Ariston Collander Photography

I received a great email today from an amateur photographer named Travis Forsyth from Canada. After reading it I determined that it would be a perfect jumping point for a blog post about paying forward compliments and inspiration.

Good Afternoon Ariston,

I just thought I would write to tell you how much I enjoy your work and your daily photoblog.  As an amateur photographer I find you to be an inspirational force in my work and would like to thank you for each and every daily entry to your project 365 as it’s always amazing to see thing through somebody else’s viewfinder.   I look forward to seeing what else you have to share with the world in your next entry.

Sincerely,
Travis Forsyth
Saskatoon, SK, Canada.

I am always humbled when I receive email like this as I am a very simple photographer trying to share my viewpoint of the world with others. As a professional, I pride myself in the quality of my photography, but my ultimate goal is to help others become better at what they do. Whether it be through a critique, a compliment, or just “paying it forward” through re-tweets on Twitter, the purpose is the same: to pass on the knowledge, the joy, and the beauty that we as photographers perceive in the world around us.

Now, if you’ve read this post to this point, then I propose this challenge. I challenge you to find someone you admire or someone who you think has inspired you, and let them know. Send them an email, thanking them for what they bring to your world of photography. If you never hear a response, that’s OK. Just be pleased with the fact that you have paid it forward.

Thank you Travis for your wonderful comments. I really appreciate that you sent it to me and that I bring a modicum of inspiration to your photography.

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Photo by Chele Modica

Hello Chele,

You requested a critique on the image above which links to the full size image you provided.

Overall there is little to critique with this image. The black and white conversion looks very nice, escaping the muddiness that is common with many conversions. The horizon line is above the center of the frame and there is still good details in the crosses which means they were not blown out. I was not able to get the EXIF data from the image, but I could possibly see selectively bringing back some detail in the trees so that they do not appear quite so silhouetted. Also there is a slight amount of angling with the crosses as you get farther from the center of the lens which means this was shot with a wide angle lens at a fairly wide angle. I would be interested to see the results of stepping back farther then zooming in a bit to add some compression to the distance and to combat the angle. Also, were you elevate in this image to get this angle or are the crosses fairly low to the ground?

Very well done on the lines. As you look into the distance you can see the crosses are lined up very evenly. To the left of the frame you can see that the lines go off the edge of the frame while on the right they do not. To maintain continuity on both sides you could crop a little on the right.

Thank you!

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Photo by Stacy Schofield

Hi Stacy!

You requested a critique on the image above which links to Flickr.

I love how lush the green grass is in this image along with the blue/green of the truck. I would like to have seen either less of a crop or shifting the frame to the right a bit so that the edge of the flotsam on the truck hadn’t been cut off. I can see you applied a softening filter or action of some sort over the image. Looking at the full size image on Flickr it looks like you erased most of the softness over the truck which is good since that is the primary subject.  The overall focus appears that this was shot was a fairly narrow aperture, perhaps around f/6.2. The EXIF was not included in Flickr so I can’t say for sure. For my taste there is too much in focus and the only aspect preventing the eye from wandering too much is the contrast between the grass and the truck. I would recommend a wider aperture to throw more of the background out of focus into the bokeh.

I’ve always been intrigued by images of dilapidation in the world.

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Photo by Allan Cole

Hello Allan!

You requested a critique on the image linked above (links to your website).

Although this is fantastic image overall, there is really only one thing I noticed.

Aperture: According to the EXIF data this was a 5 second exposure at f/3.8. In my experience, it becomes necessary to stop down the aperture during long exposures. Especially with a landscape shot like this. I’d shift the aperture to around f/11 to increase the depth of field then leave the shutter open longer to capture more light and offset the narrow opening.The haze from the street lamps is creating those halos which detracts a bit from the image.

Regarding the composition the horizon appears to be just over the middle of the frame. Since the buildings disrupt the horizon line it’s barely noticeable, however widening the focal length a bit more by either stepping back farther or zooming out may allow you to maintain the same perspective by putting the horizon either higher or lower in the frame. Of course this may not be possible based on your shooting position and lens!

I like how you brought in a little story from the clouds. It definitely adds character to the image.

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Photo by Ray Medina

Hi Ray!

You requested a critique on the image linked above (links to Flickr).

1. Composition: Although photographing birds can be very challenging, the horizon being placed right smack in the middle of the image throws off the composition. Kneeling down and shooting up to angle the horizon would really help. You could also crop the image to place the horizon a little higher in the image.

2. Shutter speed: This is more of an “I wonder” type of critique. You were shooting at 125 ISO at 1/500s.  Although the birds appear to be pretty darn motionless, I wonder about bumping the ISO to around 200 or a bit higher and increasing the shutter speed to freeze them even more. Another option would to be to increase the ISO, then stop down the aperture to around f/5.6 or 6.2 to increase the depth of field.

Thanks!

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