j. kathy mccabe

I love the prance of the dog on the right, but the missing nose of the dog in the foreground is troublesome to me. Also the bench in the background is distracting. Dogs at play are difficult subjects to compose the perfect shot, however. The sharpness of the dog on the right is worthy of looking at by itself.

I love the pose, the composition, the color, the clarity. What's not to love? I'd be very proud to have this in my portfolio!

It takes all kinds! You are a gentleman, Mark. I love the clarity and the focused expression of the dog. Great job!

I agree, this is the happiest looking cow I've seen in a long time. She's a beauty and you did a terrific job of capturing her curious nature.

This is a terrific piece of art! I love the pups, the pose, and the use of high key technique. Bravo!

Timnah is a beautiful bird. Yes, your lighting suffers from a bit of an imbalance. You might try bouncing the light off of the ceiling in order to creat a more uniform light source.

 

I made some adjustments to your photo in Photoshop, primarily so that I could see the bird a little better. But since I was there, I thought I'd share the results.

 

My technique is as follows:

 

I selected the rope with the selection wand by holding down the shift key and selecting the different parts of the rope until the entire rope was selected (there are many ways of doing this, but for me this is the fastest). Once the rope was selected I created a new layer (Layer-Create New - Via Copy).

 

Then, rather than adjust the rope, I selected the background layer and adjusted the levels (Image-Adjust-Levels) until I could see most of the detail of the bird.

 

Then, I selected the rope layer and adjusted the levels in the same way until I got it the way I liked it.

 

Just remember, Photoshop makes for lazy photographers. Don't rely on it and you'll be the better for it.

Striking! The clarity and subdued colors work well together. The composition is terrific as well. Good job.

A reflector would have helped with lost detail on the dog's left side, but overall I really like htis photo. Nice pose--great subject!

I think you have a good eye if you're truly just starting at this. The only thing that troubles me about the photo is the very vertical positioning of the dog. It's probably just my eye, but I like to see more interesting angles than straight up and down. Had you taken a step or two to the right or left of the pup you might have seen a more interesting angle. It's a beautiful subject!

I like the ducks too. It's an interesting shot that could use a little work. Tighter cropping would improve your composition. The unsharp mask in Photoshop would help with clarity and I'd also adjust the brighness while I was there.

Kittens make the best subjects. Thanks for sharing. I hope to see more of this little one.

I'm no expert, but I'll be happy to comment on this beauty. The crop is good, the pose is perfect, the detail is great and I love your model! Whatever that is in the right forground below the cat's left paw is a little distracting, but that's being really picky.

I love this photo, rich colors, nice composition. The only thing that I would change would be to level the horizon.

Excellent job. Terrific clarity in the cat's face. Your use of DOF gives the photo a sense of motion or anticipated motion. The intensity of the cat's glare feeds that sense as well.

I like the lines and angles. The kitten has such an intent expression. Beautiful!

Beautiful composition . The clarity is great! The blade of grass above his eye is a little distracting, but otherwise I love it.

The fence is interesting, but is it a photo of a fence or of a boy? If you can't crop with the camera due to lens restrictions and such, there's nothing wrong with post processing cropping.

I really like the soft light and smooth skin tones and your model is a doll. However, there might be too much background. You can focus the viewer's attention on the boy by eliminating some of the distraction. Also, he seems to be reaching or holding on to something. To me, this means that something is missing from the photo. Closer cropping could help that too.

Very creative and very funny! Great lighting on the initial subject.

This is terrific for natural light. I would have liked to see more of the crystal bowl, but what you've done here is awesome. Did you use a reflector on the right side? Reflectors might allow you to lower the camera angle and bring out some detail in the bowl. Great job!

I'm far too ignorant on the subject matter to know which is which, but I love the colors and the intense detail of your "Abstract". Iwonder, however, what if you cropped the out of focus parts out? The subject is quite centered now and might make a more interesting abstract if it weren't.

I love the leading lines, but the angle makes me a little sea sick. As an abstract it's really cool.

Teriffic composition! I love the building lights. The offer crisp detail and a warm glow.

The centered horizon troubles me a bit. But, I love the foreground composition. The water reflection leads the eye nicely toward the horizon. More of a panoramic shape might be nice.

Gorgeous! I wish that this was at the end of my afternoon walk. Fabulous colors! They are nicely multiplied by the water.