tom t

Nice one! For me the grain works in this shot. I would crop a bit tighter, though, specially to the left.

Regards,

Tom

Nice pattern of twigs against the sun, and good use of those twigs as a frame. The fact that the nackground is nicely visible and pleasantly layered adds the the shot's charm. Personally I would have off-centerd the sun; get more spice in the composition.

What lens is your "new lens" - I'm thinking something fairly wide, give n the DOF?

Regards,

Tom

Sfeervol, en de softness werkt wel. Maar wat enorm stoort is de schaduw van de linkse zus op het gezicht van de rechtse.

Groeten,

Tom

This is great fun - I love the flower!

1 question and 1 gripe. Question: what did you do to the background? Was it like that, is this a PS effect? Anyhow, works for me here.

Gripe: lose bottom 1/4 of the shot - too dark and nothing interesting there. Also your frame does not excite me - certainly not in combination with the too dark bottom.

That said, great shot!

Regards,

Tom

I was thinking mor ealong the lines of wine having 'body' as in substance. Anyhow, theme fit is OK for me (and I can see it would be for others as well, albeit for different reasons and explanations). The shot is like a poem, perhaps? Many possible explanations, only the author knows which was intended, but to the audience it does not matter as long as it produces something, anything interesting of meaningful for that audience.

Personally I had not thought about a cross or about religious links.

All that said, photographically I find his shot puzzling. There is no clear subject or center point, so the eye keeps wandering. I wondered why the glass is upside down; if there is to be a cross-reference (pun intended) I can see why the glass is upside down.

Puzzling image; and as it puzzles it implies something was well done here! Waiting to hear more from PT, but I like it.

Tom

Thx for the explanation, PT. Without that I would not have guessed theme fit; with the background theme fit is OK for me. Interesting subject, BTW; I had never heard of this kind of food.

The shot itself would be OK for a documentary (illustration with an article about the subject); as a shot by itself it is not all that compelling.

If you were to use it for illustration purposes I would like to see more of the/a clam itself (before it gets sliced). Perhaps take the shot from above, rather than from the side; that way you could get some uncut clams in to the left, and DOF would not be an issue?

Just some thoughts of course; feel free to disagree.

Tom

What Asa said. Also, you have too much lost space around your subject - get closer or crop. Cropping out the white building will clean up the clutter and focus the eye more on your subject.

Tom

Certainly a body, and as (partial) nudes go, certainly original. I am very intrigued by the spots - blood? A dead body?

That said, photographically I'm not too happy with it. The aspect ratio is a bit weird, and the fabric covering the top of the breast is confusing the eye. Perhaps a lighter fabric with some texture would be an improvement?

The whole shot is kind of dark; I do like the texture on the skin, even though it looks a bit noisy. If the idea is a dead body then the choice of B/W is a good one, and the texture/noise adds to the gloomy feeling. If that was the idea, then the dark color cloth on the breast also works, but I'd still like to see more texture.

Just some random thoughts of course - feel free to disagree,

Tom

Detail of a little motor scooter. Constructive cemments would be

appreciated.

Thx for your time,

Tom

The waterfalls and the little terraces make for a very nice pattern here. But personally I find the red leaves and unnecessary gimmick in this shot. Just the waterfalls in B/W, without the tree, would be sufficient in my opinion, but feel free to disqgree of course.

Also, you seem to have remains of something else red here and there in the locations highlighted in the version attached. Remains of more red leaves that were cloned out, perhaps? Anyhow, those areas need more work, I think.

Regards,

Tom

Your comment made me laugh, Olli!

As for the shot - the leaves make for something extremely busy - too busy for me. The bit of green leaf bottom/left and the patches of green grass just add to the clutter, so if you want to go for the leaves (or petals for that matter) I would try and have more of them to reduce clutter!

Also, your subject is kind of small here. I would suggest a tighter crop (would also reduce the cluttered feeling) or go for something A LOT closer. I'm attaching an example (B/W c'se I can't access the color version right now, on grass instead of leaves, but you get the idea). With your model and clothes something like this wouls actually be very punchy in terms of colors!

