dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
3754

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

1 edit

SueS

Premium Member

Excellent photo?

What is your idea of an excellent photo? My idea, the photo would be very hard to get, a unique subject, exceptional light, or something to make it stand out from the rest.

jaykaykay
4 Ever Young
MVM
join:2000-04-13
USA

3 recommendations

jaykaykay

MVM

An excellent photo is really totally subjective. I think that many photos are excellent in that they are representative of that which might be the best that one can do, thereby fitting your idea. Art is in the eye of the beholder, and I find that that is as true for photography as it is for any medium. Go to any museum and you will find art, some of which appeals to you, and some of it doesn't. I don't think that someone's photography needs to hang in a museum to be excellent to them...but that is also with the knowledge that that may be the only person it seems excellent to or for.
29886823 (banned)
join:2005-03-29

29886823 (banned) to SueS

Member

to SueS
Justice Potter Stewart in attempting to define hard core pornography said "I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it."
I would never agree that photos might be excellent "in that they are representative of the best one can do", as stated by jkk above. If that were the case there wouldn't be enough wall space in all the museums of the universe to show what she is declaring as "excellent photos". Am I to believe that the billions of photos on the Web are excellent, simply because the are "the best one can do"?

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

SueS to jaykaykay

Premium Member

to jaykaykay
said by jaykaykay:

An excellent photo is really totally subjective. I think that many photos are excellent in that they are representative of that which might be the best that one can do, thereby fitting your idea. Art is in the eye of the beholder, and I find that that is as true for photography as it is for any medium. Go to any museum and you will find art, some of which appeals to you, and some of it doesn't. I don't think that someone's photography needs to hang in a museum to be excellent to them...but that is also with the knowledge that that may be the only person it seems excellent to or for.

I'm not sure how to explain it, but with my idea of excellence, I can appreciate a photograph for its excellence and not be interested in the subject, or even like it. I know it is complicated.
SueS

SueS to 29886823

Premium Member

to 29886823
You stated in another thread that you have excellent photos in your gallery. I would still like to know which photos from your gallery fit in your category of excellence. If you read my first post you can see that my standards are pretty high, so I am sure we probably disagree on what we see as excellent.
29886823 (banned)
join:2005-03-29

1 edit

29886823 (banned)

Member

Why start with the premise that we disagree?

1. »/showp ··· 5703&p=3
2. »/showp ··· 5610&p=3
3.»/showp ··· 5589&p=3
4.»/showp ··· 5560&p=3
5.»/showp ··· 5435&p=3
6.»/showp ··· 5322&p=4
7. »/showp ··· 5261&p=4
8. »/showp ··· 5185&p=4
9.»/showp ··· 5231&p=4
10. »/showp ··· 5164&p=4

I must admit that choosing was easy - I like my photographs! One of the virtues of working hard on your images is that they all seem equally good, though I must admit I have my favorites. If others wish to comment I request that the images NOT be edited.
Thanks

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

1 recommendation

SueS

Premium Member

Because we do disagree! While some of these are nice photos. I don’t see anything in any of these images that is hard to do, in fact most anyone here could make any of those photos. I don’t see anything unique in the photos or something about the photo that is unique to make them rise above the millions of photos I can find on the internet. I am glad you have reached excellence in your mind.

pkalona
Wannabe GWC
Premium Member
join:2002-06-29
San Carlos, CA

4 recommendations

pkalona to SueS

Premium Member

to SueS
Click for full size
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
135mm 1/200th F3.2 ISO400


Asheley
I try not to pass judgement on other's photography and have some modesty/humility about my own. I'll offer critique or suggestions if requested.

A great image doesn't necessarily have to be difficult to create, it needs to be creative and pleasing to the eye. I've seen great photos that were incredibly simple. In the end, some will like an image and some won't.

Here's an excellent picture of my daughter (being herself) I took this weekend.

Well... I think it's excellent.

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

SueS

Premium Member

The word creative puts an image in a higher level. I love simple, they are some of the best. I think I have very high standard for the word excellent.

My point was that excellent photos need something to set them apart from other photos, such as hard to achieve, lighting etc. You get the idea. My photos will probably never get there, but I will always try.

vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

1 recommendation

vaxvms to SueS

Premium Member

to SueS
said by SueS:

I don't see anything in any of these images that is hard to do

I don't understand. Are you saying that an excellent photo must be a challenge to capture? Simple photos cannot be excellent?

orion940
Attractive like a magnet
Premium Member
join:2001-12-23
Windsor, CT

1 recommendation

orion940 to SueS

Premium Member

to SueS
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I went to a photo class this past fall, and part of the class was show and tell on snapshots. There were some that everyone thought were good, only some thought were good, and some that everyone thought sucked.

