Photo critiquing

I love getting my photos critiqued by photographers so I can learn and see how to improve my photography. I joined one online photo community called ephotozine.com which is based out of England and has a world wide base.

I submitted a photo I took this past weekend to see what would happen. Well, I not only got quite a bit of response, but some took the time to edit the photos and show how they were able to improve on it.

It is amazing how different people see how best to improve on a photo and how subjective it is. It is also interesting that the first thing some of them did was take out the color and make it b/w or monochrome. Only one other kept in the color. This process really makes me think about how best to present a picture.

One thing I did learn on this particular picture is that most did not like the additional clutter around the truck. I did submit a similar picture the next day with just the truck and got more approval on that one.

Here is the original:

Here are the results from critiquers:

Here is the second submittal with just the truck in the field.

Camas Centennial Wetlands - June 14, 2009

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Today, Patricia, Jeanette and I decided to do a photo trip to the Camas Wetlands between Hill City and Fairfield, Idaho. Since the three of us are all IWOW ladies, we decided to form an offshoot of IWOW called IWOP (Idaho Women out Photographing), still open and a part of IWOW.

We stayed just ahead of storms and could see the lightning and hear the thunder just north of us. This actually play to our advantage to get better lighting for our photos.

The area is know for camas lillies (already gone though) and birds (mostly all gone). We tried to get in what bird pictures we could. Here are a few I took.

In addition, we found these mushrooms to take a picture of.

I also found a butterfly on a bright yellow flower which posed nicely for me.

More Valley pictures...

After taking birdie pictures and driving towards Fairfield, we happened across a deserted farm house with all kinds of rusty old equipment and delapidated buildings. This is an extremely fun place for photographers and we were having a great time taking advantage of the old equipment.

Afterwards, we rushed towards the Sawtooth Grill in Fairfield to get a late lunch. What a great day we had. I can't wait to see Jeanette's and Patricia's photos as well. I look forward to more IWOP outings and postings in the future.

Boise Ironman June 13, 2009

(Click on photo to see larger image)

Today I went to the Boise Ironman to see if I could get any good action shots. Be aware that I do not normally photograph sports events, so bear with me on these photos. It was a fun event though. I was a little concerned as the sky was pretty black. The athletes start the swim at Lucky Peak (how cold is that?). I guess they weren't too worried about lightning, even though the skies looked a bit threatening.

They had me park at Sandy Point and I had to lug my camera gear all the way up the dam to the race start. I got there 20 minutes after the start and they were still having specific groups do a start on the swim. Each group had their own color swim cap.

After capturing a few swimmers, I concentrated on the cycling. The racers had wetsuit strippers standing by to strip off the wetsuits so they can begin their cycling. It was interesting as most were on the ground as the stippers stipped their suits off.

Then I rushed downtown to see if I could get the cyclists coming in and transitioning to running. After a bit of this, it started raining. OK for athletes, NOT OK for cameras. I put mine away and went home.

National Geographic High

June 26th. A status report:

Well, the picture is still hanging in there at Number 2 for the month. It has some amazing pictures to compete with. What an exciting month. Just knowing I will end up in final 5 for the month is such an honor. I will, at least, get the picture printed on canvas and hang in my living room.



On Wednesday I submitted this photo to Your-shot on National Geographic. On Friday, I went to the National Geographic web site and low and behold, there was my picture among the Daily Dozen. I was so excited. (Can we use the word verklempt here?) . Then I thought, oh, it's only a selection by National Geographic that it is good enough to put on for the day. Thus my response, well, for today, and probably only for today, one of my photos is being seen by a lot of people. That's pretty amazing, but I don't expect it to go any further.


The photos are rated by the viewers. Two of the months top photos are then put into the National Geographic magazine. Well, I looked at the ratings for the week (week 2) and I'm coming in a good second for the week (out of 60 photos). I looked at week 1 and none of the photos rating exceeded mine, so now I am up to second for 120 photos. There are between 3000 and 4000 entries in the two week time period, so I'm actually doing better than I thought.


I'm not expecting any more out of this photo. I did gain a lot of confidence and hope to submit a lot more photos in various contests. My photographer friend David won a trip for 2 on Alaskan Airlines when he won a prize for Alaskan Airlines magazine. There are so many options. It brings up a whole new side to photography.


Anyway, it is a passion of mine now. I think that perhaps it is hopeless that what makes a great night is wine and photoshop. Sheesh, how boring for others.