Once, Queen of the hill-station -Shimla!

[Aryan]

Shimla, what else. A few pictures clicked durin a recent ride to this place. Although, Shimla has lost whatever charm it had, but I tried to capture a few facets of Shimla which give it it's 'character'.

Thanks for looking. As this is the critique section, I am ready to get some criticisms on all the pictures.

P.S: The last two photographs are for show-off purposes! :D

An old house lying in ruins...
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0770.jpg

The Christ Church, Shimla
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0772.jpg

The town of Shimla
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0785.jpg

Old World...
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0787.jpg

Framed!
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0790.jpg

Eerily Beautiful
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0792.jpg

Dusk
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0793.jpg

Colors of Nature
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0799.jpg

In shades of black, white and gray!
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0800.jpg

Vantage Point - the Mall Road as seen from a high-point
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0809.jpg

Christ Church, at dusk
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0814.jpg

Early morning sun-rays filter through lush green trees. (This is the road to Fagu)
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0825.jpg

Small village of Fagu
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0836.jpg

In-Shade
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0840.jpg

Branching Up!
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0842.jpg

Blue
http://www.thephotographer.in/galleries/data/539/IMG_0844.jpg
[/IMG]

[KrishnenduKes]

I will need some time to look at this before bringing out a scathing critique since this is in the critique section!

In the meanwhile Approved

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

welcome back aryan..

and yes..so many to go through..but for starters 2nd shot is my THE FAV..superb compo..light on the subject is beauty..the only thing is the halo near the mountain..and the coarse noise near the edge right bottom sky..if u can just lasso noise reduce that,it will be more beautiful..

Anvancy

[hitanshu]

Welcome back boy. Like #2 as well.

But hey, that pose is sooo darn boring!

[KrishnenduKes]

Interesting set of pictures is what I would say. However, I feel that there is some overprocessing in some of them. Skies seem too blue, colours too strong, making them over-dramatic! In the whole set, I don't know what the last two photographs are doing? They do not fit into the scheme of things at all!

And after all that... I dare say that the ones I do like are N°s 1,2,4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of which 4 is undoubtedly my pick of the lot. Good compostion, good colours, well conceived. Superb shot. And second best being N°9. Excellent composition, nice B/W photograph with a grainy feel to it.

[Aryan]

@Ken da: Thanks. I guess the over-processed feel is purely because of my CRT monitor which is purely dull and is ofcourse not at all calibrated. I did see that the colors looked too 'saturated' in some pictures, when I was uploading the photographs (through the laptop). :(

Thanks for the critique, helps to actually gauge how much one is really into good and creative photography. :)

[arijit]

so r1 was in my town, me not knowing that:(:(
i liked the b/w one.

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

no1: a decent photo but something not gripping to me atleast.

no 2: as i already said..my personal fav.

no 3: a nice image,love the colors on the mountains but i have a question for you here...whats there that patch on the left of the photo??near that mobile tower or something.

no 4:a good photo but two things can be done..first making the door straight thru LR.and second bringing out more texture through clarity.

no 5:again a decent photo.

no 6:a nice shot.good use of the shadows.

no 7: like the sky but certainly not the halo around the statue.

no 8: nice palette use of colors.

no 9: i like how the tree has come out but not the rest of the picture.

no 10:interesting capture.you can add a gradient to bring out the sky and the make the composition even more beautiful.

no 11 to 18 are good..last two i cant critique upon.:p

Anvancy

[KrishnenduKes]

no 3: a nice image,love the colors on the mountains but i have a question for you here...whats there that patch on the left of the photo??near that mobile tower or something.

no 11 to 18 are good..last two i cant critique upon.:p

Anvancy

As I read through that, I noticed that patch on N°3 that you are talking about.

And the last two are not worth critiquing about!

[Aryan]

Hi Anvancy, thanks for that long post. Really appreciate the time and effort you have put. :)

no 3: a nice image,love the colors on the mountains but i have a question for you here...whats there that patch on the left of the photo??near that mobile tower or something.



Regarding the patch, I have really no idea what that patch is! :confused: Damn!


no 7: like the sky but certainly not the halo around the statue.


The 18-55mm IS kit lens does have this problem. There have been MANY pictures where I do find a strange halo effect. Even in many of the Spiti pictures (when I visited Spiti earlier this year), this halo was quite evident.

P.S: I do not do much PP (Post Processing) as I am not really much into it. I cannot really do much except a little brightness, contrast, leveling and the likes. Gradient, et al, I am yet to learn. I have also removed the last two photographs, since, as mentioned, it doesn't really belong in a photo-critique thread.

Thanks yet again Anvancy for the critique. I really appreciate it all. :)

[KrishnenduKes]

The 18-55mm IS kit lens does have this problem. There have been MANY pictures where I do find a strange halo effect. Even in many of the Spiti pictures (when I visited Spiti earlier this year), this halo was quite evident.

