Art Gallery Jade's Amateur Photo Collection

JadeGemTM

In terms of water, we have water
Forum Mod
Member
Hello Creative Works!

Been a few years since I've been around this section of the forums (has it really been two years??)

I've been dabbling in the art of photography for the past few years, never very good but I've always enjoyed doing it :p

I'm completely self taught in this field, but I just wanted to share some of my photos with y'all and see what you guys think. I'm always open for critique and suggestions, mainly I just use this as a creative outlet and thought, why not share?

I'll start this thread off with a few photos that I'm having trouble uploading so I had to get on imgur just for this.




Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy!

~Jade
 

bbninjas

Ready or Not!
Advanced Member
Member
I really dig the flower and otter photographs Jade! The flower has great use of lighting - it emphasises the plant nicely, while making the photo seem dreamy or a bit fantastical, which is very cool. I could totally see a pixie or elf pop up from behind the leaves!

The way you've used perspective in the otter image makes it very fun and dynamic. It looks like the background is in focus but the otter isn't, so that's just something to think about for your next perspective photos.

Definitely looking forward to how you use lighting and perspective in the future Jade!
 

Jabberwock

#Jovimohnaeliackvid
Forum Mod
Articles Staff
Member
I agree with bb, the lighting and focus on those two photos in particular is fantastic! I don't know much about photography myself, but it looks like a really well-executed technique, and the effect is great.

The butterfly in the third image is really pretty, but I think what draws me to the other two photos is that the lighting and focus accentuate the subject. For the butterfly, the way the light falls on the leaves, with the butterfly in shadow, draws the eye moreso to the pattern of the leaves than to the butterfly itself. I'm not quite sure how you'd be able to change that, since it's not as though you can control the sunlight, but it seems like something to keep in mind. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I definitely look forward to seeing more of what you do with this, Jade! Keep it up! ^.^
 

JadeGemTM

In terms of water, we have water
Forum Mod
Member
Hey bb, hey Jabber!

I really appreciate the feedback. Something to quickly note which I hadn't before is that these pics, and probably some the pics I will be posting for a little while, aren't too new. I'd say the majority for a little while were taken between early 2018 to very early this year.

I wish I could say that the lighting in the flower pic was some grand technique, but I think it's more likely that I just took the picture at the right time, haha. Oh well, still working on it regardless.

The perspective in the otter pic was actually intentional. I wanted to create something where the background and the main focus of the image sort of focused differently than a traditional image. I'm not sure if this turnout was exactly what I was looking for however, but I've been trying it more with other photos.

I noticed myself that the butterfly seemed to have something a little strange going on with it. I think I may have used some sort of filter on this one, but I'm not entirely sure. It just seems blurrier than I recall the original being, and gives off a weird vibe and effect, at least from my perspective. I do agree that the lighting is also off on this one a bit, maybe I could have tried a different angle with this one? Not entirely sure, but definitely something I'm going to keep in mind for myself.

I should be posting an update with some new photos as soon as I sort through my mess of a collection. Hopefully, this will be in the two to three days, and then I can post updates more often as everything will be sorted out.

Thanks again for the feedback y'all, and I'm glad you guys are enjoying what I have so far!
 

Ice Arceus

#Jovimohnaeliackvid
Forum Mod
Advanced Member
Member
Been enjoying these photos quite a bit! Have you mainly been using your phone or do you have a camera?
 

JadeGemTM

In terms of water, we have water
Forum Mod
Member
Been enjoying these photos quite a bit! Have you mainly been using your phone or do you have a camera?

Hey IA! Super glad to hear you’ve been enjoying everything. As of now I am just using my phone, which is an iPhone 6, so not the greatest of quality camera. I used to own a camera about 2-3 years back, but that doesn’t work anymore and regardless it wasn’t that much better quality wise. I’ve been hoping for a real camera for a while though, so hopefully that’s something I can actually invest in in the near future.
 

Ice Arceus

#Jovimohnaeliackvid
Forum Mod
Advanced Member
Member
Hey IA! Super glad to hear you’ve been enjoying everything. As of now I am just using my phone, which is an iPhone 6, so not the greatest of quality camera. I used to own a camera about 2-3 years back, but that doesn’t work anymore and regardless it wasn’t that much better quality wise. I’ve been hoping for a real camera for a while though, so hopefully that’s something I can actually invest in in the near future.

Gotcha! I was just curious as I was looking at the butterfly pic, which came out quite a bit pixelated. However, I absolutely loved the first pic (Flower) and how you made good use of the lighting. If I could suggest some ideas, I think going out in nature and utilizing natural lighting and finding different flowers/plants could help with the creativity through capturing different angles. The Sunset Sky pic also really stood out due to the variation in colors and having foreground objects. Try to see if you can incorporate more foreground subjects while making use of a powerful background. Also, try to ensure you're tapping the image to focus before taking the picture (which I'm sure you're doing anyway!). :)
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
As of now I am just using my phone, which is an iPhone 6, so not the greatest of quality camera.
Man, I feel that struggle with the photos of the lego stuff I'm doing right now. I do think you're getting a lot better quality than my potato camera of an iPhone 5 I'm borrowing though, lol. (It definitely didn't matter for a long time and I am super grateful someone lent me it but man it's not doing good for my stuff). Hopefully you get yourself a good camera at some point though, I like what I saw here!
 