I like incorporating clouds, relfections, shadows, patterns, patterns, repetition, geometric concepts. To me, those make for excellent pictures.

O.
29886823 (banned)
join:2005-03-29

1 edit

29886823 (banned) to SueS

Member

to SueS
Well, just to remind you, you have commented favorably on some of these photos in the past, leading me to wonder what your positive comments mean.

To perhaps turn the question around, why don't you list for us a number of photos here that have reached excellence for you. I will note that your Gallery at the moment contains all of 2 images, so you will have to look elsewhere.

I can understand that the process of criticism might be separate from that of the artist, but for someone who has told us repeatedly that she is weak in photo processing it becomes difficult for me to imagine that that person is qualified to state that nothing in these images "is hard to do". I might suggest that you possibly don't know.

I'd like to add:»/showp ··· d=167247 and »/showp ··· 5156&p=4 to the list of images that I think are excellent. You like what you like, but seemingly without any other critical background other than "my standards are pretty high".

So are mine.

pkalona
Wannabe GWC
Premium Member
join:2002-06-29
San Carlos, CA

pkalona

Premium Member

Do you find any images in the gallery excellent other than your own? Seems a bit narcissistic to keep pointing to ones own images as examples of excellence.

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

SueS to vaxvms

Premium Member

to vaxvms
said by vaxvms:

said by SueS:

I don't see anything in any of these images that is hard to do

I don't understand. Are you saying that an excellent photo must be a challenge to capture? Simple photos cannot be excellent?

What I am trying to say is an excellent photo has something to separate it from the others, the something can be hard to get, or unique, or creative, or lighting, just something.
SueS

1 edit

SueS to 29886823

Premium Member

to 29886823
I like simple snapshots lots of times, doesn't make them excellent. Just because I like a photo, it doesn't make them excellent. I have already told you I have never made an excellent photo.
What is their about your photos, that seperate them from the millions out there?

Yes I do know what goes into processing, and it is not hard.

vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

1 recommendation

vaxvms to SueS

Premium Member

to SueS
Perhaps your question should have been
What is your idea of an exceptional photo?

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

SueS to orion940

Premium Member

to orion940
said by orion940:

I like incorporating clouds, relfections, shadows, patterns, patterns, repetition, geometric concepts. To me, those make for excellent pictures.

O.

I agree they can be. I think they need something to make them rise above the rest to fit in the category for excellent. The word means of a very high quality or standard, and that is my use for the word when it comes to photography.
29886823 (banned)
join:2005-03-29

29886823 (banned) to pkalona

Member

to pkalona
SueS asked me for images of my own. I find plenty of excellent images here; again, I was asked only for my own.

jaykaykay
4 Ever Young
MVM
join:2000-04-13
USA

jaykaykay to 29886823

MVM

to 29886823
said by 29886823:

Am I to believe that the billions of photos on the Web are excellent, simply because the are "the best one can do"?

Perhaps so! I don't think that someone's photography needs to hang in a museum to be excellent to them...but that is also with the knowledge that that may be the only person it seems excellent to or for.

"I like my photographs! One of the virtues of working hard on your images is that they all seem equally good, though I must admit I have my favorites."
krazyboi
Premium Member
join:2008-06-27
Mckinney, TX

krazyboi to SueS

Premium Member

to SueS
I overall tend to like pictures with:

good composition
good lighting
clean backgrounds

I also like candids over posed portaits, unless it's 'creative' posed portraits.
I like HDR but not overused HDR on landscapes.
list goes on....

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

SueS to vaxvms

Premium Member

to vaxvms
said by vaxvms:

Perhaps your question should have been
What is your idea of an exceptional photo?

I don't see much difference in the meaning of exceptional and excellence.
SueS

SueS to krazyboi

Premium Member

to krazyboi
said by krazyboi:

I overall tend to like pictures with:

good composition
good lighting
clean backgrounds

I also like candids over posed portaits, unless it's 'creative' posed portraits.
I like HDR but not overused HDR on landscapes.
list goes on....

