crawf

Thanks. With trying to stay home more to minimize health risks, we've tried to improve our backyard for bird watching. The bird bath has become very popular. Regards, Larry

I usually don't care all that much for pet photos (even most of mine); it often says "Don't I have an adorable cat/dog/whatever?" While that may be true, it usually means a lot more to the owner than to strangers (like the difference between family snapshots and portraits). This one, however, works very well as an animal portrait. The pose, the light, and the dark background all pull together for a very pleasing effect. Nice eye to see the potential in what I'm sure was essentially a "grab shot" kind of situation.

Very nice. I love the combination of the sky and the ships.

I shot this in a state park a mile or two in from any parking. I'm

reasonably certain it's an introduced, nonnative plant because I only

saw it in this one location one year, and not before or since. IIRC,

the petals were somewhat waxy in texture. It reminds me of some kind

of tulip, but my inability to identify it over the last several years

is one of many things slowly working their insiduous way under my

skin.

 

While any comments on the photo itself are, of course, welcome, I am

most interested in anyone's thoughts on this interloper's identity.

When comparing this full framing to the 8x10 on my wall where I

cropped some of the negative space at the bottom, I began to wonder

which works better. Any comments?

Lovely exposure on the fawn. The rear leg hitched up at the odd angle is (for me) more distracting than the grass blur. Still, a real keeper.

I like the way it fades from bright to black and the sweep of the petal.

This background works well. A dark background like with a couple of your other tulip shots would also probably look good. This one is lit better than the other shot with these two flowers and the water droplets are attractive. Nice job.

When I began the DOF comments on this shot, I didn't know that you'd done this handheld. Without a tripod along, I'd say you made lemonade from the lemons at hand. It has a lot of good things going for it, and if you're forced to compromise on DOF, I'd say you made the right choices.

 

However, having reiterated how much I like it, I have to say that I think too much DOF would be worse than not enough here. If, as suggested, you shot at f/32, sure the whole berry would be sharp, but so would a lot of distracting background. Not being there at the time, I'd have to make a wild guess, but I'd probably try f/8 or f/11 using DOF preview and see how it looked. Getting the berry sharp and keeping the background blurred would be my goal. If you don't have DOF preview, you might be stuck with bracketing aperture.

 

Shaw's book "Closeups in nature" has some good examples of how you can really alter the mood of a nice clean macro like this by shooting it against different kinds of blurred backgrounds.

 

Again, love that ice on the red berry.

Good butterfly shots are a joy to see. I am in your debt, sir...

Good stuff!

I usually don't care for B&W of flowers, but this composition is lovely.

Wow, what a rack. Nice balance in the composition.

Wonderful. I like this one better than the one with the foreground foliage. The water looks like a dramatic sky against a colorful mountain in some fantasy-inspired painting!

The two gradients running against each other work well. The lower left is all that keeps it from becoming an abstract (which might have been interesting in itself).

This shot would have been better in diffuse light.

Lovely, but I can't help wishing for more DOF to get the bottom of the berry sharp. The detail and color contrast on the top is wonderful.

 

Given the title, one can almost hear him whistling while waiting on a bus...you've caught some funny moments which you've emphasized with your titles. Good stuff.

Lovely color, but I find the diagonal in the lower

left detracts from the composition. The general

sweep is up and out, while this cuts in a completely different direction. A shot that eliminated this would be stronger IMO.

Great example of how things go together. The

birds without the dramatic sky would have been

dull, but they really add to a wonderful sky.

Good catch. I tried something similar years ago

with flocking crows, but didn't get anything

nearly as good.

Simple is best. A nice, clean portrait.

I like the contrast between the alert one and the

one on its back. If you'd had some overcast you

wouldn't have lost an eye each to shadow.

Nice. It works better than the other cormorant

shot you have both because of pose of the bird

and background.

Very nice! The composition works well here.

I always have trouble deciding if a shot like

this is a bug shot with a flower or a flower

shot with a bug... :-)

Lovely detail. I can't decide if the cropping

is just right, with the mouth and eye included,

or if it should be cropped looser or tighter.

Maybe that means it's best the way it is. :-)