P.S: I do not do much PP (Post Processing) as I am not really much into it. I cannot really do much except a little brightness, contrast, leveling and the likes. Gradient, et al, I am yet to learn. :)

Do you think it is the 18-55 that creates this halo? Strange!

I have seen that you know quite a bit of PP. At least for single photos, not superimposing like the way Vicky does.

[Aryan]

@Ken da: Yes, I think the 18-55mm has some flaring as well as this halo thing going on quite a few times, in quite a few shots.:(

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

i meant that the last two photos are good and cant be critiqued..two great beings..and one hell machine!!:p

i dont know actually whether the 18-55 carries this or not..one of my friend uses with the 400d and he doesnt face this particular issue.

about the gradient i was talking in the lines of this.

http://i49.tinypic.com/33mvj38.jpg

we all are learning some or the other thing in this forum.

Anvancy

[Vicky]

Wow! It sure feels great to see some uploads from you Aryan!:p

My favs are #2, #6, #8, #9 and #13. The absolute favorite being #9. Love the old world feel to it:)

And yes, some of the skies are looking over saturated:o

Good work mate!

BTW, when did you get the R1?:eek::eek: Congrats mate!

[Aryan]

@Anvancy: Thanks for showing me the gradient stuff. :) I appreciate it.

@Vicky: Thanks for those kind words. As for the R1, it is, but ofcourse not mine; it's Ken da's. :) He was kind enough to let me ride it.

[KrishnenduKes]

I wanted to emphasise here that good landscape is also a very difficult subject to shoot, especially if it is already beautiful and if the photographer has to make it look outstanding!

[robin234]

P1 : nice shot( for your collection of simla ) ,but lacks something .
P2:I felt chruch is a bit burnt out .

P3 :Processing not done carefully (I can see Selection tool marks :)

P4:Angle with which door is clicked is not right :( or take a picture in front of it .

P5,67,8,9 :good picture ,but processing is a big off IMO.

P10 :good pic (iconic place of Simla IMO )

are ok and last one is the best IMO :D

[KrishnenduKes]

P3 :Processing not done carefully (I can see Selection tool marks :)



Are you sure that that is a selection tool mark?

Will be sure only if we look at the SOOC shot!

[Aryan]

@Robin: I hardly know anything about the 'selection tool'. Are you talking about the lasso tool? Is it the same?

Also, I would like to know how would you have liked to process pictures 5,6,7,8 and 9.

P.S: Thanks for the comments, though. :)

[robin234]

@Aryan :

-> I'm talking about Quick Selection tool in adobe (not lasso tool )
I find colours to be bit oversaturated .like it seems you've increased the saturation slider too much .(Well,Its from person to person few may like it and few may not
).IMO its about artist's feeling,and expression :)

in b/w can you please post SOOC shots too :)

eg this one
http://i49.tinypic.com/33mvj38.jpg

I tried it repair it.(not perfect )

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2610/thephto.jpg

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/8316/img0785o.jpg

Also ,at what f stop do you click landscape ??

[KrishnenduKes]

@Aryan :

-> I'm talking about Quick Selection tool in adobe (not lasso tool )
I find colours to be bit oversaturated .like it seems you've increased the saturation slider too much .

I think we discussed this... he has a CRT and so does Anvancy! Evidently they keep using the colour slider and when it is at the end of their tether does some colour change manifest!

I tried it repair it.(not perfect )
Also ,at what f stop do you click landscape ??

Here is your Exif:
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Image Date: 2009:11:29 05:03:54
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 55.0mm
CCD Width: 4.04mm
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
Aperture: f/10.0
ISO equiv: 200
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
Photographer: unknown

[Aryan]

@Robin: I use an age-old CRT and it is not at all calibrated for photo-editing. :( Hence, the over-saturated/ over-exposed/ too much contrast in pictures.

While shooting landscapes, I use the 18-55mm IS lens; I use an aperture between f9 and f18.

[robin234]

aryan , get a good monitor this new year buddy :).

in b/w just saw your profile on flickr again ...cool pics :)

mine goes by ilovewalkman on flickr ..hehe

[Aryan]

aryan , get a good monitor this new year buddy :).

in b/w just saw your profile on flickr again ...cool pics :)

mine goes by ilovewalkman on flickr ..hehe
Yes, infact getting a laptop is in my New Year list, if only Santa would listen. :)

Thanks, by the way, for having a look at that Flickr album of mine, although I am not able to update it now, as I have reached the 200 photographs limit. I'll have to buy a membership now, which I'll do in about a week's time. That Flickr album has been getting quite a lot of attention off-late. ;)