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Philip Walker

5 Years Ago

New Member, Just Joined Premium, Would Love To Hear Any Feedback Or Constructive Criticism On My Photos.

Hi, everyone! I joined FineArtAmerica a few months ago, but haven't been able to post here, as I didn't have premium till just now. I just wanted to say hello, introduce myself to the community, and hopefully get some feedback on my photos. I'm very new to photography, just started a few months ago, so feel free to completely rip on my stuff! I tend to learn the fastest when people critique my work, and I'd love to hear from some of the experienced members on the site. My photos are all taken in Japan, and mostly tend to show the rural side of the country. I love scenery, landscapes, and weird insects, so my stuff tends to revolve around that. Feel free to take a look!

Aside from that, thanks for taking the time to read this! Hope to share some neat photos with the community in the years to come!

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Kathleen Bishop

5 Years Ago

Phillip, I really love your work but advise that you remove "hobbyist" from your bio. You want to present yourself to potential buyers as a professional photographer.

 

Rudy Umans

5 Years Ago

Welcome Phillip. There are great people here who can and are willing to help when needed

 

Philip Walker

5 Years Ago

Hi, Kathleen! Thank you very much for the advice, I've updated my bio.

 

Hans Zimmer

5 Years Ago

Welcome to the show, Philip - one new follower :o)

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Philip,

Following Hans count me in as your follower.

Your photography is that of an older pro.

Dave
Post Modern Artist

 

Jessica Jenney

5 Years Ago

I still see the same bio, Philip! Be sure to click on 'submit' after changes

 

Jessica Jenney

5 Years Ago

Here is your premium site that you can customize:

https://1-philip-walker.pixels.com/

 

Philip Walker

5 Years Ago

Thank you so much Hans and David for following my page! I have almost no followers at the moment, so it means a lot to me! Also, thank you for letting me know about both of those things Jessica. I tried resubmitting the changes and confirmed that the bio is now correctly updated, and I'm working on customizing my site. Thank you guys!

 

Uther Pendraggin

5 Years Ago

Phillip,

There is a saying, "Be careful what you wish for." I'll not be critiquing your work. Those that will mean nothing but good. However their level of brusqueness is off putting. And if you are not put off, then they will take that as permission to keep going until you are.

Welcome. Namaste.

PLAU
UPD

 

Hans Zimmer

5 Years Ago

Philip, you´re welcome! :o)

 

Diane Zucker

5 Years Ago

Welcome to FAA Philip.

I noticed that you have two images called "Cat in the Factory." It is my understanding that it is best not to use the same title for multiple images because it can mess up the links. Note, if you change a title later, you have a broken link and can lose your original visitor count.

 

Philip Walker

5 Years Ago

Thank you so much, Diane! I just changed one of them so they no longer share the same title. I'll keep that in mind in the future!

Uther, that sounds a bit scary! Sometimes it's good to be a little put off, I think...it helps to get me out of my comfort zone and try new things.

 

Uther Pendraggin

5 Years Ago

OK just this once...
Art Prints


What made me look at this was the discoloration in the blue. At first I wasn't sure that it wasn't reflective of a mountainous landscape. On closer examination I still can see this as a Japanese Screen painting. Although I don't think it intentionally is one.

Yet the tree is cut away from obstructing the view (or perhaps it was at one time brushing up against the blue and that is the reason for the markings.

I find the blue more interesting as the blue and less interesting as a part of a scene.

Likewise the tree.

That tree has lines and textures and a story to tell. I really like the tree. If I were the person taking the pictures there would be many pictures of the tree.

It deserves its own frame.

I'm not a follow person. I have more than enough to do trying to keep up with my own activity stream. I don't know how people manage if they have 100+ people that they follow. So, that I don't add you is not at all a reflection on you or your work.

Tree.

UPD

 

Philip Walker

5 Years Ago

Thank you, Uther! That is actually a very good point about the tree, and how it deserves its own frame. I've lived here in Japan for three years now, and this kind of oddly shaped and shaven tree has become very normal to me, but as you say, it is quite an interesting tree. I should try looking at the ordinary here with fresh eyes again. I'll try taking some photos of it and see what I can come up with!

Additionally, I never even considered the texture on the shed alone something worth a photo. You see things in a very different way than I do, and I think your eye is quite wonderful. Thank you for the feedback!

 

Chuck De La Rosa

5 Years Ago

Wow Philip, your work is excellent, especially your night shots.

