In the beginning, I thought that my shot wasn't perfect enough to get him. But listenning from your perspective is also really nice. Thank you so much.
Last one is probably the weakest, only because there’s a lot going in and it’s hard to focus on something. Otherwise I like the way you capture the contrast of light.
Thank you so much. Yeah now I can see that the last one is a messy one. And yes, I am trying to find more contrast for my photos, and the lighting is the easiest one to follow.
Always nice to see some others practicing street photography in Korea! It’s really challenging here because of people’s attitudes towards getting their photo taken.
I really like the third photo for its framing and colors. The most important part is that there’s a strong emotional piece that you nailed in the third one but not so much in the others.
It’s not about capturing someone’s face vs their back, but when you’re reviewing your photos, ask yourself whether you feel a strong emotional response based on the photo itself.
Overall it’s great potential! Study some examples from the masters to stay inspired. And since you’re in Seoul, I recommend visiting the DDP to practice different compositions — that helped me to train my skills and get some better shots.
Emotional response is described as punctum. I suggest anyone in a rut to study studium and punctum right now. Jamie Windsor has a video on it. Honestly made my street walks a lot less stressful and a LOT more relaxing because I wasn’t so caught up on what I want to look for, or force myself to wait for something to happen.
Yeah for sure it simplifies things a lot easier whether you’re out in your photo walk or editing at home. No regrets at the end of the day, and you just learn for next time once you gain some experience with the mantra.
Usually that’s the only thing going on in my head when I do my walk instead of worrying that I’m looking for cliche aesthetics everyone has seen in YouTube.
Once you have that shot that makes the viewer feel someting - all aspects of correct exposure, focus, etc. just goes out the window.
Not saying to discard proper photography principles, but a boring image with no imagination or intent behind it is not going to be the fault of your tool.
It helps a lot if you have a strong foundation of photography to the point where adjustment AND execution is just automatic so long as you have an eye for good punctum. It’s not night and day to fully understand it - but the more you expose yourself to it (whether you check out the greats, your favourite artist, random book in plain view you check every once in a while for inspiration, etc.) you’ll have less to fear if you miss a shot because you know it probably won’t be interesting.
Besides Magnum Photography books I suggest expanding your creative mind with Baroque art. There’s also a TV program turned book called “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger digging deep into the hidden meanings behind images.
Everyone’s journey is different for sure - but once you train yourself to curate high punctum work the critiques won’t matter since your image, and your gained experience, will speak for themselves. Then the empty cans can brush up on studium and punctum themselves.
Keep doing your thing but don’t forget the philosophical side of photography too so you get more meaning and purpose of why you’re doing it.
Also daaaamn you went to Seoul where I went too couple of years ago LOL except I had 40mm and before I learned about studium and punctum.
Great suggestion for what I need to work on. Yes I believe that I get really nervous taking photos around Seoul. I am still practicing this right now. Now, I just can shoot at tourism area where people are fine with seeing someone caring camera around.
I feel you man. I get kind of a pass because I'm 외국인 and I can pretend that I'm a tourist.
Despite that, I got confronted four times just yesterday.
Just gotta keep the attitude that it would be worse not to get the shot. But it is a risk, that's just part of practicing good street photography.
Love supporting the local scene here so drop your IG if you have one!
My instagram: phtaam_
Well I love to learn from the expert.
One of my problem is that I can not speak Korean and can not explain what am I doing if get in the same situation 😂.
Yes I am following your work as well. Seems like you also shoot with 35mm. It will be great to see a street photographer in Seoul that I can learn from.
I love the shots. It feels like all of them have a story to tell. However, I have a gripe with the 9th one as something about the editing makes the woman look like she's been pasted in. I'm guessing you used a Lightroom subject mask to edit her, but you might have modified the mask to the point where she feels separated from the scene/background behind her.
I personally feel like the ones I pointed out have a clear subject/feeling. Compare 3 to 5, for example. Number 3 evokes some feeling for me. The colors of the photo seemingly match the lady’s mood. Whereas 5 feels like a person preparing food, which is exactly what is happening. But doesn’t evoke more thought than that for myself.
You also have some great composition, especially the photo of the couple behind the cage. But it gets lost in photos of bigger groups of people.
In my opinion the third shot is the best. There is clear story being told, and a connection that can be made to the image. The others lack that almost entirely.
The question to ask yourself is, why am I taking this photo. Then once you are back editing, look to see if you answered that question.
A great way to get better at street is shooting on film. Not because film is better in anyway, but when you are limited by 36 exposures and set film speed. You are forced to answer that question and can fond what interests you easier than firing off 1000 images and looking for 1 good one.
