What makes a photograph 'good'?

[manu1959]

How embarrassing, that’s just a limp twig!

maybe it is resting......u seen d's wife .... yours would be worn out as well

 

[Mr. P]

maybe it is resting......u seen d's wife .... yours would be worn out as well

Yep, seen her, and I know she uses alot of “power” tools too.
It could really be a twig?

*had ta say it* :funnyface

 

[manu1959]

Yep, seen her, and I know she uses alot of “power” tools too.
It could really be a twig?

*had ta say it* :funnyface

notice since i posted that F1 site d has been awol

 

[dmp]

ha! I've been here...just resting...

 

[Mr. P]

notice since i posted that F1 site d has been awol

yep

 

[nbdysfu]

The one of the boy lying on his dad's arm (?) is the most evocative, therfore, IMO is the "best" photo of the bunch.

D, all those photos and not one rx-8 among them? Shocked, I tell you, shocked!

have to agree with abbey the boy seems like by far the best photo of the ones presented. There seems to be genuine emotion in the kids face. The composition is nice and the background is a fathers (?) arm [as opposed to a sheet] giving more definition than a plain backdrop. The colors and focus are perfect, at least on my screen.

The figure in the first picture you show has an interesting sculptural quality, but the way it is composed seems a little unfinessed [elbow cut off] snapshot-like. A good photographer might have taken several shots and come up with one good one that fully captures the subject. The lighting seems confused, like it's not sure wether it wants to be an abstract silhouette, or real.

The third picture with the dubious female has a nice composition, with the lower figures both moving out of frame and the elbow going towards the top left corner. This one feels more balanced than the first. It doesn't entirely feel like a pose. However, there is a smirky look on the faces of one of the models as if she is aware of the picture taking, that detracts from the photo, imo, like bad acting. For a photo done in a studio with a backdrop (?) I would think the lighting would be a little more in control [white balance is wrong].

The black and white mirror picture is imo the worst. Tone is washed out. Bad focus. Compositionally it feels way overcropped. Feels a little silly the subject matter is taking a black and white picture with a [ugly] modern Nikon. Why not a Roliflex? Or switch to color film? This is a cliche that probably everyone with a camera tries out in the bathroom mirror. You could probably do things to make the theme more interesting though.

What makes a good photograph is to some extent in the eye of the beholder, and therefore not all good artists will appear to be artists to one person. A normal person can take a picture [or pictures] that others will regard as art. For the photographer to be an artist, they should have control over focus, exposure, distortion, and composition, and should be able to capture and identify a moment in time that is what at least they think of as art.

 

[nbdysfu]

I like this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimtown/76307325/in/photostream/

 

[dmp]

lots of stuff

Well-said!

 

[nbdysfu]

Well-said!