Photography critique

[Lucia Matos]

I like photography, but I am just now starting to learn how to take proper photos of ceramics. Would you be so kind to give me  some critique on how I can improve these? My aperture was 9, ISO 100, and I used one light and a tripod.

The purpose of these photos is to start applying for next year's art fair shows. 

Thank you  so much!

Lucia

@luciamatosceramics (Instagram)

 

P.S.: These are only 500KB photos. They had to be very compressed to be uploaded here.

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by Lucia Matos
I forgot to mention the purpose of these photos.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

The definition of proper really depends on how you intend to use them. Photos for juries have a very different set of best practice recommendations than something you’d use in a marketing email, which are different from your website or social media feed. The best practices for those situations are almost polar opposites. If you could tell us what you need them for, it’ll help narrow the field of advice a LOT. 

I can tell you a couple general things before you answer that though.

The one thing that will apply across all photo needs though, is to adjust your white balance in post production. Your images look a bit on the green side on my screen, and its unclear if the shallow bowl in the second image is a brownish black, or if it has a bit of copper in the glaze mix. The thing that helps most people’s photography most is figuring out white balance. 

When you say this is “only” a 500 KB image, that’s actually the top recommended size for a website image. Optimal suggestions for websites are 200KB, and even smaller for things like email marketing. Slow download times due to overlarge images will cause website bounces and can affect your SEO rank in google. People might not open emails that require a lot of data to download, and social media platforms shrink the heck out of file sizes automatically. Computer screens only have so many pixels they can light up, so past a certain point the extra data is a hinderance. Unless your photos are going into a print publication, shooting RAW is overkill. For a lot of current practices, a few cheap props, tissue paper for diffusing window light, a good cell phone camera and Snapseed or Lightroom are sufficient equipment. And maybe an appropriate tripod/gorilla pod. 

 

 

 

[Lucia Matos]

5 hours ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:

The definition of proper really depends on how you intend to use them. Photos for juries have a very different set of best practice recommendations than something you’d use in a marketing email, which are different from your website or social media feed. The best practices for those situations are almost polar opposites. If you could tell us what you need them for, it’ll help narrow the field of advice a LOT. 

I can tell you a couple general things before you answer that though.

The one thing that will apply across all photo needs though, is to adjust your white balance in post production. Your images look a bit on the green side on my screen, and its unclear if the shallow bowl in the second image is a brownish black, or if it has a bit of copper in the glaze mix. The thing that helps most people’s photography most is figuring out white balance. 

When you say this is “only” a 500 KB image, that’s actually the top recommended size for a website image. Optimal suggestions for websites are 200KB, and even smaller for things like email marketing. Slow download times due to overlarge images will cause website bounces and can affect your SEO rank in google. People might not open emails that require a lot of data to download, and social media platforms shrink the heck out of file sizes automatically. Computer screens only have so many pixels they can light up, so past a certain point the extra data is a hinderance. Unless your photos are going into a print publication, shooting RAW is overkill. For a lot of current practices, a few cheap props, tissue paper for diffusing window light, a good cell phone camera and Snapseed or Lightroom are sufficient equipment. And maybe an appropriate tripod/gorilla pod. 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for your comprehensive answer. I forgot to include that this is for art fair applications.  I am not selling my work yet, but I am learning how to do it and getting ready for starting applying for next year shows. Thank you again!

[GEP]

If these are for jurying, they look “proper” to me. 

My one suggestion, invest in a backdrop that gradates with more contrast. Whiter in the front/bottom and much darker in the back/top. It will give the photo more depth, and make the pot stand out more. I like the Flotone “Thunder Gray” backdrop. 

Edited October 9, 2022 by GEP

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Yep, the Thunder Grey is the go-to for jury backdrops. Plain white backgrounds are pretty unforgiving to shoot on. 

It looks to me like you have your light source slightly above your subject and to the right. Did you use a bounce card to get more light onto the side of the pots opposite your light source, or is your source just angled really nicely? If not, a piece of white foamcore angled to reflect some light back in to that side would be the only other nice to have I can think of. 

[Lucia Matos]

7 hours ago, Callie Beller Diesel said:

Yep, the Thunder Grey is the go-to for jury backdrops. Plain white backgrounds are pretty unforgiving to shoot on. 