Are all those photos with those criteria excellent in your opinion or do you just like them?
29886823 (banned)
join:2005-03-29

1 edit

29886823 (banned) to SueS

Member

to SueS
You still haven't provided an example of a single 'excellent' image'. I wasn't asking if you had made an excellent photo, I was asking you to cite any image, preferably from our own Gallery. Surely you understood that.

I understand that you may like images but not consider them excellent. Since you do comment positively on some images, even some of mine, what on earth is the point of your comments? Are you considering yourself a kind of teacher that pats students on the head for producing any image at all? I don't understand the purpose of your comments. About the only thing I find thus far in this thread relevant to me are your statements that none of the images I listed are 'excellent', but that some are nice. What seems lacking here might be statements by others re the same images, or others in my Gallery, or, for that matter, any other images in our Gallery by any of our members, as to 'excellent images' found here.

I'm sure that a lot of people here will tell you that processing is difficult, but only if you care about your photos.

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

SueS

Premium Member

It is simple, I wanted to see how others in their opinion, decided when an image is excellent. I provided my idea, and you provided your idea, and they are very different. Your idea is that an ordinary photo can be excellent, and my idea, they need something to make them stand out from the rest. They are opinions and was to be expected. I am not going to go digging through the gallery for an excellent photo.

I do think the NYTimes best photos of the year are excellent, but I don't have a link. I am not stating that a photo must be journalistic to be excellent, these are just an example of some photos I think are. I like many different kinds of photos.
29886823 (banned)
join:2005-03-29

29886823 (banned)

Member

said by SueS:

I am not going to go digging through the gallery for an excellent photo.

I didn't provide an idea. I provided the images you asked for, and you thus far have not. Do you actually have to go digging through out Gallery to find an excellent photo?

One of the reasons I stay here is to sample the images I see, many of them excellent, and hope I can learn enough to emulate them. I can't imagine why you stay here; it seems to have less to do with photography and more to do with criticism.

SueS
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Macon, MO

SueS

Premium Member

Your photos give us an idea of what you think is excellent.

Seems to me that once excellence in photography is reached their is not a lot left to aspire to. I gave a sampling of my idea of excellence in my previous post, and stated some reasons previously that I think make an excellent photo.

I don’t think it is your place to ask someone to leave, but I will check and get back to you.

vaxvms
ferroequine fan
Premium Member
join:2005-03-01
Polar Park

vaxvms to SueS

Premium Member

to SueS
Help me to understand what, in your opinion, differentiates an excellent photo from a mediocre one and why.
I consider this to be an excellent photo »/pics/ ··· e/140011
This photo
wasn't very hard to get,
doesn't contain a unique subject,
doesn't have exceptional light,
has nothing to make it stand out from the rest
anyone here could make it
there's nothing to make it stand out from the rest
What could have been done to make this photo excellent or is there no way this photo could ever be excellent?
29886823 (banned)
join:2005-03-29

29886823 (banned) to SueS

Member

to SueS
said by SueS:

You stated in another thread that you have excellent photos in your gallery. I would still like to know which photos from your gallery fit in your category of excellence. If you read my first post you can see that my standards are pretty high, so I am sure we probably disagree on what we see as excellent.

Soon after the beginning of this thread you specifically asked me to list the photos in my Gallery I considered excellent. I did.
Soon after, I asked you to list any photos anywhere in the Gallery that you considered excellent. As of this moment you've listed nothing, so we have no concrete idea of what on earth you consider excellent, except by literary description. Unfortunately, we're talking photography, not literature.

Jodokast96
Stupid people piss me off.
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
NJ

1 recommendation

Jodokast96 to 29886823

Premium Member

to 29886823
said by 29886823:

Justice Potter Stewart in attempting to define hard core pornography said "I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it."

On that we can actually agree.
said by 29886823:

I would never agree that photos might be excellent "in that they are representative of the best one can do", as stated by jkk above. If that were the case there wouldn't be enough wall space in all the museums of the universe to show what she is declaring as "excellent photos". Am I to believe that the billions of photos on the Web are excellent, simply because the are "the best one can do"?

You may not agree, but others might. Or maybe not. Doesn't make any of them any more or any less excellent.
Jodokast96

1 recommendation

Jodokast96 to vaxvms

Premium Member

to vaxvms
said by vaxvms:

said by SueS:

I don't see anything in any of these images that is hard to do

I don't understand. Are you saying that an excellent photo must be a challenge to capture? Simple photos cannot be excellent?

I think I understand what she is getting at. She doesn't seem to verbalize it well, but I think in essence it's the same as my idea of excellence. She knows it when she sees it.