Hey Fred!
No worries on submitting the assignments to the wrong place. This forum isn’t the best setup and it’s not exactly the most user-friendly thing so it’s not a problem!
Onto the critique.
I can tell immediately that you’ve taken the ideas of this lesson to heart and you’ve really tried to work hard on applying them here.
I hope that you notice just how much of an impact this lesson can have on your work. Cleaning up a frame like this does wonders.
Your first photo of the rowers is a great start. Visually speaking rowing is usually most interesting photographed from above at dawn. The lines and symmetry of this sport can be really stunning. Be aware that you want to shoot a sporting event with the person actually engaging in the event. In this photo they are on a break and not paddling. I like that you’re shooting at golden hour as well. Just be careful that your ISO is high enough for relatively low light / fast motion situations like this.
Take a look at this photograph as an example of how to get better at this type of image.
[attachment=0:1fru9ysm]rowers.jpg[/attachment:1fru9ysm]
Rowers by Ү, on Flickr
Notice how this photographer got VERY close, shot from an interesting angle, and featured the lines and symetry I was talking about.
All of this should inspire you next time you get to shoot some rowers!
Next photo…
Your photo of the stairs and the bridge leaves me with mixed feelings. It certainly qualifies as a good candidate for this assignment, meaning its a cleaned up frame and there aren’t too many distracting elements. I’m just more confused about what you’re trying to say in this photo. Are you trying to illustrate the beauty or the mess of the frame. Maybe you’re not trying to say anything at all but I certainly get mixed signals from this frame. (the garbage/mess vs the nice clean lines of the bridge)
Potentially shooting this as a long exposure and using light trails on the bridge and the road under it would add to the frame.
Otherwise don’t forget to keep things straight, from horizon lines to bridges.
Last photo…
Your last photo is quite nice but like everything it could be better! 😉
It’s slightly underexposed and more importantly the whole lamp post is crooked! 😮
If you’re shooting something with such intense lines and that should be verticle make sure you shoot it straitght. Its one of the most common mistakes people make, not shooting things that are vertical, well, vertical. This lamp post is like the leaning tower of pisa 😉
Next time get much closer and feature the interesting effect in the lamp itself, expose properly, and shoot it straight.
Overall you’ve done well here even though I’ve been tough on you in this critique.
Keep this lesson in the back of your mind when you’re shooting. Ask yourself, can this be simpler, cleaner, less cluttered? How can I remove elements that aren’t adding to the frame.
Over time this should become second nature as you shoot.
Thanks for sending in this assignment.
Keep up the good work!