|
| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Thank you for your kind words Zina |
Feb 28th |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Rick, sometimes words on a screen don't convey the intended message - no problem here and thank you for the clarification |
Feb 25th |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Thank you Pauline |
Feb 22nd |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Thanks Matt - as you know backlight can be dramatic but can also be tricky - the subject(s) are side/backlit about 45* - I was afraid of lens flair so I positioned myself as far to the left of the road as I could. I felt fortunate to have interesting subjects and great light simultaneously, thanks for your comments. |
Feb 22nd |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Rick - I appreciate your comments and perhaps you did not intend it that way, but to be clear, I do not "spray and pray" - A good photographer purposely chooses his or her settings with the end in mind. At 1/2500th second and f8 and with a low perspective, I knew as long as I kept focus tracking on my primary subject (the lead cowgirl) and shot at 12 fps, I would get the desired result, a tack sharp subject with implied action and a DOF that was a touch soft - getting off 60 or 70 shots simply increased the likelihood of capturing what I set out to do. |
Feb 22nd |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Lori - for some reason my computer does not like PSA - I had responded to your comments and when I was responding to Alec I noticed my response to you was missing - this happens when I upload images as well - I've discussed with PSA and they have no answers - anyway, I did not want you to think I was ignoring you. Thanks for your kind words
|
Feb 12th |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Thank you Alec - all my keepers from that day were shot within 20 minutes of sunset - again, thanks for your kind words |
Feb 12th |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Matt - good technical skills on display here - you captured the snow spray and you did an excellent job with the exposure getting detail in both the snow and the black ski outfit of the young man. Compositionally there's a touch of red on the far left of the frame and the skier's right pole is too close to the edge of the frame.
A nice shot of a young skier to put on his wall. The problem I have with the shot is the skier is static, he's not dynamic. I was a ski instructor in Vail for 20 years and while it's difficult to do movement analyses from a photo I will tell you the young man is sitting back and his skis are too close together resulting in a static image lacking in energy.
I've taught (and photographed) ski racers and it's a lot more difficult than it appears - but the big thing is you nailed the exposure - most people don't - so nice job with that. |
Feb 12th |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Pauline - I kept thinking about your image because A) I really like it and B) I think it has a ton of potential. In my VF I added pixels, re-cropped, added texture and contrast and darkened the grasses as I thought their brightness fought with the subject. LMK what you think of my edits. |
Feb 11th |
 |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
You picked a great day for this shot - love the clouds - they are a great backdrop for the subject. Your title is Water Tower so in my VF I eliminated what I considered to be the non-essential pixels on the right side of the frame as to me it doesn't add to the story. The tower itself is canted a bit to the left so I straightened it - I also added some contrast and texture to the structure and a very slight vignette to draw the viewer's eye- lastly, I cleaned up some of the distractions (trees, lightpole, etc.) to focus the viewer on the tower a bit more - probably the strength of the image is in your technical skills, your subject is clear, sharp, good DOF and perfectly exposed. |
Feb 11th |
 |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
It looks like you created a high key abstract, i.e. over exposed, a slight tilt to the right and soft throughout. But it tells a story, it's obvious it's a museum or art gallery especially with the blurred headphones so prominent - one suggestion whether it's an abstract of not, be sure to capture the feet next time, partial people are distractions. Still, a most interesting shot. |
Feb 11th |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Alex - definitely an eye-grabber, great color and great impact. I'm unfamiliar with your comment "added slight abstraction" - is that an adjustment in Topaz? A few thoughts - the image has immediate impact and visual interest but I don't understand the term abstraction here. I don't know what your vision was, but it does not strike me as an abstract - it's clearly an old visually interesting vehicle. You shot at f4 & 1/50th second with a relatively long lens with no mention of a tripod so I assume it was hand held. As a result of your settings the image is soft with a relatively shallow DOF - if that was your intent, God bless you did a nice job. Also, if you use LR here's a hack that will help with the noise - BEFORE you do anything to the image after import, Enhance the image and uncheck the Super Resolution box and check Denoise and RAW details - that will give you the cleanest possible RAW (actually when you enhance it converts the image to a DNG but no difference, it's still behaves as a RAW) and you'll be amazed at the difference - Topaz does not hold a candle to LR's Enhance
- thanks for sharing. |
Feb 11th |
| 55 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
A very nice capture and a heckuva job with such limited preparation. To answer your question let me first compliment you on your thought process vis-a-vis your crop - that said, anything more than the 'standard' out of camera 6x4 crop runs the risk of looking contrived, so might want to re-consider it.
