|
| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Catherine, thanks for your comments. I agree that the top crop is too tight but I did not want to include the industrial background. As to the blue cast of snow, sometimes I can get the blue out, other times I have difficulty and just say well it was a blue day and leave it in. |
Feb 24th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Catherine, I think this carries out your desire to create moody settings as outlined in your bio. My first impression of this was an egg, perhaps a gull egg on the beach, that had been pecked open before full development and eaten by another bird or an animal such as a fox or racoon. After further contemplation, I'm not sure if this is an empty egg shell or a broken ball. The sand and black material in the shell certainly do say decay for your upcoming competition. Great capture!
You might try holding back the highlights of the ball a little bit and reducing the brightness of the surrounding flotsam to center the viewer's attention. |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Alison, Creepy Santa is well done and captures his yearly appearance in Manchester. I wonder, would he be enhanced by some small children looking up at him in wonder?
In reading the comments above, I think Andrew has suggested a nice version.
I too would favor making the shadows, perhaps the whole image lighter in color. |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Jamie, you have captured the wonderful flowing dunes of gypsum in White Sands National Park. The people add perspective and indicate the loneliness of the area. And your b & w version is the way to go. And I laud the way you cropped some of the foreground out. I do not think the footprints distract, perhaps because I have been there and seen footprints disappearing into the distance. That is part of the essence dunes.
My suggestion would be to lighten the image considerably. The dunes are white so why not bring that out. (Or maybe I need to brighten my monitor.) I was on the dunes some years ago and was disappointed the Park did not open at sunrise so I could catch the long ephemeral shadows as they migrated with changing sun positions during the day. At that time, a few people were permitted to camp out overnight. I doubt that would be possible now.
Andrew has some great ideas.
Great visualization and execution! |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Anne, I think your Lightroom tweaks notched it! You have great detail in both the highlights and shadows of the barn interior and the landscape outside.
As Jamie did, I questioned the lightness of the door in the lower left. On thinking about it I would leave it for balance and contrast but try tweaking it so that the shift from light to dark is not so pronounced. |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Alison, thanks for your praise and comments. Sometimes when I am doing action images of this nature I will make a series of different exposures to find the best pleasing blur speed. This time I forgot to or maybe wanted to get back in my car to warm my fingers. |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Andrew, I recently had forgotten about the white balance tool - I just tried it here and it works so I will have to remember to use it in the future. Your version really cleans things up. Thanks!
And yes I should have cloned out the black spot on the helmet.
And yes, blur in the wheels would have added drama. I confess to shooting rapidly, then getting back in my car to stay warm rather than working on variations. I'll tough out the cold temperature next time. |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Julie, you have good suggestions which I hadn't thought of. I tried a little trick with transform>warp in photoshop to get more space on the top but that also elongated the 2nd rider which wasn't good. Well, at next year's races I will try again and also work on ice detail. |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Julie, interesting, interesting, interesting! Not only have you captured a magnificent image of a bat but you have enlightened us about ecological habits of this particular species. The bat is sharp, the eyes are sharp, and there is no distracting background. And I can see the detail of the bat's body and grasp of the branch.
Personally, I prefer your final vertical crop to the original landscape crop. It is interesting to see the comments of Mike and Sharon from the nature groups.
I can't wait to see what you post next month! |
Feb 20th |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Andrew, I like what you captured while on your constitutional and I like your cropping.
Just to play devil's advocate, I could crop a little differently as follows but certainly no better than your cropping. My cropping includes the full bench and shadow which I think are the heart of the image. But now, looking at my version, I should have cropped the top down a little more to take out the posts in the upper right corner.
Anne, Jamie, and Julie have some thoughtful comments. Nice work!
|
Feb 20th |
 |
| 40 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Thanks Anne, yes I did crop tightly to take out the harbor industrial background. Fortunately it was a mild 20 degree day, not 20 below zero of some January days before global warming. |
Feb 2nd |
7 comments - 4 replies for Group 40
|
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Jan, thanks for your comments and encouragement. |
Feb 28th |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Thanks for your suggestions Lisa. |
Feb 25th |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Kathy, I went into your website and love how you have created stellar images of iconic characters. You must stay awake at night thinking up ideas, staging them, and then have the fun of playing them out.
Do you live in Nevada City, California? In my twenties I spent a summer working on a US Forest Service survey crew at Greek Store out of the Grass Valley Forest Service headquarters. As a Minnesota native I quickly learned to levitate 20 feet at the buzz of a rattle snake - that is 20 feet up and 20 feet away. That was a great summer job! |
Feb 21st |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Kathy, I think both of your suggestions would improve this image. Thanks for your comments. |
Feb 21st |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Reply |
Well Brad, as always you get to the essence. You have done fine improvements to my original. I too like the original but I prefer the curved stem of the submitted version.
The background, a sheet of upright granite lining the side of a bar, I quite often use as a soft background but have wondered if the window reflections detracted. I'm pleased that you do not think so. |
Feb 21st |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Lisa, great image with sharp church and cloud movements! You and your equipment are really at the forefront of technology.
I can't wait to see your coming experimentations. |
Feb 21st |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Jan, great visualization of zebras in cyberspace. I can imagine how much fun you must have had adding the various elements into this image and seamlessly composting them.
Puppet warping - I have not used that tool so you have challenged me and I will experiment with it.
I suppose you could put the moon image in play and have it showing a rolling motion. Wow! I wish I knew Photoshop well rather than just the beginning moves.
|
Feb 21st |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Maryellen, your playing with Topaz Studio 2 really paid off - this really a stunning portrait! Your cropping is right on and the precision detail filter works to perfection. The reflection of the pintail in the water makes this such an amazing image!
A suggestion I would make is to clone out the white blob above the bird's head but this is a minor point. |
Feb 21st |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Kathy, this portrays how numerous the snow geese are. I can imagine how loud they sound when they all take off together.
Much as your final image is wonderful, I prefer your original 1 which is not overly crowded and shows a little of the detail of the marsh that the birds are taking off from.
I have never used the edit>autoblend layers in Photoshop so I am looking forward to trying it.
Brad, who is so adept at composting, has an interesting suggestion. |
Feb 21st |
| 41 |
Feb 21 |
Comment |
Brad, I like it. The river surfers were kind of blah but combined with the water fall it is truly exciting! You are a master at blending together composites. I wonder, could you enlarge the surfers a little? To me they seem a little small in relation to the rocks but maybe I am being too picky.
Nice work. |
Feb 21st |
7 comments - 3 replies for Group 41
|
14 comments - 7 replies Total
|