One thing, watch your horizons. This one is a little crooked and just felt off the moment I looked at it.

Art Prints

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

as a newbie its better than i thought it was going to be. the color balances are good overall and it has that eye catching appeal.

Photography Prints
this one is a bit crooked though, and it could use a deeper focus. the colors are pretty but the background is kind of boring and static. be sure to put the town name into the keywords

Sell Art Online
i like it, but it lacks depth and excitement. if there was just a few spots highlighted on the ground it would be better. i see a few yellow spots - i would enhance those areas to draw the eye and move it around a bit. right now its flat. i'd punch the yellows up and brighten the city or water a bit. i might zoom in a bit to remove some of that mountain, it makes the city look small.

you have a few exciting images and then there is this one

Photography Prints
why is this in here? if there was a train or something on the road it would be more interesting. but this is just a thing. there is also a lot of noise and a strong vignette.

Sell Art Online
your quality is random, when i saw the fireworks, the sunset etc, those looked good. but things like this, looks like you were testing the camera with it. its dark, dismal, poor lighting, uninteresting angle, very noisy, and i don't get the sense its abandoned, i see a soda machine in there? too many wires, its distracting.

i'm getting the feeling that either the colorful ones were your latest or you got lucky.

Art Prints Art Prints
these are less interesting. a building in the woods. and a closed off stair case. mentioning the park is nice, but i'd like to see the park, it should be self explanatory. and you seem to have a few views from this same place. ideally a place like this would be best in the spring or fall.

Art Prints
this has good timing, but a terrible background. those poles, blurry rock, and the bird is small in there. i'd get in closer shoot more and avoid the poles.

Photography Prints
i'd say you have a hang of sunsets, but i would clone out that building, my eye goes right to it. and darken the background while enhancing the light on the bench, you want to add some drama.

Photography Prints
but then you have a shot like this, which looks like a test picture. it looks out of place. you have to ask - is this something i'd pay for and hang in my room?


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Rich Franco

5 Years Ago

Philip,

Welcome! Very nice images,especially for one new to this game! I see in your new Bio, that you are living in Saikai City and here is a search result fo "Saikai" in FAA:

https://fineartamerica.com/art/photographs/saikai

23 photos and 14 of them yours! That's good and here's what I would concentrate on. Create MANY more images of your City, so that in any search results, YOU are number1! From a quick Google search, seems that Saikai has a LOT of things there and from the ports to the Museums, plenty to photograph. Then, spread out and find other areas close to your home base and concentrate on them too and slowly build up a library of images from your region. That way, ANYONE looking for images from that area, will see yours!

Here's the FAA search results for "Japan" and photos ONLY, 27,438! And most if not ALL of yours, will be on the tail end of this search!

https://fineartamerica.com/art/photographs/japan

This will give you an idea of the importance of what you shoot and the importance of KEYWORDS! Look at some of the search results for the link above and then see what keywords they used and use those that apply.

As far as advice or criticism of your images, here are 2 good groups to join, I know they are good, since I'm the Amdin for them! LOL!

https://fineartamerica.com/groups/raw-critique.html

https://fineartamerica.com/groups/photo-critique-one-on-one-.html

Take a look at them and see if you would like to join.

In addition, there is another great resource here that Bradford Martin has started that is just what you need to start:

https://fineartamerica.com/showmessages.php?messageid=4237883

Lot's of good advice there and good people contributing.

As far as FAA and what it does for you, maybe you remember the "old" movie, Raiders Of The Lost Ark", where at the end, you see that wooden crate wheeled into this huge warehouse, with MILLIONS of other wooden crates, well that's FAA!! FAA simply provides a warhouse for your images and good vendors for your products, but that's about it. YOU need to bring the buyers to your FAA/Pixel site, and not FAA. Market your images to your OWN site : https://1-philip-walker.pixels.com/ and not the general FAA site, since on the general FAA site, a click or two and your buyer could be on another artists site, maybe mine!!!

As far as pricing, I looked at yours and seems a bit low, so do some research and see what others, that showed up on the search results for "japan" sell their work for and then bump yours up. FAA isn't "price sensitive" and by that, I mean, people come here to find great images and less concerned about a few bucks. Here's an example:

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/tree-fire-darren-white.html?product=art-print

Great image by Darren White! His print pricing for a 26x40" print is $309.37 and your's is $79.87......