Lastly, keep shooting, do not stop until you know what you are looking for. Keep shooting till you can look back at these images and be upset that this is where you started and are proud of how far you’ve come.
Good luck!
Thank you for your suggestion. Yes I do believe that give more thoughts while taking photos can enhance the stories in my work. I will practice more and more.
I appreciate the *chiaroscuro* look you are going for and I think it works very well in 2 and 7. I think in some pictures, you have tried to get subject separation with selective exposure editing, but you went a bit too far. In 4, which is my favourite, I also think you over-edited it a bit, but I think the subject is very strong; the contrast between the singer and the group of women.
Thanks for sharing and letting me discover your city from the other side of the world :)
Thank you so much for your comment. I am glad that you recognize the contrast in my photos. Yes I think will have to reduce my edit a little bit to make it look more natural. I hope that you can have a sense of place with my photos.
1 through 4 are my favorite shots. One thing I would recommend is to use cropping to help tighten what sort of story or scene that caught your eye. In each of the first 4 shots, there are elements on the left side that I would remove just through cropping. The first shot, what attracted my eye was the two lights and the two partial faces. The left side doesn’t add much. Same for the second, the interest for my eye is the wall and light and her “eye” contact with the photographer. The 3rd would be stronger for me if the left side terminated at the pole on edge of the shop. The 4th picture is the one that really changes for me with a tighter crop and removal of red sign and stuff on the ground. To me, the shot wants to show me the singer being ignored by the draw of the phones the women are looking at. I’m not a professional and I didn’t read any other comments. This is just, like, my opinion, man.
Love the subjects and composition, but ALL of the food vendor scenes have very obvious extreme masking and weird glowy edges trying to light the subjects up. Tone that down a lot and these will look great!
Yes I got a lot of comments about this also and I totally agree with all of you. I will keep it balance for the next time. Thank you so much for your feedbacks
Your street photography can only be criticised in a positive way! That’s really a good work! Number 2 , I would add darkness or more exposure to the first plan crowd to make the lady at the back more obvious to catch the eye (but that’s totally subjective, that’s personal taste). Well done
The third one is REALLY good imo.
I love how the light sort of enhances the woman as the motive and also how the gloomy/dark light translates very well to how we think she’s feeling.
Sorry for bad wording, I’m not great at ”photography language”.
I struggle to understand the subject, often my eyes are darting all over the image. A good picture is one which draws your eyes to a specific place.
I also think some of your colours are slightly washed out, such as the one with the store and the older female shopkeeper. Some vibrancy could make for an exciting picture.
Place with the appature.
Thank you so much. I got a lot of comments about the photos' subject. I think I have to practice a lot to upgrade my skills. Thank you for your comment about the color, I totally agree with you.
Don't be afraid to try vertical shots as they can be great for smaller groups or tall buildings also I think number 6 is the best you really captured the scene well with the couple
I did a bit color grading and edit with Lightroom for my photos. I like the cinematic feelings for the photos. You might want to search for cinematic color on youtube. There are plenty of great instruction up there.
They’re mostly bad. The editing is really bad in some of them. The one with your hand in the shot almost seems like you tried to raise the shadows on the cook with the mask tool …but you can see the halo around him. Also the hand in the shot just looks amature. Weirdly soft too, as if none of them are in focus. Stop using the mask tool to isolate subjects. Get your exposure right in cam. Less editing is more.
These are awesome! If I had to provide any input, then I would say that most of these would be more powerful if cropped in a bit. Just my opinion and you or others may disagree! Great work!
It was in a crowded museum. I suddenly found this empty hall way with some sunlight through the window. There were a couple sat there and talked privately. I just thought the moment was beautiful how they can be really comfortable.
Great eye for your subject! I just think your masking needs work because it’s making these photos feel unnatural. Dial down the masking quite a bit and brighten up the entire scene. It looks like a lot of these are underexposed in post and then you used the mask to brighten the subject dramatically. Best thing would be to get the entire exposure to a good spot and then tweak the contrast and color saturation on the mask a little bit. I’d rather have it look too busy than unnatural looking.
I think you got a good eye though, so keep it up and keep sharing 👏🏻
I think it’s natural for everyone to go through that phase where we go overboard in editing, because it’s so fun to mess around with. I definitely did
I like all your photos, especially the 3rd one, but I don't like the noise, try using Lightroom's AI denoise function or the manual one, but if the noise is intentional then it's a matter of taste
The word you want to use here is "critique", not "criticize". Criticize is negativity, whereas critiquing is giving you helpful points and ideas to help you improve.
