|
| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 3 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Hello Kieu-Hanh,
I am very charmed by your lovely image, especially because you shot it without people, exuding an air of tranquility. Of course the people are present in a sense, since the bench is inviting them to come and sit there and perhaps hold hands. |
Feb 13th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 3
|
| 5 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Hi Pete,
I think this was a good find from your archives, especially when fixed up and converted to monochrome. I thought I would make my try at it. I only increased the overall contrast. How is this? |
Feb 13th |
 |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 5
|
| 8 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
The red door is the highlight of this excellent composition.
I just want to mention that aside from the red door, this is a great monochrome composition as well. I converted it to monochrome, playing with the individual color conversions. Here is one possible outcome. |
Feb 13th |
 |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 8
|
| 14 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
I think maybe, if I may use the term, the original is "atmospheric," based on its light tones. What about trying this as a high-key black/white? I don't do that, but others in these dialogue groups sometimes show interesting high-key images. |
Feb 27th |
| 14 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
You have strengthened the color and made the final image have more impact, but on my monitor the original shows more subtle communication between the man and woman in their exchanged glances. |
Feb 26th |
1 comment - 1 reply for Group 14
|
| 22 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Lovely shot, and good discussion throughout your group. I learned a lot from you all.
I slightly prefer the deep shadows of your original--very dramatic, and indicative of the strong Santa Fe sunlight.
Love the elephant feet. |
Feb 12th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 22
|
| 24 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
I love it when members of these digital dialogues take the rest of us around the world. Aside from making impactful photographs that stand on their own as compositions, this travel aspect appeals to me. I've been to the Musée D'Orsay also, but missed my chance to get to this spot--I had no idea one could get up there. But I got there with your image. Well done, and thanks. |
Feb 12th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 24
|
| 30 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
What an energetic effort and a nice final effect. Your group colleagues have given you good comments. On my part, I am missing a bowl of sugar cubes.
Also, I like the tea glasses (Turkish or Russian?), the tea pot, and oh boy that samovar--if we did not have a full house and one samovar already, I would be asking what you would take for it. |
Feb 11th |
| 30 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
This is a beautiful image, and I don't mind the background leaves, one way or the other.
My home group 32 is a monochrome group, so I am always looking for images that might convert well to monochrome, so I tried the following, adjusting colors individually as they convert to monochrome. That is why the green leaves are almost entirely gone in my conversion. |
Feb 11th |
 |
| 30 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
I like your composition, but I did not understand what the red pepper was because only a blurred portion of it shows. The green onions were easy to discern and fit in very well. |
Feb 11th |
3 comments - 0 replies for Group 30
|
| 31 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Managing to shoot this at f16 gave you great depth of field, so you have an impressively sharp view of the entire knot. All the textures--line, cleat, wood--are great.
I photograph knots myself and have the following compositional suggestions for you to consider:
1. Show fewer turns about the cleat so that the essential turns of the knot are apparent. There is great beauty in the underlying knot, uncomplicated by excessive turns.
2. Consider showing the end of the line. The bushy end of the line would be an additional texture.
Just my preferences for how I approach this. Does not have to be yours. |
Feb 10th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 31
|
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Jigsaw puzzle? What a good idea. But similarly, we have here in Washington, DC the Washington Post, and every Sunday they publish a magazine with the Sunday paper--which has a "Find 10 Differences" puzzle in it. You have inspired me to submit this image as a candidate for that. Thanks! |
Feb 14th |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Helllloooo Wes! Great to have you back.
Nice shot, looks great, and fun to see you in conversation with Russ.
General remark about blurring out people. Our colleague in other groups, Larry Treadwell, always recommends using a neutral density filter, or batch of filters, to cut down the light, enabling one to shoot at a very slow shutter speed so walking people blur and disappear from the scene. |
Feb 10th |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
I very much like the tight crop. I think that makes this unique. Also the perfect profile. |
Feb 10th |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Yes, I thought at first they were potatoes.
I am not sure high-key white rocks quite work. I would prefer darker, and more Diana contrast, and more detail in the upper parts as Tom said. |
Feb 10th |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
I agree with all of Tom's comments. I think the town lights on the hillside do well to separate the hill from the sky. I don't mind the island (?) in the lake. I think you did well to compose this to deal with the comet being small in the frame. I faced this problem in night sky photography also, and I think it's fine for the subject to be small as long as it's the center of attention like this. |
Feb 10th |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Tom,
It is interesting, as we often see in your shots, that a color shot takes on more drama in monochrome. I guess if the actual subject is not the color, then the compositional quality comes out better in monochrome.