Just some thoughts of course - feel free to disagree,

Tom

Well PT, all you've given away now is that you're a man :)

I'm not sure I made clear that I really appreciate the theme link of this one, even though the shot, as said diplomatically, is not all that artistic! If my appreciation for the idea was not clear then you have my apologies.

Back to the who'se-this-PT puzzle now.

Tom

BTW - PT 'rules' are not to break cover till at least the assignment is over.

Very nice abstract, I love the light at the bottom. No suggestions for improvement!

Regards,

Tom

I really like this one: well seen PT. I also like the upside-down thingy, but I would crop a tad to the left to get rid of the cluttered edge overthere.

My favorite so far in this folder!

Tom

What Steve said. The branch is a no-no for me too. But even apart from the branch there is a bit too much clutter to my taste. To limit clutter and focus more I would crop a bit top and right.

Alternative I would get a LOT closer, play with DOF and fake the bars of the fence.

Great interpretation, execution could be better,

Tom

Good find, good idea for the assignment, but not a great photo. But you knew that, right PT :)

Strange that the text on the pampers is spanish, and the text on the babypowder is dutch and french... hmmm... giveaway to PT's location?

Tom

• The ropes are distracting
• Pity we cannot see his eyes
• You DOF is awkward - a bit more and his hand would be sharp as well. The hand itself adds to the cluttered feeling of the shot.
• Compositionally you have too much space to the left (and that space is cluttered by the ropes) and too little to the right. Off-center the subject, use the pipe as a leading line and show us what he is looking at and your shot will improve tons.
• You have a very weird border around this shot. Is this remainder of a scan? Please clean up as that too adds to the clutter.

Regards,Tom

I find the composition a bit tight here - a tad more space on top (sky) and left would benefit the shot.

You also have something strange around the wires (which are a bit distracting really) - there seems to be a white halo around them - did you overdo the sharpening? Anyhow, the halo effect adds to the distraction.

Just my 2cts of course - feel free to disagree.

Tom

Elena,

If your subject is the red lady (which I think it is) then your composition is off: you have too much other elements in the shot - all the flowers and the busy background distract attention away from your subject. Also, because your subject is 'looking' to the left, it feels a bit awkward that there is hardly any space to the left (as opposed to too much space to the right).

If you want to improve this you need to get rid of as luch distracting elements as possible, use DOF (try and blur the background elements that you do not need) and try and get the lady in the right part of the shot, so that we see where/what she is looking at.

Hope these comments are helpful,

Regards,

Tom

Nice patterns!

But you have too much empty space that does not mean anything. Crop left and right to fix that.

Regards,

Tom

Very nice! Like Knicky I figured this was not a skull. I would suggest a crop to the right to balance the 2 blobs of bubbles - see xample attached.

And I would be very interested in an explanation about the percieved motion blur - which, given the sharpness of the bubbles is not due to a long exposure. Can PT enlighten us as to how this was done?

Thx,

Tom

Certainly a body!

Apart from that I find this one a hard one to critique. Certainly the following comments: too pinky and weird lighting (like what Dominique said - higlight top left but light on face comes from top right).

Though I really like the mood of this shot, I find the vignetting effect too strong, or perhaps too on/off (a bit more gradual might work better) and the orientation adds to the light confusion. I'm also not entirely happy with the trees in the background, especially with the treeparts sticking out on the left. Moving camera a tad to the right would fix the latter.

In summary, good idea, good find, but execution can be improved.

Just my 2cts of course - feel free to disagree,

Tom

I can only say that this is a great one! Theme fit very good, and shot is a winner even outside of the assignment. I agree with others that a tad more contrast would be nice.

Well done PT!

Tom

What Seven said: fix the dark tick bottom right. Apart from that, excellent shot, well done.

Tom

Nice pose, but the shot is very noisy. And why are the subjects only half there? Why all the empty space to the left?

I suggest cropping some of the empty space, and use noise ninja to remove the noise. If you re-shoot, make sure his face has a tad more breathing room to the right - the crop on the right is awfully tight.

Regards,

Tom