david_eppstein

Well, technically it's an in-camera composition rather than a crop, but thanks.

Obviously the skin tone is a little oversaturated and pink. I kind of think that helps

augment the magical feel of this boy's halloween costume, but I'd like to hear other

opinions.

I really hope you are doing this as paid ad work for LR. As such, pretty nice. But if it's personal work, it's kind of pretty but way too derivative of all those other car ads.

This is just what it looks like -- an event shot from a birthday

party. The underexposure was something of a happy accident... One

thing I wasn't sure of, and would welcome comments on: should I crop,

or is the dark space around the frame ok? Other comments welcome too,

of course.

Nice expression and composition, but too dark, and the color balance doesn't look right.

I read the elves' question and answered it before reading the technical details (or Stanley's earlier post) and my answer was: Rodin's "Gates of Hell". Well done.

Yet another boring zoo shot, or something more? Is the blurred-out

foreground material at the bottom a problem, or does it help with the

framing?

Re no detail in the dark area -- on my monitor I can see the seams between the metal plates, but not much else. I could bring up the overall brightness and contrast of that area at raw conversion time, but there's not much else there but some rivets around the seams, so if the lack of detail is a problem even with seams visible then cropping is the only solution.

I don't know, Carl, your cut looks ok too, but I'm not convinced it's a significant improvement, just different. Both versions are split vertically 50-50, but in mine the split emphasizes a light-dark duality while in yours it seems to emphasize the similarity of shapes on the two sides. It's a little difficult to explain in words, so I've attached a quick sketch showing how I see the two compositions.

Gehry's buildings may not be very practical (we have a

not-very-much-loved one where I work) but they are sure fun to look

at. I cropped away some of the dark area on the right side, and a very

bright highlight on the far bottom left corner. Does it flow ok now or

is the bright bar in the center too much of a visual barrier? All

comments welcome.

I've tried unsuccessfully to catch insects on flowers so I know how hard it can be. Very nice color, lighting, and especially the pose and composition. The wingtip extends slightly off-frame but I don't see that as a big flaw.

I only had time for a quick grab shot before she became aware of the

camera and started posing. Her parents really like this one, but I'd

appreciate a less biased opinion.

Hey Mark, don't apologize. The comments are much more important to me than the ratings. Thanks to all of you for leaving them.

I know this is clichéed and therefore not so useful advice, but: the bug is too small, and too centered. And overexposed. The composition of leaves is nice but doesn't seem to have anything to do with the bug at the center. And I don't care for the added frame.

Cute. Maybe a little too cute, it draws attention to itself "what a clever composition I am" rather than to the actual subject of the photo. But maybe I'm overanalyzing, it looks like the sort of thing the baby's parents should love.

Framing so closely around the dog, but also taking care not to leave out any part of him, has left me with the impression that you packed him into a box. I do like the use of high contrast in your photo for such a high-contrast fur pattern, though.

Somehow I have the impression I should be able to put an interesting story together from a cemetary, a road closed sign, and a flaming red tree, but they're just not coming together into one piece for me.

I changed the image from the originally uploaded version to a slightly brighter one with the off-color corner cloned out, as suggested in earlier comments.

This looks like Jennifer Stewart, dressed up the same way in a brief scene in the movie Joe Versus the Volcano.

Interesting how, even in an abstract and featureless photo like this, the rule of thirds (location of bright highlight) can be appropriate. Anyway, although it's not a color I particularly care for, I like the textures and forms here. The more I look at it the more different interpretations my imagination can come up with for what it might be a view of.

I don't think shallow DoF works well for this. Also, maybe try tweaking the color balance of the scan -- the background has gone an ugly muddy color.

Too mundane a subject for me. "Oh, it's one of those annoying little streams on the beach that you have to jump or get your feet wet wading across." It looks like there's some attempt here to call attention to the nice water surface textures, but you haven't chosen lighting or angle that will really make me look at this freshly.

The converging lines of the fence lead to...what? Looks like maybe a trash can. Is this really what you want to show us? Color looks too yellow, makes the sky look smoggy.

Maybe a slightly higher camera position? The frosted glass is too dominant, and blocks the street scene.

Stunning. I don't even mind the blown out highlight on top, it goes ok enough with the highly contrasty effect of the rest of the photo.