|
| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 3 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
This really shows a lot of successful work. You display both interesting colors and fine gentle lighting. I like the three onion cousins together, as well as the group of spices. Because you have good lighting, this would also look fine in monochrome, but of course your color version is much more charming.
As to the composition, my eye stays in the frame on the left because of the vertical stem of the garlic bulb, but tends to drift out of the right side, being led out by the loaf of bread, basket, and scoop--can you address that right side?
And a question: I don't understand what you did with black foam core--can you explain a bit more? Thanks. |
Feb 8th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 3
|
| 4 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Great lighting on this. Yes, it will look fabulous in b/w.
I have noticed that Mr. Curry has been showing up in several of the DD groups since his visit to Hoylake Photographic Society. He is getting to be an old friend. |
Feb 15th |
| 4 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Fantastic moment you captured. I can plainly see that the horse is planting his forelegs to take the shock of the line going taut, and the rider is already in his dismount movement. They are such a team! |
Feb 15th |
2 comments - 0 replies for Group 4
|
| 5 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Absolutely no sign of "over-manipulation" of your image. Very well done!
Yes, the Vietnam Memorial is always a place of strong experiences. |
Feb 15th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 5
|
| 9 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
This is a very simple and attractive composition. What is the carved wood object you used behind the figure? And is the figure one of the 6" or 12" versions.
Let's also mention that all the terra-cotta figures in Xi'an were crafted as individuals--every one has different facial features.
And Jesse, Xi'an is a wonderful city to visit. It has about 6M people, 50 universities, and fabulous museums. It also is unique in that it has a completely intact ancient city wall, the top promenade of which is a public park--you can get a tour, sitting and riding, or rent a bike and circumnavigate the wall in about an hour. |
Feb 15th |
| 9 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Nice action moment capture, in sharp focus. In addition to Jesse's suggestions, you could consider cloning out the third player's head and shoulders and his yellow shoe. The spectators are nicely separated by blurring, so keep them or remove them as you like, but I can't help but notice the person in the white shirt is probably looking at his phone. |
Feb 14th |
2 comments - 0 replies for Group 9
|
| 12 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Very striking shot.
I would just like to add that the architect was Eero Saarinen, and part of the design included two climbing machines that marched up the arch sides to act as mobile building platforms, and then came back down when it was done, cleaning up the construction marks as they descended. |
Feb 9th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 12
|
| 13 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
Two special features of boating knots: 1) they don't loosen from the boat tugging as it moves back and forth on the water, and 2) some are often formed for quick-release by just pulling on the free end. See any book on knotting, or just practice what your wife uses. Another consideration: you might practice tying the knot with your eyes closed--a very handy skill when you have to tie up in the dark. |
Feb 14th |
0 comments - 1 reply for Group 13
|
| 16 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Dr. Mohanan's expansion of the image is a great and instructive idea for completing a composition when you can't capture everything in the original image.
See also this month in Group 44, Lisa Cuchara's shot of a deserted building interior, where she took her original shot and mirrored it to create a new composition. |
Feb 14th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 16
|
| 17 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
I googled this ("sacramento airport art installation") and found this is part of several art installations around the airport:
Samson by Brian Goggin
Medium: Mixed media
Location: Terminal A | Terminal A Baggage Claim
Two 23' pillars are constructed with luggage dating from the conceptual genesis of the airplane to the present. The pillars support the ceiling as travelers metaphorically support the space itself. |
Feb 6th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 17
|
| 21 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
VERY nice concept and execution. I blew up the image to read the little sign, but can't make it out with this low-res image. Please tell us what it says. |
Feb 14th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 21
|
| 22 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Nice scene. Nice composition. How about a little bit of sepia-ish tone to make it seem like a memory. My result is very rough. You could add an antique border if you like. |
Feb 14th |
 |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 22
|
| 24 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Wonderful shot with the wide-angle lens.
Those foot bridges (we called them "fly-aways") were there in Hong Kong when we visited there often in 1988-89. One could get all over downtown without even descending to the level of the cars.
