Image doctor: The critiques!

A regular part of Australian Photography magazine for more than a decade, the Image Doctor, professional photographer Anthony McKee, can give constructive feedback on your images, with a selection of his favourite submissions appearing in print in AP mag every month.

If you want feedback on your images (it's free!), you can find out the details for submission here. 

This month's winner

"This picture was created for a client session in autumn with this cute ginger dog name Lola. We were walking near a lake and Lola was very interested in the ducks and was trying to find a way to approach them without falling in. I love this picture because her expression makes her look like she’s a predator while she is just a sweet and well-behaved dog."

Anthony’s Tip: Hi Antonia, this is a great picture and I really like the overall treatment; the colours are very harmonious and I love that soft diagonal line leading us through the frame. The one problem that I have with this image though, is that by your admission you have captured Lola looking more like a predator than a pet.

It’s well known that most parents will love almost any photograph you show them of their child or pet no matter how they look, but photographs are made to be shared; people want to love these photos for themselves, but they also want to show others. Yes, your clients know how special Lola is but your job is to convey that to the broader audience. Personally, I’d have used a distraction device to briefly get Lola’s attention away from the ducks. I want to see Lola’s real personality. Otherwise, good effort.

TITLE: I’m coming
PHOTOGRAPHER: Antonia Pavlovski
DETAILS: Sony A7 III, Tamron 35-150mm lens @ 150mm. 1/800s @ f2.8, ISO 1000

“Walking through a suburban bush area near Bibra Lake we were hoping to find some black cockatoos to shoot but it was apparent on this day that our best opportunity for a great picture would be these Rainbow Lorikeets.

There were 5-6 playing around this tree branch and it provided a great opportunity for some nice pictures. It was early in the morning and overcast making the light difficult but I feel that this picture is one of my better pictures I have ever taken.”

Anthony’s Tip: Hi Bradley, if you talk to most good photographers they’ll tell you the secret to their best photos is simply being there and then just waiting (gear poised) for that perfect moment.

Of course, somedays you get to the perfect location and nothing will happen, and other days it might be in the right place but simply miss the moment; it happens.

There is a chance there was a better moment in this situation, but my hunch is you can improve this image with one slight change.

Notice how your eye is constantly drawn to the sky in the top left of the picture? Crop the top of the image and a little of the bottom and suddenly our eyes will be giving those lorikeets a lot more attention. Keep up the good work!

TITLE: Rainbow Lorikeets
PHOTOGRAPHER: Bradley Dunderdale
DETAILS: Sony A6700, Tamron 70-300 lens @ 300mm. 1/1000s @ f6.3, ISO 500.

“This summer I received a scholarship to visit the Subantarctic islands. We had gone ashore on Campbell Island in 60-70 knot winds to view the albatross at Lyall boardwalk. With the wind so strong opportunities for a good photo seemed grim when this guy landed in front of me, followed eventually by five more birds. I am new to photography, and it was my first time using my Tamron 150-500mm lens and editing my photos. Thanks."

Anthony’s Tip: Hi Brittany, well done on getting a scholarship to go exploring at Auckland and Campbell Islands. People make photographs for many different reasons – some make photographs to enjoy as art, but others (researchers, ornithologists and alike) make photos simply to record fauna.

At first glance I would be inclined to rate this as more of a record photo which is not to say it is a bad photo, but there is more chance I might see this photo in a museum rather than an art gallery.

To make this photo more interesting I probably would have zoomed out a little to include more of the landscape and I would have made my position lower to get more grass in the foreground and even catch a glimpse of the horizon.

This is easy to say from the comfort of an office chair, but if you want to make memorable photos you must think beyond just that one subject; you need to give your audience enough context to visualise a story. Hang in there though; hope you get another chance at this photo.

TITLE: A Royal Proclamation
PHOTOGRAPHER: Brittany Mathias
DETAILS: Nikon Z5, Tamron 150-500mm lens @ 260mm. 1/6000s @ f5.3, ISO 400

“I took up photography three years ago after going on a whale watching cruise here in beautiful Port Stephens, NSW. On the 9 October 2023, I was on a cruise when a mother and calf approached the boat. The calf was extremely curious, popping out of the water and checking us out. I managed to capture this shot as he/she came up really close to us and looked straight at the camera.”

Anthony’s Tip: Hi Lee, when it comes to capturing a photograph like this, where you have a whale calf poking its head out of the water just for a brief moment, your first job is just to get a photo – any photo. If that calf keeps its head above water for a few more seconds, then you can get more creative depending on how giving this creature is with its time, and what your creative opportunities are.

Personally, I would pull back the zoom a notch and recompose to get more of that headland into frame. As an idea, I would have a look at other photos you took about this same time to see if you do have a photo that included the tops of that peninsula in frame and then I would use Photoshop to merge that landscape and sky into the top of this frame. If you do it well, no one will ever know. Trust me!

TITLE: Here’s looking at your kid
PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Matthews
DETAILS: Canon R7, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens @ 100mm. 1/3200s @ f6.3, ISO 500

“I created this image as an 8 shot panorama. I knew there would be some good cloud around in the morning and wanted to try and capture the reflection in a local lake. However, it had been a long dry summer, so my reflection shot ended up being a lot of cracked clay in the middle of the lakebed! It was a great lesson in improvisation and adaptability.”

Anthony’s Tip: Hi Richard, one of the hallmarks of any good photographer is to always have a “plan b” for when your original idea doesn’t materialise or a piece of gear fails; this happens quite often in the professional world.

Overall, your technique in creating this image is good, but by capturing this cloud in its entirety you have also surrounded the cloud with sky.

Now, because the sky is brighter than the cloud our eyes are busy looking at the edges of the sky and not dwelling on the subtleties of that cloud.

As the artist, it’s your job to control where your audience’s eyes wander and for that reason, I would be cropping this image to a square. If you crop off the left quarter of the photograph and five percent of the right you will be left with a square picture that is rather pleasing to the eye. Keep up the good work!

TITLE: Gnangara Sunrise
PHOTOGRAPHER: Richard Ward
DETAILS: Sony A7, 28-70mm lens @ 28mm. 1/10s @ f11, ISO 100.