Bad Photographs

[Nikon_Guy]

In an effort to improve my skills and hopefully point out mistakes to others so they wont repeat them, I’ve decided to start a thread of bad photographs. These will be shots that could have been good, but because of lack of attention to detail they leave a bit to be desired.

I will start with one of mine that fell quite short of a quality shot for several obvious reasons. If you want to participate, point out what is wrong with this photograph and after a few days I will add my opinion to the mix as well.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

1. Composition of the yuma is off??
2. Didnt clean the glass.
3. DOF is very shallow.
4. Not as sharp as it could be.

 

[dc_909]

Glass not cleaned and yuma not centered.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Also if your using photo editing software you could remove the spots in the pic.

 

[edwing206]

Rev pretty much said it all.

 

[BeakerBob]

I'll play!! As stated already, dirty glass, detail & composition.

Also, the background is very distracting with all the red & green colors competing with the main subject. A closeup shot would have been more dramatic with a little bit more color saturation:

 

[JGoslee]

The is glass not cleaned. The color looks off but I'm not sure how you would fix that with camera settings. White balance maybe? Is it bad to have the yuma not centered? I like it off center. This will be a really helpful thread for me.

 

[Chelsey]

The image also looks slightly overexposed.

 

[Nikon_Guy]

Bunch of sharp cookies you all are. Pretty much nailed everything.

The most glaring problem is indeed that the glass hadn’t been cleaned. I am still surprised at how many aquarium pictures I see posted on boards that have dirty glass. This is a pet peeve of mine.

In addition to that, the picture is over exposed. This causes the colors to be off and washed. Although Bob did an excellent job of “salvaging†the picture with his crop, with the correct exposure, it most likely wouldn’t have been necessary.

Yes, Rev, it isn’t as sharp as it could be. In my humble opinion, this is due in large part because of the dirty glass becoming a softening filter.

I will have to disagree on the “off center “ comment. In very few cases should the main subject be the absolute center of the photograph.

Regards,

NG
Bryce

 

[Nikon_Guy]

What's Wrong With This One?

Here is another that fell short in my oppinion because of a minor yet glarring error. Why is it bad and what should have been done to correct it?

 

[RandyO Verified Sponsor]

Did no one want to play with this second picture? You guys can't leave me hanging here.

I'm as noob as they come to this Photography stuff, but I guess I'll take a crack at it.

Depth of field? Increase aperture to a higher number to get both the zoo's and the large paly in focus.

 

[edwing206]

To me it looks as if the picture was taken at an angle through the glass, thus distorting it a little bit.

 

[ReeferRob]

This is a rad thread. However it would be most helpful to not only point out the flaw but how specifically they could be fixed or what should have been done to avoid the bad photo.