Here it is in monochrome, for discussion. |
Feb 13th |
 |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 24
|
| 27 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Cheer up, Becca, it is total solar eclipses that are rare and cover a very small area--hence once in a lifetime for many people. But a lunar eclipse can be seen over half the earth, and they happen quite often--keep your eye out for news or check the internet for more coming up. |
Feb 13th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 27
|
| 28 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
This is so great in B&W. You might remove the two sets of wall sockets for a cleaner look. I advocate for the empty composition you have, without adding any people or cats. It's really perfect. |
Feb 25th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 28
|
| 29 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Nice shot of this event. I spent a couple of minutes on basic fixes: rotated right 3.7 degrees to level the horizon, then lightened the darks and darkened the lights overall to see the man's face better. |
Feb 13th |
 |
| 29 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
This is a very successful zoom shot! Last month, Mary Hinson in Group 79 was trying this. I am going to refer her to your shot here. |
Feb 9th |
| 29 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Hi Bob, I am visiting from Monochrome Group 32. I absolutely love architectural shots with no people or focal point there. I think they express emptiness or loneliness. The lights and darks are very interesting in this image. What was the light source that cast those great patterns on the floor--a ceiling of glass panels? I tried converting to monochrome, as a sample for discussion. What do you think? |
Feb 4th |
 |
3 comments - 0 replies for Group 29
|
| 40 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Just a mention about the weather. When I was a boy in Albany, NY, I would shovel out our driveway before dawn, and it was -20 about six times a winter. -10 and sunny is cold, but not as cold as -20 and pitch dark. By the way, read Jack London's famous short story, To Build a Fire, about what it's like to walk five miles through the Alaskan countryside at -50. |
Feb 12th |
| 40 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
See also Group 43 this month, where Connie Weil has a sled dog shot. |
Feb 9th |
2 comments - 0 replies for Group 40
|
| 42 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
Lynne, when you use "levels" or "curves" in PS, you are adjusting how light or dark the lights or darks are going to appear in the finished image. To get the nearly white scene outside the windows to pure white, I basically said to the program, "Make the 10% of the whitest tones into pure white." This is done by pulling on very easy to use controls. If you studied math through the level of pre-calculus, you are controlling a mapping from the domain of all tones into the range of all tones. Give it a try--it's easier once you see it happen. |
Feb 24th |
| 42 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Hi Lynne, I am visiting from Monochrome Group 32. This is a dramatic shot, almost monochrome already, so here is one version in full monochrome. But I also changed the lights and darks using "levels" in PS Element. Or you could use "curves" in full PS. When doing that, there are a lot of choices. I happen to like a lot of black, so my variation on your image is very personal. I also ran the view out the windows to pure white because I was not interested in that view. What do you think? |
Feb 4th |
 |
1 comment - 1 reply for Group 42
|
| 43 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
See also Group 40 this month, where Henry Roberts has a sled dog shot. |
Feb 9th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 43
|
| 44 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
I absolutely love the mirror image version! I tried it in monochrome, below. |
Feb 9th |
 |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 44
|
| 45 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
This is an excellent and appropriate use of vertical perspective, as the tower tapers upwards. Too often, photographers will try to "correct" the perspective in post-processing. But an image like this is best left as the camera saw it because it adds to the sense of the building soaring upwards. Good job.
By the way, I lived in Taipei in 1988-89, and have wonderful memories of my two years there. |
Feb 4th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 45
|
| 52 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Great shot, Mike. See also this month two shots of Snowy Owls by Donna Brok, in groups 69 AND 77. |
Feb 9th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 52
|
| 67 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Hello Larry, you certainly got the shot you worked for--it is wonderful. And so is your write-up. You make a great contribution to the quality of the Digital Dialogues by telling us your passionate and interesting story. Please continue! |
Feb 11th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 67
|
| 69 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
See also Group 52 this month, where Mike Cohen has a Snowy Owl shot. |
Feb 9th |
| 69 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Your patience to get this wonderful shot reminds me of one of Rachel Carson's letters to a friend, which more or less said the following: "We [her and her husband] sat out on our porch [of their Maine summer cottage] last night watching the full moon. You know, if you wait long enough, you can see a goose fly across the face of the full moon." |
Feb 4th |
2 comments - 0 replies for Group 69
|
| 73 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Wow! 19mm. What a great indoor shot. Your professional work shows. It's a pleasure to view. |
Feb 11th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 73
|
| 75 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
Sorry, that's what I understood from your comment "used a filter from topaz to soften the image and bring out the glow in the colors." Both the original and finished images are truly charming, but my preference would be for something in the middle, with respect to glow, however it is achieved. |
Feb 16th |
| 75 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
I like your choice of this tranquil scene, and the work done to clear up the branches in the foreground and the hot spot. However, consider not so much glow filter, as the finished image announces itself as post-processed. |
Feb 15th |
1 comment - 1 reply for Group 75
|
| 76 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Jorn, this is a charming "portrait of the man without the man present." I love such shots that tell about a person without seeing the person.