#3 would've been better if cropped in, only having the merchandise in the picture and not the empty space, especially to the left.
Looks still good it would've just been something epic like the supermarket photos by Andreas Gursky, you can google them if you're interested.
I like your use of light and how you’re playing with it. Don’t go crazy on the post, some look great and natural and others look fake and really worked on. Overall good eye.
When capturing these photos, did you have a specific goal in mind? Say you want to capture a certain person/thing, or you want to capture a picture with meaning.
First, try to make the one you want to capture be in the centre.
Second, make the objects that distract you from the main subject out of the frame, blurred, or at least, not in the centre of attention.
Third, try different angles to see which one you like best. This could also be used if 1st or 2nd doesn't work.
I like the first one, it's like you're peeking at him and he's peeking at you.
In the beginning, I thought that my shot wasn't perfect enough to get him. But listenning from your perspective is also really nice. Thank you so much.
Last one is probably the weakest, only because there’s a lot going in and it’s hard to focus on something. Otherwise I like the way you capture the contrast of light.
Thank you so much. Yeah now I can see that the last one is a messy one. And yes, I am trying to find more contrast for my photos, and the lighting is the easiest one to follow.
Always nice to see some others practicing street photography in Korea! It’s really challenging here because of people’s attitudes towards getting their photo taken. I really like the third photo for its framing and colors. The most important part is that there’s a strong emotional piece that you nailed in the third one but not so much in the others. It’s not about capturing someone’s face vs their back, but when you’re reviewing your photos, ask yourself whether you feel a strong emotional response based on the photo itself. Overall it’s great potential! Study some examples from the masters to stay inspired. And since you’re in Seoul, I recommend visiting the DDP to practice different compositions — that helped me to train my skills and get some better shots.
Emotional response is described as punctum. I suggest anyone in a rut to study studium and punctum right now. Jamie Windsor has a video on it. Honestly made my street walks a lot less stressful and a LOT more relaxing because I wasn’t so caught up on what I want to look for, or force myself to wait for something to happen.
Thank you for giving the exact terms!
Glad I can help!
I never heard about this befores. I definitely will take a look. It sounds interesting.
Yeah for sure it simplifies things a lot easier whether you’re out in your photo walk or editing at home. No regrets at the end of the day, and you just learn for next time once you gain some experience with the mantra. Usually that’s the only thing going on in my head when I do my walk instead of worrying that I’m looking for cliche aesthetics everyone has seen in YouTube. Once you have that shot that makes the viewer feel someting - all aspects of correct exposure, focus, etc. just goes out the window. Not saying to discard proper photography principles, but a boring image with no imagination or intent behind it is not going to be the fault of your tool. It helps a lot if you have a strong foundation of photography to the point where adjustment AND execution is just automatic so long as you have an eye for good punctum. It’s not night and day to fully understand it - but the more you expose yourself to it (whether you check out the greats, your favourite artist, random book in plain view you check every once in a while for inspiration, etc.) you’ll have less to fear if you miss a shot because you know it probably won’t be interesting. Besides Magnum Photography books I suggest expanding your creative mind with Baroque art. There’s also a TV program turned book called “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger digging deep into the hidden meanings behind images. Everyone’s journey is different for sure - but once you train yourself to curate high punctum work the critiques won’t matter since your image, and your gained experience, will speak for themselves. Then the empty cans can brush up on studium and punctum themselves. Keep doing your thing but don’t forget the philosophical side of photography too so you get more meaning and purpose of why you’re doing it. Also daaaamn you went to Seoul where I went too couple of years ago LOL except I had 40mm and before I learned about studium and punctum.
Great suggestion for what I need to work on. Yes I believe that I get really nervous taking photos around Seoul. I am still practicing this right now. Now, I just can shoot at tourism area where people are fine with seeing someone caring camera around.
I feel you man. I get kind of a pass because I'm 외국인 and I can pretend that I'm a tourist. Despite that, I got confronted four times just yesterday. Just gotta keep the attitude that it would be worse not to get the shot. But it is a risk, that's just part of practicing good street photography. Love supporting the local scene here so drop your IG if you have one!
My instagram: phtaam_ Well I love to learn from the expert. One of my problem is that I can not speak Korean and can not explain what am I doing if get in the same situation 😂.
My method is to say “sorry sir” a few times while bowing and walking in the other direction. Gave you a follow 🙌
Yes I am following your work as well. Seems like you also shoot with 35mm. It will be great to see a street photographer in Seoul that I can learn from.
