hexenwolfe

Nice piece of work, but I would really like to see the original photos at least posted on your homepage so I can judge the photo and the final product.

The framing and format, make a fairly ordinary photo of the marina into an extra-ordinary and creative landscape. Very well done.

The technique for creating a lens flare like this is to position a bright light source aimed directly at the camera, but JUST outside the field of view of the lens. The reflection of this bright light source from the internal lens elements is what creates the flare. The exposure of any other subjects is subject to the same rules of ordinary exposure.

I don't know if you follow American Science fiction cinema, but in the Star Trek television series "next Generation" there is a race of evil monsters called the "Borg" that combine human and machine parts. They look something like this.

And just think... The CIA has software that can take all those partial, distorted reflections and create a perfect portrait of the photographer!

I don't think Mother Nature was going for a horse... I think she was making a moose!

 

Interesting angle.

FIRST RULE!!! If anyone says they like it, claim you did it on purpose!!!!

 

SECOND RULE!! Put a nice frame around it and double the price!!!!

 

THIRD RULE!!! Any lens flare, internal reflection, or dust mote in the flashbeam is really a UFO or photograph of a ghostly spirit. If you don't believe me, just try posting the photo on one of the UFO discussion forum sites with an appropriately creative story. In a day or two you will be on the cover of the tabloid news! *LOL* (this is not an accidental portrait, it is an abduction in progress!)

 

I like it too! Accident or not it is a good portrait.

Nicely presented. Should go on a travel calendar.

Great composition. Love the close crop.

This photo looks like a stage or movie set. The fading to darkness at the top of the photo makes it appear that the lights are artificial and focused near ground level. I expect to see one of Shakespeares players walk out the door any moment.

Cesar,

 

This is a perfectly acceptable photo. The exposure and color is very good. I like the appearance of the blue sky framed by cloud. It looks like a river and leads the eye through the image. From the title you have selected, you must have been thinking about an image of a wide open space, with the empahasis on the sky. If you look carefully at the image you will see that more than half the image is basically featureless brown grass. All the action and interest is in the sky. The antenna points to the sky, also but is very tiny and distant. If you crop most of the grass out of the picture, the sky becomes much more dominant in the photo. The antenna also becomes more important. Now the sweep of the "blue river of the sky" draws the eye to the antenna and the photo makes a much stronger statement about the antenna and it's purpose.

 

I have taken the liberty of cropping the photo as I have suggested. Tell me what you think.

Very well done. I suspect that the photo began life as a vertical upright (rotated clockwise 90 from it's current orientation) but it certainly looks good positioned as it is!

Very striking and creative image. IMHO the area of black on the right is excessive. The volumetric area of featureless black to the right of the feather shadows should be approximately equal to the area of lighted freespace between the left margin of the photo and the tips of the feathers at image left.

Reminds me of the thousands of hours in the darkroom trying to get those scratches and dust off the negatives, and re-touching prints. Makes me glad for the cloning brush on PS.

Nice portrait, Just a little too straight on.

Doesn't need any words. The photo speaks for itself! Orginal, well executed, beautiful.

Beautiful image... The colors appear to be in the air between the viewer and the snow. They do not have the appearance of a reflection, but more of an aurora, as if the air were glowing. Were you working with color layers applied over the snow, or just with saturation?

I really like the tonality and the complex blending from one color and hue to another. The reflections of the clouds make this photo. If all the water was just reflecting clear sky the photo would have much less impact. If there is room to improve it would be that the highlights in the water above the certerline are still a little washed out.

Jan, Maybe it is a woman thing, but I was struck by the antomical antecedants also. *smile* Hey, if it works for Georgia O'keeffe with flowers, why not for landscapes??

 

Incidently, Tony, it is a great photo also!

Two problems... Firstly, the blossom is not in precise focus. Secondly, the bright sunlight behind the blossom and between the slats of the fence have fooled the exposure meter. This exposure makes the blossom look shadowed and the white parts of the blossom are not white. They have a color tinge.

 

To control the first problem, use the spot focus meter function. A tripod can be VERY helpful in this situation. Also use an F-stop setting that provides only a narrow depth of focus that encompasses the blossom, but blurs the background.

 

To control the second problem, Use the spot light meter rather than the averaging meter. Do spot metering on the blossom, and set the white balance for the whitest spot on the blossom

As an excercise in depth of focus, it is interesting. I would suggest that placing the colored beads together (or coloring selected beads with PS)might add a physical subject that would cpature the eye. As it is, the eye just wanders around and back and forth looking for something to focus on.

"The young inhabit a universe with themselves at the center..." Sheri S. Tepper "The Fresco"

 

Excellent photo with a great deal of subtle, subliminal emotional impact and subtext. The shading of the right cheek is probably the result of converting a color image to B&W, but the cheek almost appears bruised. That may be intended, but also might be easily removed with PS.

Italian cows must be like cows in West Virginia USA... Born with legs shorter on one side so they can stand up straight on the mountain side! *laughing*

Well done. The color in the sky matches the color in the lake. The overall exposure appears natural. The photo tells a complete story. I like how the lines of the kayaks lead the eye to the water.IMHO the composition is just fine the way it is, but cropping a little closer on the right to eliminate the tips of the two out-of-frame kayaks will not damage the image. You are going to have parts of kayaks leading out-of-frame whatever you do, so do what pleases you. Cropping the image will create more emphasis on the visual distortion of the wide angle lens and emphasize the foreground of the image at the expense of the background.

I have taken the liberty of editing the photo as I suggested. Tell me what you think.