What defines a good photo?

[AB26]

The first thing that strikes my about your image of the plane is how we cannot make out the detail in the shadow areas and how they need to be brought out to balance out the image.

Interesting comment, Manfred.

I wonder if Simon Du Plessis ( http://www.odpmagazine.co.za/20-ques...-photographer/ ) would have rated your edit as high as he rated the original. The image was even elected 2nd best image posted in a specific week in the action section of ODP. Plenty of highly regarded Pro’s posting there.

I was surprised and very proud that an image captured by me was so highly rated by very competent photographers.

[Manfred M]

Interesting comment, Manfred.

I wonder if Simon Du Plessis ( http://www.odpmagazine.co.za/20-ques...-photographer/ ) would have rated your edit as high as he rated the original. The image was even elected 2nd best image posted in a specific week in the action section of ODP. Plenty of highly regarded Pro’s posting there.

I was surprised and very proud that an image captured by me was so highly rated by very competent photographers.

Andre - Congratulations on having the image selected. I rather suspected that you chose that shot because it had some great reviews.

I did not make any comments on the shot, just how I would have handled it in post. I don't know if people agree or disagree with my edit (and honestly, it is a very quick one, had I spent more that 5 minutes on it, I would have refined it some more).

I was merely trying to get you to think about PP as part of the creative process; more than cropping and a bit of sharpening.

[AB26]

I rather suspected that you chose that shot because it had some great reviews.

Yes, I did.

Proof that you need not spend more than 5 seconds doing PP to have a shot get a good review.

You need hours and hours of practice and experimenting with camera settings to refine your camera technique. The more you can refine your camera technique the less you will need wasting time doing PP and the more time you will have refining camera technique.

Thanks Manfred, it is always interesting to see different perspectives from different people.

[Ady]

Hi Haseeb,

I'm a bit late to this thread and I don't have a lot to add to the comments, but I would like to throw in another perspective or two.

On the original question of 'What defines a good photo?' I have two very different answers:

1. From a personal perspective the thing that defines a good photo is; one that I like. Why I like a particular image may be down to the technical qualities, creative PP, subject or composition. Equally I may like an image despite all those things, I have seen images that were blurred/OoF, poorly framed, badly PPd or of very mundane subjects, but I still like them for what seem to be undefinable and purely aesthetic reasons.

2. From a work perspective the thing that defines a good photo is; the client likes the images and came back with another job. What makes a good photo is very subjective and I am frequently surprised by the images that clients choose from a given shoot.

On the subject of camera skills v PP I firmly believe that camera skills are more important than PP skills, right up until the point where PP skills become more important than the camera skills. If the conditions are less than optimal then good PP skills can rescue a shoot, ultimately I believe the two to be equally important.

Cheers,
Ady

[Manfred M]

Andre - As I mentioned in an earlier post, many photographers I know are like you and prefer to be out shooting and hate to spend time behind the computer in post. If it works for you, who am I to argue?

I just know that I can coax more out of an image in post, especially when I work in RAW. There is simply a lot of information in the image file that you wiill never see unless you use PP tools to reveal it. I know that I am not alone in that opinion...

[HaseebM]

Hi Adrian, never late or old for learning. Thanks for bringing those two points. I am a hobbyist but the client could also mean friends and relatives who can still be critical.

Andre and Manfred, thank you both. Good spirited debate has thrown some pointers my way.