Also, depending upon how much room you have in your RAW file, you might consider cropping with equal space above and below the subjects, and always, always cropping as if their hooves were visible.
Lastly, your exposure and composition are excellent in my opinion so be proud of them. Thank you for considering my suggestions |
Feb 10th |
10 comments - 3 replies for Group 55
|
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Thank you Dhanajay - it was fun shooting it - interesting subject in great light, a hard to beat combo - thanks again |
Feb 29th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Thank you Gary, when the weather is right, the Oregon coast is spectacular.
|
Feb 20th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Thanks for your comments - there hundreds of sea stacks along the Oregon coast and well-worth the time to visit and photograph. |
Feb 18th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Dave,
Drive about a mile or so north of Haystack rock and there's a small park with an overlook that looks south down the coast - that makes for a spectacular shot - the mountains on the left, the beach ahead and the ocean to your right and use a telephoto - it's an unobstructed postcard view and the compression you get from a long lens makes for a fantastic shot - good luck. |
Feb 15th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Ian - to clarify - titles are important because they give the viewer a peek into the maker's vision for the image and the title of the image is Fisherman's Playground, with obvious reference to the open water - I should have been clearer. |
Feb 15th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Reply |
Thank you Ian, your comments are appreciated. Interestingly, later that day I walked back out onto the beach and what you don't see are the dozen or so young people glued to their iPhones, not a single one was looking up at the sight before them.
|
Feb 15th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Peter, your choice of 1/5th second was a great idea - I don't know I would have thought of that - good call! You have a GREAT story here with two of people and the "up" and "down" at the top of the stairs - I cropped in to focus solely on the story as I think the third pedestrian is a bit of a distraction to an otherwise fun and interesting story. I also cropped down to eliminate the glaring light at the top center of the frame |
Feb 13th |
 |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Dhananjay, I see the story you're trying to tell which is great however 80% of the image is soft, and not particularly interesting open water with nothing to indicate that it's a playground. I suspect this was taken hand-held, still I don't understand why it's not tack sharp at 1/2500th second. You also might consider a greater DOF (f8 or more) vis-a-vis juxtaposition of the fisherman and the mainland in the background.
Still this was a great concept, but I think the images needs more of a focal point or center of interest. |
Feb 13th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
I've shot in Joshua Tree once before and it isn't the easiest place to get an effective and interesting composition - this is one of the better images from Joshua Tree I've ever come across - great job with the pano, your exposure, clarity, sharpness, DOF, etc., etc. My lone issue with the image is the strong vertical that grabs the eye. I think trees compose better when the viewer can see the bottom/base of the tree - a few roots don't hurt either - but having a powerful vertical coming up from the bottom of the frame does not help the image - still, except for the tree this is a boffo composition and very, very well done technically |
Feb 13th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Terrific shot Gary and you did very well eliminating any evidence of the hand of man - nice job. Technically you are spot on and I feel the detail you captured is the strength of this image although it's also an excellent composition. The image appears tack sharp so can I assume you used a tripod?
In any event, clear, simple and visually interesting - thanks for sharing |
Feb 5th |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Ian, what a terrific idea and yes, absolutely photography should be fun and you did a nice job of illustration. Also, I would have loved to see what equipment you used as well as your settings - maybe next time.
You definitely captured an eerie mood so nice job - having said that, I feel the dead branches or nest or whatever in the center of the image is a bit of an eye-grabber and keeps me from really exploring the image. And the forlorn local appears to be more of a corn stalk of some other form of dead vegetation but no matter, it suffices as a ghostly and ominous figure. In my VF I eliminated the eye-grabber and added a touch of vignette to keep the viewer's eye on the ghostly figure - would love to know your thought on my modifications - still terrific job, you created a most interesting image |
Feb 4th |
 |
| 73 |
Feb 24 |
Comment |
Sherry- this is one beautiful image and your idea to go pano was a good one, in my opinion. You certainly checked all the boxes, clear center of interest, the image has a high degree of impact and visual interest, it's technically excellent and well composed.
I wouldn't hesitate to give this a 10 in a photo club competition but I also think there are alternative compositions - not necessarily better but just different. As you know, when a subject is centered in the frame the eye tends to wander, and while your subject is not centered I feel that it's close enough that it does cause my eye to spend more time on the clouds rather than on the subject so I cropped in the left a touch, darkened the sky and brightened the subject a bit - I don't know if it's more appealing but it's an alternative - still a terrific shot and I'm jealous never having been to Iceland. Thanks for sharing. |
Feb 4th |
 |
7 comments - 5 replies for Group 73
|
17 comments - 8 replies Total
|
