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I have never really felt the need to seek critique on my images for some time, not through any sense of arrogance, more due to the fact that I am my own harshest critic. I have lurked here on and off for some time and was actually taught by one of the members here, and taught extremely well I might add.
He gave me the tools to judge my images well (Many thanks Matt )

I spent yesterday shooting competitors in this years Avon Descent. I took some images last year and thoroghly enjoyed it and went to a different location this year to see what I could get. Let me just say that the majority of competitors did it really tough.

I have alot of images similar in framing to the ones below and I am after people opinions on them. I am pretty happy with them apart from being a little uneasy (best way to describe it) about the framing. I was forced to shoot past some "obstacles" and really wanted to get different images from the myriad of other photographers that were in the same spot. This is the result.







These ones I am uneasy about the rocks and whatnot in the front of the images. Picky? or justified?



I am also concerned about the rocks in the foreground but happen to really like the image so I am not so concerned about it. I am really after some honest opinions here and am keen to find out what people think. As I said, I am my own harshest critic and images that I have considered poor, others have really liked.

The rest of the gallery of the day is here and my smugmug gallery is here if you would like to see some of my other work.

Thanks for looking

In some ways the foreground could be in focus, but doing so would have made it impossible for you to freeze the action like you have. Something has to give, and I do prefer the out of focus rocks than blurred competitors.

The last image is the strongest as you have managed to get a bit closer to the competitor, you can easily see his concentration and are not lost by the other elements.

aim54x wrote:The last image is the strongest as you have managed to get a bit closer to the competitor, you can easily see his concentration and are not lost by the other elements.

#2, 3 do not work for me as the kayaker is lost in the background. This may not be an issue on a larger image though.
#1 I would be inclined to clone out the prominent "X" at the far left, and possibly tone down the OOF competitor in the background. I like him (?) there as he adds context, but the paddle, in particular is just too bright. Also something uneasy about the focus paddler. Perhaps because he is leaning back. Not sure.

Did you want to include the OOF rocks? Or was it that there was no choice?

I personally don't like those rocks but you have done a wonderful job in freezing and capturing the action in #4. I reckon even if you square cropped it, it would still hold it's own.

aim54x wrote:he last image is the strongest as you have managed to get a bit closer to the competitor, you can easily see his concentration and are not lost by the other elements.

Mr Darcy wrote:#2, 3 do not work for me as the kayaker is lost in the background.

surenj wrote:I reckon even if you square cropped it, it would still hold it's own.

geez, that was easy, all I wanted to say was right there, cheers guys

The first image is definitely one of my preferred ones, the placement of the kayaker right smack on the intersection of the thirds (power point) and the water leading down towards the viewer make this shot a winner, the only way to ruin it would be to get it out of focus..

The OOF rocks in the 2nd and 3rd merely distract me from the main subject, worse still, I feel they do not value add to the image, there is no water flowing towards the viewer and there is no line to bring the viewer thru the rocks to the kayaker. As already mentioned, the kayaker is a fraction too small in the frame - cropping these thru the OOF area would improve them out of sight, for me anyway. This is reinforced when lookign at your gallery and seeing image 12 of 43, this image shows clearly the OOF rock but it does not detract from the main subject, the kayaker.

hth

I agree with the composition strength of #1 but I feel that the brightest part of this image should be occupied by the subject to make it stronger.

Mr Darcy wrote:#2, 3 do not work for me as the kayaker is lost in the background.

I think that this is the main reason I wasn't so sure about some of these images. When you look at them full size they aren't so lost. I am still not so keen on them.

surenj wrote:Did you want to include the OOF rocks? Or was it that there was no choice?

I was left with no choice due to some of the Avon Support Unit rescue people sitting in the middle of the river, smack bang in the middle of the best shots. They moved later on and I got better stuff.

biggerry wrote:The OOF rocks in the 2nd and 3rd merely distract me from the main subject, worse still, I feel they do not value add to the image, there is no water flowing towards the viewer and there is no line to bring the viewer thru the rocks to the kayaker. As already mentioned, the kayaker is a fraction too small in the frame - cropping these thru the OOF area would improve them out of sight, for me anyway. This is reinforced when lookign at your gallery and seeing image 12 of 43, this image shows clearly the OOF rock but it does not detract from the main subject, the kayaker.

I hadn't thought of it that way, it does pay to seek others opinions. I must admit that I am not so much of a fan of cropping, I like to get the shot right in the camera unless I have no other choice.

surenj wrote:I agree with the composition strength of #1 but I feel that the brightest part of this image should be occupied by the subject to make it stronger.

That area that the competitors were coming through was in heavy shade at times and it did make things a little difficult to keep them bright. I shot at ISO800 for the majority of the day to make sure I had the shutter speed fast regardless of whether they were in the shade or not. The lens I was using meant that I had to keep it high.

Thank you all for your comments and taking the time to check the images out. I do appreciate the critiques.