I like the direction Russ is taking here--as he greatly improved my image this month--but it's a bit too far, as strange artifacts are showing in the trees. Russ, how about half of the same effect? |
Feb 2nd |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
What an interesting experiment. Very clever to tilt the composition, so it looks like Saturn with its rings. You make something small like this resembles something large like that. |
Feb 2nd |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Russ, what a good idea to use low key. I like the result. What are the adjustment concepts to use to do this? Is it just to darken and increase contrast? |
Feb 1st |
| 32 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Hello Ata,
Thanks for visiting and thanks for your comments. |
Feb 1st |
6 comments - 3 replies for Group 32
|
| 36 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Hi Larry, this is such a wonderful shot, and a great story as usual to go with it.
Your wish to get birds into the shot reminded me of the following--I risk repeating this to you. I took my youngest daughter on her college tour about 20 years ago. At Grinnell College, while my daughter was on a campus tour, I went to the Library and went directly to the Special Collections Room and asked if they had anything interesting I could look at for two hours. They brought me out a pair of white cotton gloves and a box of Rachel Carson's original letters. I can almost quote one of them, "We sat out on our porch [of their Maine summer cottage] last night and looked at the full moon. You know, if you wait long enough, you can see a goose fly across the face of the moon."
Technically, how about shooting some birds with a flash at close range during the 13 second exposure. The flash might light up the birds sufficiently, but of course it would not light up the Milky Way, as it's pretty far off. |
Feb 10th |
0 comments - 1 reply for Group 36
|
| 37 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Two of our children live in Seattle, so we have visited Leavenworth several times. Thanks for taking us back there in this charming winter shot.
It might be interesting to know the following, from the Wikipedia entry about the town: "In 1962, the Project LIFE (Leavenworth Improvement For Everyone) Committee was formed in partnership with the University of Washington to investigate strategies to revitalize the struggling logging town. The theme town idea was created by two Seattle businessmen." The Bavarian theme idea worked, of course, and Leavenworth today is a hugely successful tourist destination, summer or winter, thanks to the beautiful surrounding mountains. |
Feb 25th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 37
|
| 48 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
I would just like to advocate for ALL areas of knowledge--they are your gateways to understanding and experiencing the real world around you and the world of thought within you. I know physics seemed hard for many of you, but it gives us simple things like levers, and complex things like the understanding of the size of the universe. Math gave us the numeral zero, without which we could not write down "307." I love literature and drama, especially Shakespeare, who coined 422 new words, like "bump" and "baseless." I encourage everyone to be Renaissance people and expand your knowledge in all directions. |
Feb 24th |
| 48 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Hi Mary,
Emily has already empirically determined your answer for this great shot of a 215-foot waterfall. She used 1/320 to get this great shot. Since the acceleration of gravity is the same anywhere in the world, 1/320 will do just fine for any 215-foot waterfall, as long as you like Emily's result.
Myself, I would not bother with calculations, but just take several shot at various shutter speeds, say 1/60, 1/100, 1/200, etc.
But if you want to backtrack over the math, use the degree of blur you want (it was .36 ft. in this case) and the height of the next waterfall you are working with, and solve for the shutter speed. If your waterfall is 30 feet, I suspect you would not want .36 ft. of blur, but perhaps more like .1 ft. of blur. So either do it empirically or try some calculations for fun. Good luck. |
Feb 13th |
| 48 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
I went back to my high school physics class for the formula for distance = 1/2 * a * time-squared. The distance was 215 feet and a (acceleration) is the acceleration of gravity = 32ft/sec/sec. Solving for time gives 3.66 seconds for the water to fall 215 feet. Then velocity = a * time gives the velocity at the bottom of the falls of 117ft/sec. Finally, using distance = velocity * time, the result is in 1/320 of a second, the moving water at the bottom of the falls is travelling .36 feet in 1/320 second. Someone correct me if I got this wrong.
Empirically, you don't need any of this because you got it right to show the water both sharp at the top and blurred at the bottom, and it looks great. But it was fun for me to go back to high school. |
Feb 9th |
| 48 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Hello Emily,
I like your shot and Beverly's edit.
