The Detailed Critique Thread

I’ve been trying to come up with a way that I can give back to the Forzatography community for a while, and after much consideration, this felt like the thing I’d be best suited to & would find most useful if I was just starting out in the hobby. I’ve occasionally offered critiques before, but not wanting to offend means it always feels a little uncomfortable even though no one has ever told me they were unwelcome. I suspect others might be a bit shy about it for the same reason, and because criticism is so rare in the media sections, it can often feel like encouragement & praise are the only acceptable forms of communication.
Now I’m offering everyone the chance to expressly ask for their photos to be nitpicked to death…or at least state/restate that they’re open to it. :wink:

This is not meant to be strictly my thing though; I would invite anyone with a keen eye for detail & composition to share feedback with others in this space. Please feel free to do so!

My goal for this thread is to promote learning by keeping things positive & constructive, as well as maintaining restraint when it comes to personal taste. The idea is not to tell you what I would do differently, and how anyone feels about the paint, tune, or activity depicted in the photo should not be a factor. It’s going to be about purely technical/aesthetic aspects of the work as much as is humanly possible, and I’ll ask questions to clarify the intent behind a photo or a compositional choice you made if it’s not obvious.

You can post photos you want feedback on here, or just leave a comment stating that you’d like a detailed critique on your latest set & I’ll check out your gallery and post it there.

In keeping with the spirit of education, here’s a link to the FM4 Forzatography Help & Tips guide; much of the information applies universally:
http://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst342_FM4-Forzatography-Help-and-Tips--Wiki.aspx

Here’s How to Upload Images as well, just in case this is the first stop for someone new:
http://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst2289_-UPDATED--Guide--How-To-Upload-Images.aspx

I’m also willing to offer workshop-type activities, if there’s any interest. Happy shooting!

Great idea lccbb!

+1 - I have to agree. I’ve mostly stuck to commenting on what I like versus what I think could be better as I don’t feel qualified/experienced enough to give advice. I wouldn’t mind seeing what I could/should do to help improve my photography as well as learn more about proper techniques versus the “flying by the seat of my pants” that I tend to do.

Instead of a full gallery to go through, I’ll share one of my more recent shots as it best reflects my current level:

Click for full-size Flickr image.

Feel free to dig in to it as much as you want. I hope to see more activity in this thread.

I totally agree, this is a great idea for a thread. I’ll post up some of my work too.

I simply had to offer my thoughts on this piece. At first glance its easy to tell its taken by one of the forum pros, I can’t recall seeing a bad photo from you dude. This ones has so much depth to it the more I look into it, the more I see there is to admire.

The item to the left that has caused the blur, looks like a light leak, and is a very nice touch in this image, it balances out the lighter area to the right of the image framing the image nicely.

The car itself with the tires turned creates a sense of movement, as though it is moving right to left across the image, the characters head looking to the viewers left also lends itself well to the notion. The whole effect draws your eye in and up to the sign ‘BEAULIVRE’ which stands out as a very nice detail and ties the subtle use of aperture across the image nicely.

The reflections on the car are very subtle, but help highlight the lighting on the car. The lighting itself is very striking, coupled with the reflections help sit the car in the scene. These details further coupled with the sign lend the whole image a nice sense of realism which I see is a talent you have of capturing across your work. Again telling me the image is taken by one of the forum pros.

If I have to offer any improvement at all, I would like to have seen the ‘light leak’ to the left used a little more subtlety, a little less overpowering as my eye was drawn to it first. Or perhaps if it were a few shades lighter, matching more closely the tone to the right of the image. Also a little more exposure would bring out a bit more detail around the darker areas of the car, the rims for example and help the buildings pop a little more too. However, with the light to the right of the image I see this would most likely over expose the image, so I do think in game you have pretty much got to the limit of what you could have done here without editing it outside the game.

Overall it is an excellently composed and exposed image. The beautiful lines of the Ghibli are accented nicely. A stunning car in a beautiful setting, worthy of a Maserati advert. Another stand out image from one of the most prolific and talented Forzatographers.

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Really awesome idea lccbb22!

I will be the first to undertake the task. I’d love to get some critique on my photographs. I already got some from some other members and I feel that I improved the color I use in the photos. Any more critique is very welcome.