Scattered mind

Competitive VG Forums Mod
Forum Mod
Member
That otter photo is fantastic! I am not so familiar with the art of photography, but I do appreciate the angle you caught it. Also I do think drawings and photographs has similar values to get them to look good- the composition and the shadowing. Both done really well in the otter and the flower photos. In the buttefly photo- the composition is great but I think the background and the butterfly were sharing same shade making the butterfly getting "swallowed" a bit in the background. That's the type of things I think a real camera can deal with I think, that our phones might not, at least not to my knowledge.
 

JadeGemTM

In terms of water, we have water
Forum Mod
Member
Gotcha! I was just curious as I was looking at the butterfly pic, which came out quite a bit pixelated. However, I absolutely loved the first pic (Flower) and how you made good use of the lighting. If I could suggest some ideas, I think going out in nature and utilizing natural lighting and finding different flowers/plants could help with the creativity through capturing different angles. The Sunset Sky pic also really stood out due to the variation in colors and having foreground objects. Try to see if you can incorporate more foreground subjects while making use of a powerful background. Also, try to ensure you're tapping the image to focus before taking the picture (which I'm sure you're doing anyway!). :)
Yeah, the butterfly picture definitely did not turn out how I had envisioned it. The camera I believe was a factor here, I'm definitely excited to get a real one haha. I appreciate the advice a lot. Nature photography is definitely where my main interest lies, the biggest problem at this point in time though is finding a place to go to take the photos. (There's a huge stretch of woods and land behind my house that are usually perfect for this but for various reasons that area is currently inaccessible.) Ah yes, I sometimes do forget to tap for focus haha.

Man, I feel that struggle with the photos of the lego stuff I'm doing right now. I do think you're getting a lot better quality than my potato camera of an iPhone 5 I'm borrowing though, lol. (It definitely didn't matter for a long time and I am super grateful someone lent me it but man it's not doing good for my stuff). Hopefully you get yourself a good camera at some point though, I like what I saw here!
Haha, yeah the phones definitely aren't the greatest for taking pictures if you're looking for decent quality pictures. At least with these older ones. I end up having to take about 10 photos of the exact same thing with my phone to get what I'm looking for, which can end up being a little tiring after a while but it turns out well (for the most part). I'm glad to hear you're enjoying everything, I really appreciate that. Hopefully I'll get a real camera sooner than later.

That otter photo is fantastic! I am not so familiar with the art of photography, but I do appreciate the angle you caught it. Also I do think drawings and photographs has similar values to get them to look good- the composition and the shadowing. Both done really well in the otter and the flower photos. In the buttefly photo- the composition is great but I think the background and the butterfly were sharing same shade making the butterfly getting "swallowed" a bit in the background. That's the type of things I think a real camera can deal with I think, that our phones might not, at least not to my knowledge.
Thank you Scattered! Haha, I'm not as familiar with drawing in this way as I am with photography, so I guess we're opposite in that sense. I get what you're saying though. Hmm, good point with the butterfly and the bush sort of sharing the shade, getting swallowed is exactly what it looks like. I think a big issue there was just the lighting and angle, but a real camera definitely would help with this as well. I think honestly I also kinda rushed when seeing the butterfly because I didn't want it to fly away :p
Like I mentioned above, yeah, the phone cameras, especially the older models, definitely can't do as much as a more professional camera.

Thank you all so much for the continual feedback! I appreciate it greatly and I'm very glad to see that so many people are enjoying it and checking it out!
 

Turtwig

Retired retired Mod. Jovimohnaeliackvid.
Member
The rippling water pic is kinda trippy, nice capture!! And that paparazzi shot of @mirdo is hilarious. What other places did you visit in your trip to Oregon? I've always wanted to check out its nature thanks to Gravity Falls.
 

JadeGemTM

In terms of water, we have water
Forum Mod
Member
The rippling water pic is kinda trippy, nice capture!! And that paparazzi shot of @mirdo is hilarious. What other places did you visit in your trip to Oregon? I've always wanted to check out its nature thanks to Gravity Falls.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see too much of Oregon. I went there for a music festival in the Fall, so most of my time there was spent at said festival. I only really got the one day away from the festival, which is when I went to explore the beach and a bit in the woods. I don't live anywhere near a beach though, and the nature in general was fairly different from what I'm used to, so I do hope to go back there to explore it more someday. I was also very devastated when I learned I couldn't go to Gravity Falls.

Here's another drop of me showing off my trip to Oregon photos I took in Oregon! Enjoy!





 
Top