mark lucas

January 30, 2005

Nice colouration but I find a little too much to see - particularly the right hand side which has some distracting lines.

Also, it's a shame about the objects creeping into the lower corners.

January 29, 2005

Unfortunately, this looks to be suffering from severe compression artefacting - is it a crop from a much larger image?

January 29, 2005

When I saw this, I too immediately thought "lose the feet". The suggested crop works better in my opinion.

January 28, 2005

Nice, but perhaps you could have made more of the opportunity. Do you have any others from the series?

January 28, 2005

Beautiful..

January 28, 2005

Nina, love your portraits. May I humbly suggest darkening the girls left pupil to match the right?

Great depth of field and sharpness.

January 28, 2005

Nice lighting and exposure but I don't like the way the table edge can be seen. Also, the pear needs a little more room on the left.

January 28, 2005

I like the way the "mother" mirrors the child in the foreground - well seen and timed.

January 28, 2005

M.Zafar, my honest appraisal. Firstly, I think you have blurred the background so much that the subject looks "cut and pasted" into the picture. Also the lighting is flat and, contrary to the opinion of others does not create a texture at all. And, yes the yellow patch in front of the man is a distraction.

Your previous portraits offer more than this one and I question those that offer their obligatory 7/7's without truly appraising the image. I think they are perhaps voting for the subject rather than the execution and lighting of the photo.

Also, personally, I don't think that on this occasion you should be linking the photo to the Asian tsunami - you tell us you have no idea what the man is praying for and thus, if one were not to read your introduction, the title, which forms part of the photograph, could be construed as misleading.

January 27, 2005

You uploaded the picture for critique and I gave my honest appraisal - unlike your sycophantic "friends".

OK,to keep you happy - wonderful 7/7, nice even lighting and everything in focus, the way you've added the flowers is seamless, it's impossible to detect.

January 26, 2005

Great composition and choice of black and white - just a shame about the blown out area of floor.

January 26, 2005

Sorry, but I don't find anything here to hold the interest. Perhaps some figures on the street would help here.

Also the added sky is way too obviously done.

January 26, 2005

Sorry, but I feel alone in not liking this one. The composition is fussy, the lighting uneven and the glass of juice is out of place and leaning to one side.

Added to this, the compositing of elements are too obvious and there is an overall lack of sharpness.

January 24, 2005

Interesting composition but perhaps the use a of a graduated neutral density filter would have helped to hold some detail in the sky. Also. it's a shame about the lower left corner.

January 24, 2005

Nice capture M.Zafar - thought this looked nice in black and white too. Otherwise I think this colour version could benefit from a little more contrast.

January 24, 2005

I disagree with the previous comment - the picture is not perfectly exposed as moorhens are black. Also, I think it could benefit from a crop of the left hand side. What do you think?