As to the vertical sides of the bookshelf, many lenses have a bit of "pincushion distortion" or "barrel distortion" inherent to the lenses, which can be revealed when shooting parallel lines. PS has a lens distortion correction control, should you want to use that. |
Feb 11th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 76
|
| 77 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Great shot. See also Mike Cohen's shot of a Snowy Owl this month in Group 52. |
Feb 9th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 77
|
| 78 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
I would just like to add that tilting verticals is actually what your eye sees (but your brain corrects), so the camera is accurately showing perspective, not distortion. So it is up to the photographer to decide which approach suits their needs. Professional architectural photographers often alter the perspective for their customers, but artistic photographers often keep the vertical perspective to emphasize a soaring skyscraper. The vertical perspective leads to just another vanishing point, like the two horizontal ones you are more used to. In this image, it's entirely up to your taste as to which approach you want to take. |
Feb 3rd |
| 78 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Hello Sunil,
I like very much your cropping to eliminate the views through the column gaps into the courtyards. I also like that the monk is off center, affording us a clear view of the temple entrance. You caught the monk's walking posture at a good moment.
I have a question about Jainism--I read up on it a bit and learned about their very strong emphasis on not harming other living creatures--is the cloth around this monk's neck possibly used to cover his month and nose to avoid breathing in and killing small flying insects? |
Feb 3rd |
2 comments - 0 replies for Group 78
|
| 79 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
Sorry. "Radial Blur." |
Feb 15th |
| 79 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
Mary, Karen's zoom was with the camera lens, like you were trying. See also this month, Dr. Mohanan in Group 16, who has another good example of "Radial Blue" in post-processing. |
Feb 14th |
| 79 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Mary, about your zoom shot last month. See this month, Karen Harris's shot in Group 29 for another sample of zooming. |
Feb 9th |
1 comment - 2 replies for Group 79
|
| 80 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
This is an interesting capture. Did you hand-hold this, or brace your camera against some stable surface to shoot at 1/6?
Now for a batch of more questions:
Is that a young man or a young woman? Can you tell?
It seems to me that such a finished quality painting, complete with attractive decorative background and symbols is more that just graffiti. The artist has taken great care to extend the painting on the building at both top and bottom. The person portrayed is holding a scroll, I think. This suggest to me that this is a poster of a political or civic nature, like a candidate for office, or an advocate for education. I think the two diagonal white lines are pens with ink drops at the ends. The pens are perhaps being held in the mouths of swans (Are they a local cultural symbol?). This is a very complete and sophisticated artistic composition. Perhaps this is memorial to someone who has died and was involved in a cause. Do you have any idea? Is the white decoration at the far right design or letters that say something? |
Feb 15th |
| 80 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Nice capture of a fun event with good interactions between the performance troop and the public. I would just crop in a bit closer to get intimate with them. |
Feb 8th |
 |
| 80 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Charming shot. I rotated it 2 degrees to the right to level it. |
Feb 4th |
 |
3 comments - 0 replies for Group 80
|
| 83 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
Peter, you are so much fun. I love these side conversations. (But if you would knot sail on that boat, you must be a square (knot).) |
Feb 20th |
| 83 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
I don't know my boat terms very well. Are those thimbles at the ends of the short line fully wrapped in smaller line? Well, the wrapping (Is that also called a whipping?) looks terribly sloppy. |
Feb 15th |
| 83 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
Hello Graham, I am visiting from Monochrome Group 32. I tend to agree with Judith that this shot needs a wider view of the whole boat, just to understand what we are looking at.
I am not a boat person, but I am a rope and knot hobbyist, although not an expert on boating knots, so Judith's comments on the lines interested me. (It is actually quite wonderful in the Digital Dialogs that we not only talk about photography, but sometimes also the subject matters of what we photograph.) I blew up your image--it has a lot of detail--and I think I was able to see that some of the lines had un-whipped ends (a sin, I think)--Judith is that correct? |
Feb 15th |
| 83 |
Feb 19 |
Reply |
Thank you, Peter, for the thoughts. As I recall, Henry Ford had said that people can get a Model T in any color "as long as it's black." |
Feb 14th |
| 83 |
Feb 19 |
Comment |
I see you also straightened the verticals to good effect. I don't like perspective changes most of the time, but I think you made appropriate use of it here.
As to the focal point human figure, I very much like architectural shots empty of human figures. They often express emptiness or loneliness. But in this case, I think you have a very good architectural study, and the extra human figure subtracts from it. My views on this are in the minority, I admit. |
Feb 4th |
2 comments - 3 replies for Group 83
|
39 comments - 8 replies Total
|