I particularly like, and have learned from, you choice of shutter speed of 1/320 because it shows the increasing speed of fall as the water goes over the top (sharp) and accelerates in its fall to the bottom (blurry). If you were to tell me the height of the falls, I could calculate for you the size of the blur at the bottom. |
Feb 9th |
2 comments - 2 replies for Group 48
|
| 58 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Yes, good eye to get this. The pattern of the people could not be better if you planned it. It immediately jumps out at the viewer. Well done. |
Feb 7th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 58
|
| 64 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Ah, I see. Shooting from a half-way-up-the-building viewpoint and the building not being too tall explains it. Thanks. |
Feb 9th |
| 64 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Hi Stan,
This is an impressive architectural shot. I see that both your finished monochrome and original color shots display the verticals with no parallel convergence. How did you manage that? Did you have a lens with a riser or did you alter the perspective in post-processing? |
Feb 7th |
1 comment - 1 reply for Group 64
|
| 66 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Fascinating patterns. There is a lot to work with here. I most like the upper portion, where there is not so much size difference between the pattern sections. |
Feb 24th |
 |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 66
|
| 69 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Nicely done. I am very fond of formal portraits against pure black. Eliminating the background makes this work, and leaving in a few leaves is a good touch.
I think the stem is a bit out of focus--could you have shot at f/11 and 1/200?
Is this an edible Fiddlehead? I have eaten Fiddleheads in the north, and they are a great delicacy. |
Feb 3rd |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 69
|
| 71 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Congratulations on a wonderful "near and far" shot. How close were you to the nearest flower and at what f-stop did you shoot this? |
Feb 24th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 71
|
| 74 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Ata,
What a clever composition, to place the young woman in front of a tromp l'oeil street scene. I recognize that the scene is of traditional old street architecture, but interestingly painted in a contemporary style--what a great mixture of sights and styles.
You have a bit more space in front of the young woman, and her head is nicely differentiated from the background, falling in front of painted light areas.
Hamamyolu? Street of baths, yes? Another place for us to visit when we get back someday. |
Feb 1st |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 74
|
| 78 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Brenda,
My take on vertical convergence of parallel lines is strictly personal to me. I very much like this last image in that respect, for two reasons. One is that the slight vertical convergence tells the viewer's brain that this is a building soaring upward. Two is that, I think, it would look just plain funny to see the verticals perfectly parallel, as if this were a real estate advertising shot taken by a professional architectural photographer. I might add that your eye actually sees the vertical convergence, just as you eye see horizontal convergence when you look down a street lined with buildings or along a railroad track. |
Feb 12th |
| 78 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Terry's take on the perspective is just right, in my opinion. His perspective gives just a little vertical convergence to let you know that the building soars upwards. Complete vertical straightening would not be true to what you saw, although professional architectural photographers almost always choose it. |
Feb 3rd |
2 comments - 0 replies for Group 78
|
| 79 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
You have quite a project to undertake. Good for you to take it on. I am going to mention an exhibit I saw here in Washington, DC some years ago--it was early photographs by the poet Allen Ginsberg, where he hand-wrote the story of each image directly onto prints of the images. You may consider asking the victims in your project to hand-write their brief accounts directly onto portrait images of themselves. Just a creative thought for me to pass on to you from Allen Ginsberg. |
Feb 22nd |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 79
|
| 81 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
A "sun pillar!" What an exciting capture. I love to see natural phenomena like this, but this is a new one for me. Thank you for taking us all to see this. I saw a similar image a very long time ago of the shadow of the Matterhorn cast upward against a cloud cover. |
Feb 21st |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 81
|
| 93 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
By now you know that Rachel Carson wrote The Sea Around Us, and Silent Spring, the latter helping to spark an environmentalism revolution. I read her actual letters 20 years ago, wearing white cotton gloves, in the Special Collections room of the Oberlin College library, while my daughter was off visiting the campus. Here in Washington, DC, at the Department of the Interior, there is a large meeting room named after her, where the Red Cross sets up its periodic blood drives at the Agency, and I have given blood in that room, walking over from GSA across the street, where I was an IT contractor. |
Feb 3rd |
| 93 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Hi Paul, this is a beautiful composition. I will make two unimportant comments.
1. The moon never appears at this angle naturally. (Ignore this comment--your composition is great)
2. I once had the chance to read the letters of Rachel Carson. In writing to her friend, I can almost quote, she said, "We sat out on the porch [of their Maine summer cottage] and watched the full moon last night. You know, if you wait long enough, you can see a goose fly across the face of the moon." |
Feb 2nd |
1 comment - 1 reply for Group 93
|
| 98 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
This is a nice sweeping view of coastline, but much more important is your work as a documentarian. Thank you for showing this story of current history. |
Feb 2nd |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 98
|
31 comments - 9 replies Total
|