It looks to me like you have your light source slightly above your subject and to the right. Did you use a bounce card to get more light onto the side of the pots opposite your light source, or is your source just angled really nicely? If not, a piece of white foamcore angled to reflect some light back in to that side would be the only other nice to have I can think of. 

Hi Callie, 

Yes, I will get the Thunder Grey background. Thank you! And you are absolutely right. I have one light above to the right of the subject. I didn't think of adding a cardstock  or foam core to the other side to bounce the light. That's a great suggestion. Thank you!

[Lucia Matos]

9 hours ago, GEP said:

If these are for jurying, they look “proper” to me. 

My one suggestion, invest in a backdrop that gradates with more contrast. Whiter in the front/bottom and much darker in the back/top. It will give the photo more depth, and make the pot stand out more. I like the Flotone “Thunder Gray” backdrop. 

Hi Mea,

Thank you so much! I just ordered the background. 

I just to tell you that I love your work and I also loved your online glaze courses.

Thank you again!

Lucia

 

[neilestrick]

Hi Lucia!

I agree with everything said above, and will add that you want to increase the depth of filed to get the back edge of the lip in focus. Also crop them closer, and I wouldn't mind seeing them a little bit brighter (although that could be an issue with my monitor, not your photos). I tend to shoot a little bit lower on the pot, so the back edge is just showing a little bit. As you get higher above the pot the form can start to distort and look odd. Shoot at the highest resolution you can so that I can resize to whatever is needed. Always keep the original big file.

You'll find that certain surfaces and colors make for better photos than others. Back when I had a much larger glaze pallet, I always used my matte glazes for show entries because they made for great photos.

There's a lot more leeway nowadays for what's acceptable in show entry photos. You don't have use the old school gray fading to black, but it's always a safe bet. I have a hard time getting that type of image to look good with the very glossy pots I make now, so I've switched to a solid gray background with a natural wood foreground (so that my pots don't look like they're floating in a gray void). I get into just as many shows with that setup as I did with the gray-to-black fade. On instagram you'll see a lot of really nice images with a plain white background, shot in a light tent. Ultimately they just want something that shows the pot very well and doesn't distract from it.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

I blame Etsy for the white background thing. White is fine for product description photos, but that style doesn’t get a lot of traction on social media anymore. I wouldn’t recommend using them as your first choice in that space. Insta is trying to be Tiktok so they’re switching emphasis to short form video, but that’s a whole other discussion.

For jurying and documentation, you want no shadows, and you want the pot to appear to be hovering in space. If you do that on social media, It’s harder for people to imagine that pot in their space, because it’s not presented with context. So they look at a pot and think “oh that’s nice!” And keep scrolling. If you even take that same white background and create some shadows with a bit more sidelight, people can start imagining the piece on a shelf or in a space. If you add a single prop like a cutting board, they start to imagine it in their space.

[Lucia Matos]

On 10/9/2022 at 10:12 PM, neilestrick said:

Hi Lucia!

I agree with everything said above, and will add that you want to increase the depth of filed to get the back edge of the lip in focus. Also crop them closer, and I wouldn't mind seeing them a little bit brighter (although that could be an issue with my monitor, not your photos). I tend to shoot a little bit lower on the pot, so the back edge is just showing a little bit. As you get higher above the pot the form can start to distort and look odd. Shoot at the highest resolution you can so that I can resize to whatever is needed. Always keep the original big file.

You'll find that certain surfaces and colors make for better photos than others. Back when I had a much larger glaze pallet, I always used my matte glazes for show entries because they made for great photos.

There's a lot more leeway nowadays for what's acceptable in show entry photos. You don't have use the old school gray fading to black, but it's always a safe bet. I have a hard time getting that type of image to look good with the very glossy pots I make now, so I've switched to a solid gray background with a natural wood foreground (so that my pots don't look like they're floating in a gray void). I get into just as many shows with that setup as I did with the gray-to-black fade. On instagram you'll see a lot of really nice images with a plain white background, shot in a light tent. Ultimately they just want something that shows the pot very well and doesn't distract from it.

Hi Neil, 

Thank you very much for your always on-point advice! So nice you wrote.

It is good to know that there is more leeway nowadays.  You photos always look so beautiful! 

Thanks again and please let me know when you have any workshop coming up in the Chicago area. I will for sure be there!!!