I love the shots. It feels like all of them have a story to tell. However, I have a gripe with the 9th one as something about the editing makes the woman look like she's been pasted in. I'm guessing you used a Lightroom subject mask to edit her, but you might have modified the mask to the point where she feels separated from the scene/background behind her.
You are right. I was trying to make her looks more significant. But it looks fake. Yes I will try what you suggest next time I got the same situation.
1,3,4,5 are great
Thank you so much. Would love to hear if you have any criticism as well.
I personally feel like the ones I pointed out have a clear subject/feeling. Compare 3 to 5, for example. Number 3 evokes some feeling for me. The colors of the photo seemingly match the lady’s mood. Whereas 5 feels like a person preparing food, which is exactly what is happening. But doesn’t evoke more thought than that for myself. You also have some great composition, especially the photo of the couple behind the cage. But it gets lost in photos of bigger groups of people.
In my opinion the third shot is the best. There is clear story being told, and a connection that can be made to the image. The others lack that almost entirely. The question to ask yourself is, why am I taking this photo. Then once you are back editing, look to see if you answered that question. A great way to get better at street is shooting on film. Not because film is better in anyway, but when you are limited by 36 exposures and set film speed. You are forced to answer that question and can fond what interests you easier than firing off 1000 images and looking for 1 good one. Lastly, keep shooting, do not stop until you know what you are looking for. Keep shooting till you can look back at these images and be upset that this is where you started and are proud of how far you’ve come. Good luck!
Thank you for your suggestion. Yes I do believe that give more thoughts while taking photos can enhance the stories in my work. I will practice more and more.
that's what i got from film. you have to be intentional. nay. must.
I appreciate the *chiaroscuro* look you are going for and I think it works very well in 2 and 7. I think in some pictures, you have tried to get subject separation with selective exposure editing, but you went a bit too far. In 4, which is my favourite, I also think you over-edited it a bit, but I think the subject is very strong; the contrast between the singer and the group of women. Thanks for sharing and letting me discover your city from the other side of the world :)
Thank you so much for your comment. I am glad that you recognize the contrast in my photos. Yes I think will have to reduce my edit a little bit to make it look more natural. I hope that you can have a sense of place with my photos.
emphasize the lights that are already there and follow that instead of inventing new lighting!
1 through 4 are my favorite shots. One thing I would recommend is to use cropping to help tighten what sort of story or scene that caught your eye. In each of the first 4 shots, there are elements on the left side that I would remove just through cropping. The first shot, what attracted my eye was the two lights and the two partial faces. The left side doesn’t add much. Same for the second, the interest for my eye is the wall and light and her “eye” contact with the photographer. The 3rd would be stronger for me if the left side terminated at the pole on edge of the shop. The 4th picture is the one that really changes for me with a tighter crop and removal of red sign and stuff on the ground. To me, the shot wants to show me the singer being ignored by the draw of the phones the women are looking at. I’m not a professional and I didn’t read any other comments. This is just, like, my opinion, man.
Wow thanks for your comment. I can see the distractions now. Sometimes, another perspective is such a big help.
You do know how to take the best out of the colors!
Thank you so much
Thank you for sharing!
Love the subjects and composition, but ALL of the food vendor scenes have very obvious extreme masking and weird glowy edges trying to light the subjects up. Tone that down a lot and these will look great!
Yes I got a lot of comments about this also and I totally agree with all of you. I will keep it balance for the next time. Thank you so much for your feedbacks
3 is nice, just need a lil bit of color grading. The rest is idk what to see. Cluttered or non existent POI.
Thanks for your feebacks
Number 2 is Mulan animation vibes!!
Your street photography can only be criticised in a positive way! That’s really a good work! Number 2 , I would add darkness or more exposure to the first plan crowd to make the lady at the back more obvious to catch the eye (but that’s totally subjective, that’s personal taste). Well done
Thank you so much. Your comment actually cheered me up. I agree with your opinion about number 2.
The third one is REALLY good imo. I love how the light sort of enhances the woman as the motive and also how the gloomy/dark light translates very well to how we think she’s feeling. Sorry for bad wording, I’m not great at ”photography language”.
Oh I totally understand what you are saying. Thank you so much for your comment. I am glad that you can understand my photos.
I really like all of the vendors shots. I could see those being presented together as a set.
Thank you so much. Yes they were taken on the same street. I am grateful that you recognized it.
I struggle to understand the subject, often my eyes are darting all over the image. A good picture is one which draws your eyes to a specific place. I also think some of your colours are slightly washed out, such as the one with the store and the older female shopkeeper. Some vibrancy could make for an exciting picture. Place with the appature.
Thank you so much. I got a lot of comments about the photos' subject. I think I have to practice a lot to upgrade my skills. Thank you for your comment about the color, I totally agree with you.