Hope this helps and don't be shy about asking questions here, good people all!

Rich

 

Diana Angstadt

5 Years Ago

I love a lot of your work. A few of the night skies appear too dark in my opinion. It is almost as if you should have photographed them 1/2 hour earlier when there was still some more light in the sky. Just my opinion.

 

Mary Bedy

5 Years Ago

Hi, Phillip!

You have some very nice work. One thing I suggest aside from what everyone has already told you is to "vote" for your own work. You're allowed to vote once - just click on the thumbs up at the top right of the page for each image.

Every "like" (thumbs up) helps move you up a little bit in the search engine. Off to follow you. Nice work!

 

Philip Walker

5 Years Ago

Mike, thank you so much for your detailed critique! Regarding the abandoned building, you are correct that it was a test shot, in fact, it was one of the very first night photos I'd taken. On my more recent photos (milky way, etc.) I realized that I need to be careful for noise and other distortions, but didn't even consider that at the time of the Abandoned Building shot. Forest Track has the exact same issue.

Regarding the Blue Shed, you are very correct. What drew my eye to it initially was the contrast between the green-yellow grass and the blue shed, however, I realize through your critique that this site truly is exactly as titled - fine art. When I joined this site, I really thought of it as simply a place to share my photos with others. I see now that my view there was naive, I should take myself and this site more seriously, and use it as an opportunity to push myself forward. Additionally, I agree that the blue shed shot is not something I'd imagine being up in a museum, restaurant, etc. I still have so much to learn regarding photography, and even just learning to use my camera, but I think you've given me a lot to think about and work on in the time being. Thank you again!

Rich, thank you so much for all the information regarding pricing, and how to make my photos more visible to the community and potential buyers. I've quickly done some changes to my pricing, but will go back in the next few days and refine them. Thank you for the group suggestions, I think I'll join them. The checklist for success discussion also seems perfect - all of these points you've mentioned are vital to my success on here, but to be honest, I hadn't even given these aspects a thought. I just imagined posting photos and hoping for people to see them, but it's very obvious now that I'll have to do a bit of work if I want any visibility at all here. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction on how to do that, I'll see what I can do to boost my profile.

Diana, thank you for the tip about the night sky photography. It's absolutely possible I took the pictures too late, but I'm also very new to photography and editing in general, and am wondering if my editing was the cause for the darkness in these photos. I definitely could have made them brighter, and I don't think it would have messed with the noise too much. I'll try a second edit and also experiment with timing regarding night shots and see how it affects my photos. Thank you!

Mary, thank you so much for this tip! I had no idea I could do this! Just liked all my photos >=]

 

David Bridburg

5 Years Ago

Philip,

Your eye is centric to you and the culture or cultures you find yourself in.

As far as marketing goes, you do not want to be like anyone else. So when taking these ideas from other's on technical matters, it also changes your statement more in line with theirs.

Just something to consider. Your voice is what sells in the long run. JMO Or does not sell. But I for one do it my way.

Dave
Post Modern Artist

 

Mike Savad

5 Years Ago

if you can focus on the night images - fireworks, stars etc - then i think you'll gain traction. then focus the same way with the day shots. do shoot with a lower iso at night though. it takes a while to gain traction, most people don't open a store before they know what they are doing, so keep that in mind. usually you don't hit the ground running. so i'd practice everything. on the plus side you live in japan, you can get all kinds of interesting colorful photos. ohanami, with everyone dressed up in kimono's, in autumn with shrines, summer festivals, skylines, shrine locations at winter should be nice. people usually don't vacation there in winter, so getting snow shots of these places would be different.

i'd invest in a hand strap, a camera strap is easy to snatch your camera with a knife. and it ID's the camera at a distance.

there is a huge variety of things to photograph there, around here there really isn't. where i am its nothing but colonial this and that.


for night shots you want:

1. low iso 100-400
2. a tripod
3. a remote release if the camera can do it
4. a prime lens is a good idea
5. a timer is ok too, like 2 seconds to get the camera to stop shaking.

it will be a long exposure, so you can't have wind. you can have wind if there are no trees moving.

i prefer day shots because i don't carry a tripod.


---Mike Savad
http://www.MikeSavad.com

 

Jean Noren

5 Years Ago

Nice work, especially for a beginner. I agree with Mike’s critique. Welcome and Keep at it!

 

This discussion is closed.