Photography AP Art Photo Series

So I'm taking AP (Advanced Placement or in other terms College-Bound) Art this year, and so far, I'm not in the greatest shape. But of course, it's probably a progress thread is what I'll do here.

Anyways, I really want critiques to better my photography and Photoshop techniques and efficiency in order to get some projects done, and it a better aspect, the best they could possibly be.

I forgot to mention this is how it will work:

AP Art 2D Design (Photography, Photomanipulation, Relief art, etc.) Will require 24 Art Pieces, including a Concentration Piece to go along with it. I can do anything to what I can take with my camera, but with my Concentration - A series that revolves around a very simple yet complex idea, and requires the medium to capture that idea - I need to keep it very consistent.

So how I'll be able to keep consistency is create a number of series, in which you all can critique separately or as a whole. I'll try my best to keep it in series, but some pictures will randomly pop out as well, random pieces.

So without further delay, I bring you my projects. Again, Comments and Critique appreciated :D

TIMES SQUARE

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1:

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2:

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3:

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4:

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5:

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6:

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7:

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8:

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9:

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Those are amazingly beautiful. I can definitely tell that you have photographer blood in you.
Keep up the good work.

Where is that, by the way?

 

Thank you :D I truly appreciate that.

It's in Times Square in New York City. Busy, busy place.

I was really trying to actually make the lamp post try to stand out, guess it end being a nuisance to the piece. Is there any way I can address that and make it stand out?
And I spent a month in the east coast, and I have to say that being in Times Square for a while really grows on you.

 

I think the problem is that the sky is too bright, so that even though it might stand out, it hurts the eyes eventually. If you can make the sky a little darker, it might help. But on the other hand, it might ruin the contrast I believe you're going for.

 

These are pretty awesome, I've never been to New York before, but I feel like these kinda show what it's about. I think my favorite would probably be the seventh one because it really shows the urbanization of life up there.

As Norz said, the sky is a bit too bright, a bit killer on the eyes if it's watched too long. Still, these are pretty good, just make sure you try to catch your subject a bit better and not have a bunch of things for distraction. (like the people in number one or eight.)

 

Yeah, the hardest part during that day is that the sky was cover in cloud white. And since we had no choice but to keep moving in New York, my settings we're set to auto, only to my horror that the image quality was quite bad. Zoom in any closer, it pixelates after the first few zooms.

I could always replace the sky and hopefully can change the composition of the photo

And Number 7 was favorite as well, :)

Any ideas on how to make sure it doesn't get too cluttered? I found Both those number one and eight also bothersome. I applied a bit of filters to give the picture more vividness and color. I'm trying to go with that faint, yet solid color look.

 

Eh . . . Try to close in on your subject a little more, that ought to help - you could also try good timing when there's not too much distraction and then shoot the shot. It'll probably make it a lot less cluttered and a bit more solid.

 

I suppose this involves more cropping then? And by solid, you mean just focus more on the brightness of the hues to make up for the clutter?

 

Yeah, a bit more cropping will do - but not too much, I don't want to have to have been the one to make you kill your image. ;~;

As for the second part, that too. (I'm working on my photography skillz as well, but I'm still a n00b at it. >_>)

 

Haha, I always keep the RAW image so I can always redo another batch. I'm find that the filters I applied on both the images don't look like it's going well with the image (especially in 8, when it has this weird Cyan Temperature), so trying again can't hurt.

Will post a new series up soon :)

 

I think you centered the main objects fairly well, but like Saxima(oh come on, do I really have to add another word to your name?) said, you might want to make the focus of the picture a little more clear. I wouldn't necissarily say you need to crop too much, but it might help a bit. I'm not a photographer, so I can't really say for sure what's best and what's worst, but it seems like you're doing a pretty good job so far.
And do you live in NY? Aren't these all from there?
Anyways, it seems like in the first few though the sky seems a little more of the subject, but you got a little better with the later ones

 

Thank you, I really appreciate that :)
And yeah, I think cropping it can help. Though I hope it doesn't kill the quality after doing so much of it.
And no, I live in AZ, so it's quite a bummer I won't be able to retake those photos. The good thing is, I can never have too many shots, so a series like this can be replaced with another.
And if it seems like the sky is the subject, then I need to rethink how I'm positioning my shots.

 

well, it might just be the angle you were shooting them at, because it was in such an open space, and there was more sky where you were aiming than there were building. One of the street shots as well seems a bit interesting. I mean, I know the focus was what was in front, I can't remember and I'm too lazy to look back, but now that I think about it, the way it was shot, the street light might make the focus a little less clear, because You've got the light right in front of the building, and my eyes kinda divert to the lights, even though the building was the bigger subject

 

I see what you're saying now. The movement is messy because of the light. And considering how the sky was, it's really not helping the brightness of the screens and the street light to be the subject. At this point, I'll have to scratch some out, but I'll see if that can be fixed. You think replacing it with a different sky could help address the movement issue?

 

And about your picture, I think maybe replacing some of the sky might help. Or, you could actually make a sky shot. See if you can find a time that the sky is interesting. Maybe with lots of clouds, or you see a storm going, and make a nice shot of that and see how it turns out. Or, you could wait till sunset or sunrise and see if it's nice enough to put on. I think some of them might need to be scratched just because you could definately take better pictures if you found them. All it takes is intuition

 

Good to know I live in Arizona. Sunset here is a dream come true if you really want to see those.

 

Thank you :D

And what would you mean by rendering? And I know. Considering I'm taking both, I'm going to need 48 pieces in total. Think I'm making this hard for myself :P

And oh dear. My teacher hates cartoonish looking style, which is sad, because I love combining Impressionism with a bit of contoured modern style to it. She looks like she could be a witch herself, and I don't mean the nice Harry Potter kind of witch lol.

 

Photography! How interesting. These pictures are very beautiful. I love cityscape photos. You should also take some of nature to. Nature pictures always turn out to be beautiful and detailed. ^^