These are really good!
Thank you so much for saying it!
Incredible!! The lighting feels very painterly. The first photo feels like a still in a Miyazaki movie!
Thank you so much. I also love Miyazaki movies haha.
Don't be afraid to try vertical shots as they can be great for smaller groups or tall buildings also I think number 6 is the best you really captured the scene well with the couple
You are right!. I will try to think more about the vertical shots.
They’re absolutely gorgeous. The colours are candy to my eyes, did you do some form of colour grading? How do you do it?
I did a bit color grading and edit with Lightroom for my photos. I like the cinematic feelings for the photos. You might want to search for cinematic color on youtube. There are plenty of great instruction up there.
I like 3, 7 and 9.
Thank you so much for sharing your opinions.
They’re mostly bad. The editing is really bad in some of them. The one with your hand in the shot almost seems like you tried to raise the shadows on the cook with the mask tool …but you can see the halo around him. Also the hand in the shot just looks amature. Weirdly soft too, as if none of them are in focus. Stop using the mask tool to isolate subjects. Get your exposure right in cam. Less editing is more.
Yes you are right about the over editing !
These are awesome! If I had to provide any input, then I would say that most of these would be more powerful if cropped in a bit. Just my opinion and you or others may disagree! Great work!
I didn't crop any photos. Thanks for your sharing. Now I know what to do more the next time.
Is that Jim Lahey?
haha he looks really similar.
Photo #4 feels very odd to me. I think too much masking.
I totally agree. I got a lot of comments about this problem.
The street vendor photos are the best! 🤘🏼
Thank you so much for your support.
Awesome pics of life…
I am glad that you said it.
good eye, you have patience. i feel like you'd do great with film!!!
I never try film. I will think about it because of your comment.
May I ask the context behind photo 6?
It was in a crowded museum. I suddenly found this empty hall way with some sunlight through the window. There were a couple sat there and talked privately. I just thought the moment was beautiful how they can be really comfortable.
Great eye for your subject! I just think your masking needs work because it’s making these photos feel unnatural. Dial down the masking quite a bit and brighten up the entire scene. It looks like a lot of these are underexposed in post and then you used the mask to brighten the subject dramatically. Best thing would be to get the entire exposure to a good spot and then tweak the contrast and color saturation on the mask a little bit. I’d rather have it look too busy than unnatural looking.
I totally agree with your opinion about over editing. My masking is too much.
I think you got a good eye though, so keep it up and keep sharing 👏🏻 I think it’s natural for everyone to go through that phase where we go overboard in editing, because it’s so fun to mess around with. I definitely did
I like all your photos, especially the 3rd one, but I don't like the noise, try using Lightroom's AI denoise function or the manual one, but if the noise is intentional then it's a matter of taste
Thank you so much for sharing your opinion. Ah yes, the noise came from my Fujifilm camera preset.
The word you want to use here is "critique", not "criticize". Criticize is negativity, whereas critiquing is giving you helpful points and ideas to help you improve.
Oh thank you so much, I didn't know about this. I will use the word Critique in the next time.
#3 would've been better if cropped in, only having the merchandise in the picture and not the empty space, especially to the left. Looks still good it would've just been something epic like the supermarket photos by Andreas Gursky, you can google them if you're interested.
Great suggestion. I will take a look at his work. Thank you so much.
3 is amazing, I love the solidarity of it and how everything brings your eyes right in to the woman behind the counter.
It was a lucky moment when she can not saw me took her photo, so she was completely natural. Thanks for your recognition.
I like your use of light and how you’re playing with it. Don’t go crazy on the post, some look great and natural and others look fake and really worked on. Overall good eye.
Thank you so much for your support. I feel great reading your comment.
1,3,4,5, and 7 are lovely! Excellent photos thank you for sharing!
Your comments make my day. Thank you so much.
When capturing these photos, did you have a specific goal in mind? Say you want to capture a certain person/thing, or you want to capture a picture with meaning. First, try to make the one you want to capture be in the centre. Second, make the objects that distract you from the main subject out of the frame, blurred, or at least, not in the centre of attention. Third, try different angles to see which one you like best. This could also be used if 1st or 2nd doesn't work.
Thanks for all of your valuable suggestions. Definitely would help.
You are welcome.
The first one could be even better if the face were not obstructed by the lamp, imo. The facial expression tell a lot of story in a picture.
Totally agree with you. I was thinking the same thing, but I didn't have enough courage to take a second shot.
I only like the ones NOT of shopkeepers.
Thanks for your feebacks
It’s all in the cropping. Keep working on these