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| Group |
Round |
C/R |
Comment |
Date |
Image |
| 16 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
Bud, Great minds think a like! I was on a re-positioning cruise from Copenhagen to Ft. Lauderdale in September 2016 when I took my Flaam houses shot. I was also standing at the bow of the ship. I didn't get the reflections you did, but the blue boats are in both photos. I look forward to a time when we can travel again. |
Dec 15th |
 |
1 comment - 0 replies for Group 16
|
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
I am enjoying using my new technique: tone mapping (HDR/witch's brew) followed by B&W adjustment layer, and rendered by using the adjustment layer mask to add back color. I agree that shadows must fit into their environment. There's too much discussion here about the lack of strength of the shadows. Based on your comments, I revisited the composite I revisited after reading Cady's comment. In retrospect, I do like the soft shadows better. |
Dec 14th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
I frequently visit a relatively small wildlife preserve in the middle of a town near me and take photos of the inviting paths that cut through the trees throughout the preserve. I have never imagined what you have created in this composite. The colors are woodland colors, the mushrooms frame the image beautifully, and the whole composition is well balanced. I'm flattered that Lori called you Alan . . . and Allan. |
Dec 12th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
You have certainly achieved your goal of creating a storybook scene. The details of the smoke, the butter churn, and the light on the cabin are finishing touches to this cabin-in-the-woods image. I used to teach a high school junior-senior honors film (not movie) class, and Original 2 reminds me of one of my favorite films to teach: "The Village," directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It's a 21st Century fairy tale.
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Dec 12th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
There are a lot of suggestions above, but I see the image a bit differently. In a fairy tale or a surrealistic image, one can represent reality as one wishes. If the girl in blue is the same size as flowers and is smaller than a cat, flowers can be dying and alive in the same garden (as they often are in my apartment). Since everything in this environment has a certain ambiance except the girl in blue, may I suggest making her a little less real. Also, perhaps you could have the cat looking at the girl adding a little disquiet. Even fairy tales embrace disquiet. This is certainly an image that is worth revisiting. |
Dec 12th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
This reminds me of a drawing an artist would conceive of using pastels. The image has a soft, airy feel to it that is supported by the clouds, birds, and stars. The lack of contrast adds to the soft quality of the composite. The eye-leaves are a testimony top your creativity, but for my taste belong in an image that is more tongue-in-cheek. |
Dec 11th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
Wonderful self portrait. Lots of color juxtaposed by incongruous images. This is a fun image and should be used as your passport photo! |
Dec 11th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
Candy, you convinced me. I wasn't sure what people who wanted the shoes in a shadow meant because I thought they WERE in shadows. I wrestled with the problem on many levels (actually layers!) and finally saw the problem. Thank you for being the "straw that broke the [shadow's] back." It's a bit too subtle to reproduce on this format, but it IS an improvement. |
Dec 8th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
Thank you for your observations. |
Dec 4th |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
I don't use Lightroom. I use ACR and Bridge instead. I try to use what I'm familiar with and not learn something new (even though Lightroom and ACR are very similar). Thanks for the tip about combining 2 images in Photomatix. I'll give it a try. |
Dec 3rd |
| 34 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
Thank you for your kind words. As far as the shadow is concerned, there is a shadow on the man's face from his hat and a shadow on his chest from his chin so I figured the light was pretty much overhead. |
Dec 1st |
5 comments - 5 replies for Group 34
|
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
Merry Christmas, Aavo. Love the penguins. |
Dec 12th |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
You've blended the whale seamlessly into its environment and have included the bubbles quite well. As a less-is-more person, I took the liberty of cropping the top and eliminating some of the bubbles. I also piggy-backed on Brad's idea of exploring what else could come out of the whale's spout. I gave Jonah another avenue of escape. It does look like the whale has a twinkle in its eye. As an aside, I would not be comfortable eating lunch under a life size model of a whale as the people in Original 1 are doing. |
Dec 12th |
 |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
I'm happy you like the image. I never thought beyond the water bottle perhaps because I was in close proximity to the real person. I have included her in a few different composites, but I felt she fits best in this one. |
Dec 12th |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
You are right to return to this flower. It IS intriguing. I love egrets. I photograph them every chance I get. It looks like this one is a bit too far away to create movement in the flower. For my taste, I would remove the two out of focus flowers and concentrate on the one in focus. I might even work on a fantasy in which the egret is landing on the flower. There's potential in that flower and the egret. You do such good work with flowers. |
Dec 9th |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
Thank you for your feedback. It was a big help. |
Dec 8th |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
I like your B&W version, but not enough to give up the color of my original. However, I did take your viewpoint and made the whole image darker using PS Levels Adjustment Layer. This allowed me to darken the whole image and use the Layer Mask to lighten the woman a bit as she became to dark for my taste. I left the shadows of the fence so they could be from a mysterious light source. Thank you for your feedback. I like my darker image better. |
Dec 7th |
 |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
I'm happy you like the image. The woman is a strong presence. As I mentioned in my reply to you in July, my aim is to create surrealist images, meaning they are basically dream-like. I try not to tell a story or pay too much attention to light sources in the hope of adding some disequilibrium. Giorgio de Chirico used shadows quite creatively in his surrealistic paintings. When I do create shadows, I add a layer beneath the person/object requiring a shadow, paint the shadow with a black brush, reduce the opacity and add Gausian blur--both to taste. This gives the shadow a gradient flow from the object needing the shadow to the edge of the shadow. Your method seems a lot simpler than mine. I'll give it a try in a different image. |
Dec 6th |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Reply |
Kathy, Thank you so much for taking the time to elaborate. You verbalized what I suspected, but by your putting the steps in print, I can now take the leap and try it myself. Thanks again! |
Dec 5th |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
It must be nice to create your own aquarium. You don't have to bother with filters and smelly fish food. I can't tell the fresh water fish from the salt water fish, but you have combined them seamlessly. Their colors are bright and eye catching, and the color of the water is consistent throughout. In addition, the composition is well balanced which is a big plus when there are so many parts. Nice work. |
Dec 1st |
| 54 |
Dec 20 |
Comment |
This image is certainly a treat. Your combination of images is well balanced, has wonderful, soft colors, and is a reference to 19th Century art with your "cracked" background. I have one suggestion and one request. First, use the content-aware tool in Photoshop to eliminate the two distracting branches behind the squirrel's tail. Now the request. You mention most of your work was done in Photoshop, but you did not share with us your skill and knowledge so we can learn from you. In the future, please include more detail of the steps you took. We're all here to learn from one another. Thank you. |
Dec 1st |
5 comments - 5 replies for Group 54
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11 comments - 10 replies Total
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