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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 11 |
Jun 25 |
Comment |
You were right; the B&W highlights the raindrops more than the color version. Beautiful tonality and composition. |
Jun 17th |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 11
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| 60 |
Jun 25 |
Comment |
Like Rita, my first impression was that the photo was taken out a plane window to capture clouds above water. It took me a while to see the faint horizon line and understand it was a reflection shot. Since you already have submitted it to be part of the featured photos on the month --congratulations-- it seems our comments are superfluous.
You already have agreed the foreground could be lightened. One thing that threw me off a bit was the large dark shadow in the foreground, because it is not mirroring anything visible in the sky. I am aware there are different understandings of how much of reality needs to be present in a reflected water shot. I would have played with some different cropping options to see if that prominent mass could have been minimized. You have said the soft quality added by the fog caught your eye and was an important aspect of the photo for you. It does impart a dreamlike quality and also contributes to the abstract feel of the photo. |
Jun 16th |
| 60 |
Jun 25 |
Comment |
Kyle, nice capture of tandem trolling for food, especially the larger one, where both eyes are visible. The one in front is smaller and perhaps a juvenile, following mom around to learn a new skill? Otherwise, a rival trying to muscle in on some food the other has spotted?
The composition is nice with the circular ripples of water enclosing the two birds. The overall tonality is pleasing. Nothing is blown out, but I wonder if you could tone down the brightest areas in direct sunlight on the two bodies a smidgeon- perhaps you tried that already? It clearly was a sunny day, but you have done a great job adding in the contrast. Too bad you did not submit the original photo as well so we could appreciate the impact of the changes you made.
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Jun 16th |
| 60 |
Jun 25 |
Comment |
I agree with Erin that your crop has eliminated a lot of extraneous action in this street scene and makes it clear that the focus should be the bride. Well done. Color is being used a lot more for street photography, and there is nice mood lighting in the color version that is lost to some degree in the B&W version. Even so, your decision to go to B&W still allows the viewer to understand that the event was captured at dusk because of the neon sign, the pendant lamps, and the lights inside the store windows. Also, given that the bride is in white and the band members in black and white, your decision to go to B&W is encouraged to some degree by the content.
I have experienced the same problems with bright lights in night scenes. All I can suggest is that you mask each one individually and tone down the feather level, exposure, and try to adjust the clarity. It is good you ran the photo through Silver Efex to see what options were possible before deciding you preferred this version. |
Jun 16th |
| 60 |
Jun 25 |
Comment |
This is a great capture, especially on your first time at a rodeo! A busy background is hard to avoid when shooting rodeo shots. In this case, blurring it would not solve the problem, so your decision to leave it in and fully sharp provides good context. The only suggestion I have is to check the verticals on the white posts: they look like they lean slightly to the left. You could try either using the automatic or guided adjustment to correct this minor detail. Was the shutter speed really only 1/200 and not 1/2000? Also, I would cut out the railing at the bottom of the photo. |
Jun 16th |
| 60 |
Jun 25 |
Comment |
Your editing has really transformed the original into something more dramatic. The sharpening bought out the texture of the feathers and the darkening foregrounded the two feathers while retaining the nice bokeh in the background. While the feathers are the clear focus, the context is a little confusing to me. At first glance I thought it was a talisman of sorts, until I saw they were tangled in a prickly plant and not attached to a stick. So while it is a nice capture and excellent editing job, the question of impact that you raise is important here. Am I to think about a bird that got entangled and lost these feathers when struggling to escape? Could it have preened itself while sitting on this plant, with loose feathers having fallen and been caught by lower spines? What emotion am I to experience? |
Jun 15th |
| 60 |
Jun 25 |
Comment |
The composition in the photo is well done, with the cactus framing the bird and with nice bokeh behind the bird. The color of the cactus draws the human eye more than the dull brown of the bird, but the yellow eye of the bird also creates a focal point leading the eye to the bird as the main subject. On my screen, the bird's head is slightly out of focus, which is perhaps due to the 600 mm telephoto, which creates a very shallow depth of field. You also had a low shutter speed, which might have contributed to the slight blur, if the bird moved its head at t all. Did you try to sharpen the head using a program like Topaz? You did not include the original or describe what editing you did, so it is hard to make further suggestions. |
Jun 15th |
6 comments - 0 replies for Group 60
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7 comments - 0 replies Total
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