peterneibert

Michael,

for printing this morning, I kept the tall corner of Embarcadero Bldg 4 to maintain the strength of the triangle from the left border descending into the foggy center. Then I juiced the contrast on the distant cluster of fog bound buildings on Russian Hill to make the point of the triangle.

This is now coincident with the lower right third. In this position the fog bound buildings may have acquired a bit of power and mystery.

 

That done, I cropped rather more of the right side of the picture than you did (altho I managed to save all of the red brick building).

The remaining problem is the height: my objective is to fit the image to a standard 11 x 14 mat. Clarity of detail is still good at 11 x 14; on a whim, I've printed two "full size" work prints on canvas textured paper. For now, I'm fiddling with various ways to raise the fog to the right of center.

Perhaps that will finish it.

Still searching the waterfront for color

This really does convey a sense of urgency, uncertainty, something about to happen but maybe not well.

On first view I felt the foreground was chopped off prematurely (and perhaps it was, in the taking), but now I see the bottom border acting much like a fence, and I'm on my toes peering over it to get a glimpse of all the hullabaloons.

I just went back to your portfolio for another look at the Sandhill Cranes in March. They're truly spectacular birds and worthy of the task you gave yourself of tracking them to their summer habitat.

Your 400 mm lens is obviously crucial to your nature photography. My only question is how did you convince your spouse to carry it?

Looking forward to your critical advice,

You worry too much.

This is great just like it is.

Tension within many of the fabric panels is crispy clear. Doubtless you intended to show such detail.

Great composition.

Lisa,

whenever you get bold swatches of black, white, red and yellow together like this, you definitely have a picture.

How do you do it again? Just quack like a duck and follow them around -- at each break, snap another picture. Ducks get up early and you will probably find the indirect light of early morning more conducive to picking up the blacks in their full rich saturated color. You should train the ducks to pose their feathered parts in indirect sunlight yet allow just enough sun light into the pose to catch the glint in their eyes.

I like the way you arranged the balloons in a semi-circle (except for that one rogue in the middle).

A joyous and exciting event. My only complaint is that shadows, especially those near the people, appear to have gone all the way to black. My monitor is turned all the way up and the picture is still very dark.

Looking forward to your candid comments,

I'm never sure what to do with portraits or other people pictures.
With this one I don't understand the value of including the lower section of the lectern/podium thing. If you crop it just below the Alabama Jubilee medallion, retaining its informational significance, the Yeager image seems stronger, or at least it's a more prominent element of the picture -- and it's possible to do this within a conventional square frame.
One other thing: Chuck's leathery face could use a little more light (a lift in the lower part of the RGB curve), tho' not as much as his messianic finger.

Perhaps a less severe approach is Dead Tow 2.1B

Here's Dead Tow 2.1

Looking forward to your candid critique,

Great gnarly detail in the trunk. Would like to see it even bigger.

Thanks for posting,

Jim,

i think the color in the flag is an essential accent, given the subdued sky etc.
Like you, I have also wondered about the tower -- can't decide whether it's better left in or out.
peter

If it looks familiar, that's because it is: I've reworked crop and

curves from earlier posting.

As a stand alone picture, this is a tough sell.

However, at large setting, the yellow line on the asphalt chunk stands out so clearly even I can see it.

How many road pictures do you have on this roll? Show them together and you may have a strong portfolio, in which the separate images draw from each other.

Regina,

all the superlatives, well deserved, have been used-up in previous comments. that leaves me only the peripheral to remark upon: this picture with three sides mostly in the light clearly needs a frame.

The internal frame you've devised works better than any of the conventional approaches to web frames.

Well done.

Nabil,

the overall ambience of light and color is very engaging. nonetheless, earlier comments are apt i.e. pointing to the need for slightly more illumination of detail at the visual center.

This is my favorite of all your postings here.

Nabil, this is a much stronger composition than its predecessor. If one were to pick nits, the left side of the bowl might be a little too hot and perhaps even the daisy could be a tad darker.

On the other hand, maybe it's time to adjust my monitor.

Jim, I am also not an expert in film, but next time you get a lunar eclipse, or for general low-lite/nite photography, suggest you try Kodak Portra 800. I was turned onto it a by a pro specializing in late-evening/night-time photography. I tried it on his authority and find it holds images in difficult exposures and does not display the level of graininess commonly associated with 800-speed films.

Here's a corrected view taken half a minute earlier.

For an event like this, the uncorrected parallax seems to work better than a squared-up image (one of which is attached for comparison further below).
Looking forward to your comments and critique,

Here's the full frame image.