Thanks and here is my gallery: http://forums.forza.net/turn10_postst34070_Cha-Boy-Jesus-Gallery--Updated-4-3-15.aspx

Great idea, you’re welcome to pick apart my pics anytime!

Here’s one of mine, any/all critique greatly appreciated:

Your picture is actually really good, just if the plants were not in the way, it would look 10x better in my opinion. Also, you can move the watermark around so it is not in the way of the picture, or you can even crop it out for a cleaner image.

I’m liking the idea you have here, just trying to share the knowledge. Hope this works, and people jump on board!

This is my joint top faved photo Flickr. Personally one of my favourites I’ve taken. ALL feedback welcome!

Honestly thought it was real when I first saw it

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I’m thrilled that this has gotten off to such a strong start, thank you DevlinGFS & Lethal Drift for giving the first critiques!

I’ve visited Cha Boy Jesus’s gallery & I’ll be sure to stop by Sergio’s as soon as I can.

@Apparently God, I can’t really add anything to Devlin’s thoughts because he was quite thorough. I will say after seeing that photo and many more on Flickr, flying by the seat of your pants is producing pretty consistent results. If the photography bug does inflict you mortally, try not to get discouraged if it takes a while for increased knowledge to lead to notably improved work. No matter how much a person learns, there is something about seeing your earliest work that can hopefully always serve as a positive reminder of what it was like to be working purely off of talent & instinct (and not just due to nostalgia).

@Devlin, I’m not sure if LD was referring to the plants by the wheel, the out of focus ones at the front of the car, or all of them; but I do agree with him to some extent. I think that the ones nearest the wheel add a sense of foreground depth about as much as they interrupt the flow of the fender, so their inclusion seems to be a zero-sum proposition. The one near the near front corner however, is very distracting. I’m not sure if it’s just my dirty mind, but it has a rather suggestive shape, and its size & position in the frame make it pull focus in a major way. It does cast a shadow on the car which is a nice subtle detail though. I wonder if you really liked that plant, or if you couldn’t maintain the framing you wanted with the camera close enough to be in front of it.

The photo does have far more positives than negatives. The highlight running along the side being aligned vertically with the upper air inlet & giving it more definition is very nice, both R/T badges being near opposite sides of the frame gives the image balance, and your cutoff point at the right side is excellent, particularly leaving the whole corner of the chrome windshield trim in so that it can lead back into the frame after touching the edge. The ghostly tree which appears just to the left of the blower is a masterful touch, you’ve turned what could be a discordant interaction with the top hood line into a nearly subliminal suggestion of background depth. Last but not least, I love how the curve of the bending grass appears to exactly match the curve of the car’s front lip where they meet at its far corner.

I do have one more idle question; did you cut off the bottom of the tire intentionally or is your TV (like mine) slightly out of alignment?

@ElectricFrogUK, your photo does indeed present a fairly believable illusion of reality, but because we can observe the sun’s position in the lop left of frame, the image would be even more convincing & dramatic if exposure was reduced to make the transition from light to shadow more obvious. There are no major negatives to this photo, but with room for fine-tuning, I do have some questions that might give you some ideas of how that might be accomplished.

First, I’d like to ask if you tried different combinations of distance & zoom that would allow the treetops to fit vertically, since you’ve already done well to keep them within the horizontal bounds of the frame. I’m also curious to know if you chose the car’s position to show as much of its shadow as possible, or if it was just what felt right. Finally, did you try different combinations of shutter speed & aperture to change the amount/texture of blur in the trees?
As there are no foreground objects and the perspective you used creates an adequate sense of depth, it would work to keep aperture very low (or even at 0) because high shutter speed alone would create a defined separation between subject & background.

Hey bud, wouldn’t mind some critique on my gallery if you have time :slight_smile:

I’ve been taking Forza pictures for a while but only really started posting them during FM5 and Horizon 2, so any pointers of where I am going wrong or things I can improve on would be very appreciated

Cheers :slight_smile:

Thank you Devlin and Iccbb for the fantastic feedback! I’ll be following this thread as it gets updated :slight_smile: