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Critique SVP

You need a tripod for this sort of shot. Your meter is too smart for its own good. You probably could cut back on the exposure a bit. Stopping down the lens (not sure if that camera is capable) will let you modify the size of the light.

There is something about this photo that makes it stand out from the rest. The lighting so perfectly compliments her shape and pose.

As a dog owner who lost a beloved animal a year ago, the context of this image is unmistakeable even without the caption. I was troubled taking a photograph of my dog's last day, but did anyway. In the end I am glad I did, though it makes me sad everytime I look at it. I'm sure you will be able to look to this photograph for many years to come to remind you of how much she meant to you.

Theatre shots are always challenging. I usually do this kind of thing on a monopod to remove shake on my end of the lens. You probably could have given up some on the overall brightness, increased the shutter speed a bit to freeze things more (dial in some -ve compensation) and concentrated on getting her face well exposed. I also usually do a bit of PS work to help deal with the noise from the high ISO. I have an example of a similar situation here where I blurred some of the darker bits of the skin and the bottom part of the costume to reduce the effect of the high gain.

Dancer

Lens, film, shutter, etc. Amazing shot. Is that the moon back there?

Terrific contrast. This sort of thing appeals to me also.

I really like the composition on this one. It's too bad there was some movement. You didn't indicate the ISO you used. I like to wind the ISO up as high as reasonable to avoid the movement. You should be able to easily get away with 400 and possibly 800. Also, I would prefer the focus on the front knuckles. Another preference of mine is a bit more contrast. I've attached a sample.

I like the zoom technique. Did you use rear sync? It might help if the flash had a more soft light, perhaps higher off the camera. Hold a large reflector over your head angled down at your subject, point the flash straight up. You'll need help if you also want to zoom, however. You can get bounce hoods that mount right on your flash so you can go solo. A large light relative to your subject will always give your a nicer light.

LOL!
All dog owners must think alike. I took this same photo a week before you did.
Dog's Eye View

Nice. It would be good if you could use a faster shutter. 1/200 is too slow for this sort of shot.

The crop.

Did you have a tripod. The sharpness is not great. It is a nice shot, but having the highlights blown out like this is a real problem. You would probably be better underexposing to prevent the highlight problem then making corrections as necessary. Better yet, do this at a time when there is not this volume of sun. For the composition, I would lose the photographer on the left and have the waterfall coming down the image from left to right. This might also help with the highlight problem. I made a few mods to change the contrast and sharpness and cropped one. It also might be helpful for you to post your technical details (camera, lens, etc.).

 

Russ

The reflection is really outstanding. Is it my imagination or is it tilted slightly to the left?

Perhaps only males will best appreciate the symbolism.

Lose the bit of hair in front of the mouth and this would knock it over the top for me. Are those eye real?

I agree. Too small.

How did you release all the lemons in sequence?

I think the symmetry here is great. This is certainly the bust of your bunch.

It took me a few minutes, but I finally see it. Probaby not intentional, but fun. If I manage to focus on it for a while it seems to fade in and out.

The "regular" approach looks like something more likely destined for a study of the animal. Nice shot, but it suffers from a lack of depth of field. This one however is an exceptional shot. It has a feeling more appropriate to a gallery rather than a book. I too lament the lack of detail in the animals, but the tone is nice. It gives it a feeling of being taken with actual BW film.

More DOF would have been good, but it looks like you were using available light. Failing that you might have considered focusing on the face. The low angle seems to help to get the point across.

This is the best of the bunch. I find it helps in this situation to use fill flash. It is a relatively easy way to eliminate the shadows around the eyes.

You have a number of very good shots in your portfolio, but this Vegas set is a bit uninspired. I'm sure there are a million pictures of this casino and that casino. I find that there are a number of interesting night shots there if you move in really close and avoid the obvious.

This would be much improved if you could increase the DOF.