ideas can provide a focus to your photography. Last but not least, have fun. Enjoy what you are doing.

For a beginning photographer, this is a strong group of images. They suffer a bit, I think, from too many clichés... old abandoned cars and buildings, but the second picture of an abandoned car has a nice dynamic quality. I like your cloud texture picture quite a lot. It's a frequently photographed trope, but you've done it well here. And just because something's been done a lot, doesn't mean you shouldn't. Find YOUR way to do it. There are some technical issues that I'm sure you can resolve with practice. I would just keep shooting... keep it loose, like you've done. Lots of subjects, and you'll see yourself improve as you make more pictures. And with practice, you'll start to see your photographic voice emerge.

As an aside, it's always a good idea to study the history of photography. Look at the work of lots of different photographers. See what you like, what inspires, what moves you, and try some of those ideas for yourself, in your way.

LifeIn35mm said:

I have loved shooting film ever sense my high school photo class stared.

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If you've got a whole class staring at your work, why would you care what anyone here thinks? :confused:

its hard to just critique images that are loaded to a website like this.
pick the 3 or 4 that you like the best and continue in the vein of those images you like
its like anything, the more that you practice the better you will get ... don't forget to keep having fun.
john

Would you prefer brutally honest, or honestly brutal?

horacekenneth said:

A lot of them were nice pictures but outside of any context lacked an impact. I thought some exceptions were the photo of the cloud texture and the one with the white race car and people stretching their hands out. I liked those.

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Those were the two I was going to comment on as well. The clouds got my attention, and the shot with the outstretched hands was interesting. On that one, I'd prefer to have seen different framing (pan the camera to the right), but a great idea none the less.

Not really sure what the OP is looking for here. The analog prints look better than mine, so my compliments there. Of course, mine are really pretty lousy (just figured out why, btw, so there may be some hope...).

In the spirit of brutal honesty, I'd be pleased to never see another photograph of a rusted out hulk of a pickup truck. It was probably cool the first time it was done, but its hopelessly over-done by now.

LifeIn35mm said:

How do you recommend I make my photos more meaningful? Make them into groups? If so I now realize I should have done that and will be sure to do it next time.

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I would suggest telling us a story with the photos. Keep on aiming for that emotion in each photo, but let that be implicit in an explicit story. Where did you find the truck? How did you get there? Can you see it from far away or does it surprise you all of a sudden?

#1 is lacking in contrast.
#2 is better. unusual, but effective, composition.
#3 has a problem with perhaps a light leak on the left, and needs spotting. Check your camera for a hair intruding into the upper left of the film gate, which gives that black line in the lower right of your prints. I don't find the composition interesting. Prints like this should never be exhibited.
#4 has an intriguing subject. There is little reason to crowd the lights towards the left. Shadows should be darker.
#5. Intriguing. More contrast might provide more impact. It may be the best of all of the 15.
#6 is an uninteresting snapshot with flash. There is a problem with flare or a light leak along the left and a third of the way in from the left.
#7 may be better than #6, but still not good.
#8 This effectively shows desolation. The person who did the graffiti added much to the photo.
#9 is an uninteresting record of what must have been an interesting cloud formation. The viewer of a photograph sees only that photo, not the subject as you saw it. It is up to the photographer to present that subject in the strongest possible way.
#10 The graffiti alone might have been a better subject.
#11 Flash doesn't provide good illumination for this subject, and causes horrible flare on the right 2/5.
#12 has much better lighting to show the desolation of the subject.
#13 has better graphic quality than most of the other B&W photos. A few words of explanation might help us who aren't familiar with racing. Are they sharing thumbs up?
#14 is another good auto racing record photo.
#15 is a better cloud photo than #3, but also needs spotting.
Posting JPG prints rather than BPP format would speed up downloading with little loss in quality. Also, downloading the B&W photos as greyscale would be faster. Expressing emotions in photos works best with appropriate subjects and good technique. As JCC suggests, different people may see different emotions in the same photo. If these comments sound harsh, your work is better than what I was doing at the beginning.

LifeIn35mm said:

How do you recommend I make my photos more meaningful?

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I'm walking down the street one afternoon. Suddenly, I look up and see you running toward me, a look of angst on your face. You stop, staring at me with obvious agitation.

"Are you OK?" I ask with some concern.

"NO! I'm not OK!" you reply breathlessly.

"What's wrong?"

"Look. Over there. Do you see that?"

"See what?"

"That! Don't you see it? Look what they did."

"They who? I don't see anything."

With your irritation rising to fury you scream back at me,

"What's wrong with you? Are you blind? Look right where I'm pointing! That!! I can't believe you aren't seeing what I'm seeing!"

The thing you are pointing at with your trembling finger? The thing I am so maddeningly oblivious to seeing, but desperately need to see without even realizing it?

THAT is the thing you should be pointing your camera at...

Ken

LifeIn35mm said:

And please be as brutally honest as you can.

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OK:I liked the old cars the best and #3of 15 the least. the cars give the eye a lot to explore and keep the viewer interested. a boring sky makes for a boring picture.

I like the trucks. #1 needs to be printed with more contrast.

The images look exactly like what they are: the first photographs of a high school student/beginning photographer. No more, no less. There is no reason for bragging or embarrassment.

I'm happy that The OP is engaged with this traditional process of photography and wish him/her continued success and pleasure on a long and satisfying road.