Eye for Composition

[Madimel]

Here are pictures that my friend have taken. It's a hobby of his, but I really believe he has the vision to take this to a professional level. Let me know what you guys think.

[lekizz]

There are positive and negative things that could be said about each of those photographs. But evidently the guy has greatly impressed you, so that says something!! Personally I think that in these days of the digital camera there is a severe imbalance of supply and demand and, to make it professionally, your friend would have to exceptional, not just competent.

[Madimel]

I definitely like his work, it looks much better than some other people who were trained and sell themselves as professional photographers. The images I was allowed to post are of pretty low resolution. I welcome all comments whether they are positive, neutral or negative.

[lekizz]

Yes, I know exactly what you're saying. I have photographer friends on Flickr whose work is absolutely stupendous, but they still only see themselves as a competent amateur. Meanwhile there are others whose work might not be so good, but they put themselves around, put a value on their skills and actually make a nice second income.

It's difficult to make a judgement on your friend from only three photos. Does he display his work online somewhere? That might be a useful next step, maybe low resolution images so they don't get pinched for free (which happens often). At least if he succeeds in getting an exhibition of his landscpes, or portraits, he can refer people to a web address or somewhere to showcase his range of skills.

It is only a very personal judgement from a keen amateur photographer but, of the three photos above I would say of..
(1) it shows good compositional skills and is a very dramatic cloudscape. Probably looks better large!
(2) seems to lack a focus. Maybe it is simply because the photo above is quite small and again I'm sure it looks much better in a large size. There must be great potential for good compositions with all those sculptural cacti around!
(3) Nice candid photo! Lovely proud expression on the man's face. The texture of the wall is nice. Shame the door is partially in the way, I think it would have been perfect if the door was closed, or the man sitting further to the right.

[csintexas]

I think all three photos are good, I like the door as part of the composition, I would have to guess it was intentional.

As far as making it in the business I would have to guess that it takes as much desire as skill.

[Madimel]

In my opinion, the images has a lot of life to them. I just love the composition as you can see from my enthusiasm. I hope to display his work on my website this year. I will keep everyone posted. Please keep up with the comments, I value the opinions from the member on this forum. I hope to get more insight from people, we can learn so much from one another.

[csintexas]

I find that Grey scale photos always look artistic these days. Do you feel the same about this persons color photography?

[Madimel]

Chris,
That is a really good point. I unintentionally posted all b&w images. Here are some of his color work. I've always been critical of my work and others (when asked of course), and I know I cannot bring to "life" the way this guy does to these images. Do you agree or am I a stone throw from a loonie bin?

[csintexas]

No, I think you could do that with some practice. Certainly this person has an eye for composition and could be a professional photographer. As far as making it in the art side I don't know. These are competent photographs but I don't see anything that really stands out so far as being unusually marketable. I can imagine them in a photo book but not as something I would frame and display in my home.