christian deichert

I really enjoy this one.  Great detail on the bee and on the one flower.  The angle makes me feel unbalanced, but I think it's a great effect -- it really puts the bee in charge, makes me feel like an ant.  Gives me some ideas to try myself.  Nicely done.

I got an interesting effect on this one with the limited depth of

field; I think the background almost looks like a painting. Believe

it or not, this is pretty much straight off the memory card. Thanks

for your comments and critiques.

Before I bought my Rebel XT and converted it to full-time IR, I did

digital IR the old-fashioned way, with a Hoya R72 filter and a long

exposure. I set a custom white balance for this shot to keep the

scene from turning out entirely in red tones, then swapped the

channels to keep the sky blue.

I saw these luzzu boats in the Mgarr harbor during my trip to Malta

last fall. Luzzu are a legacy from the days of the Phoenecians;

these boats are cousins to the gondolas of Venice. Their eyes are

their best features. Thanks for your comments and ratings.

One of the old Soviet memorial statues in Budapest. Once featured

prominently in town, after the fall of Communism, this and other

statues were all moved out to the hinterlands. And to show that

communism is truly dead, you now have to pay to get in and see

them...

 

The color scheme is from the digital IR; I used a Hoya R72 and

custom color balance and then channel swapped to keep the sky blue.

The shadow details on this are darker than I'd like, but as the

light was absolutely horrid that day, I'm surprised it even turned

out this well.

 

Your thoughts?

As my Christmas leave request to travel back to my parents' house

for the first time in three years, I started reflecting on the past

two Christmases, one in Germany getting ready to deploy, and

one "downrange." This is from the latter, in 2005, in Afghanistan.

Hopefully Mom and Dad won't have land mines wrapped in ribbon for me

this year...

Not sure I understand the critique request. What is an "MNC'ian" and why can one see rain but not feel it?

I'm not sure I'd call this a portrait, since you cant see your friend's face.

Great exposure and composition. My one quibble: if the rocks are to be that prominent, I would normally expect them to be sharper as well; the nearer portions appear to be outside the field of focus. As for the orange highlights, I'll hazard a guess: reflections from sodium streetlights on your side of the river?

I agree, I think the contrast could be improved, but there's a lot to start with here. Composition could be better; the walls and sky don't really interact, just form two separate halves of a picture.

This is from Separ, a little hamlet on the side of the highway in

southern New Mexico. Thanks for your comments and ratings.

Great lighting on this, and I really like the play of the shadows on the water.

I loved this photo at first look. I still enjoy it, but what really distracted me when I went larger was the row of bright background highlights right in front of his face. If you have a companion shot that was taken from a vantage point a bit to your right, I'd go with that one. Otherwise, I recommend cloning them out, because now that I've seen them, I can't stop looking at them, and I doubt I'm the only one that will have this reaction.

Very colorful and well composed.

 

The fact that this one clown is facing the viewer and not looking the way of the others is a little jarring. It would appear that this clown has noticed the viewer and is about to sound the alarm to the others. (Yes, clowns creep me out a bit, and I suppose it's showing now.)

 

Excellent work.

Interesting idea, but the execution is wanting. The scan on the left has very distracting vertical bands running through it. Also, the 1/2 stop or so difference in the exposure of the sky from frame to frame doesn't work for me.

 

I think the left edge of the frame is too washed out for my taste, but I have more of a realist than an abstract style, so I think it;s just a difference in our approaches.

Exposure looks great here. I can imagine this is but one of a series of different exposures -- it's always tricky to get it just right.

 

Composition leaves a little to be desired; the reflection line of the water exactly cuts the top and bottom sections of the image in half.

 

I think I agree about cropping out the branches on the right. If the foliage was a bit more substantial, it would help anchor the image and give it depth, but here it's just distracting. Cropping this edge also gives the cathedral more prominence.

I found this on a pad near the tower of a Kuwaiti Air Force base --

a wrecked Mirage, I think. This wreckage has not been treated well

by the Kuwaiti sun -- the southern side of the plane is entirly

baked, while the northern (shaded) side is almost as good as new.

 

Thanks for your comments and ratings.

The dramatic sky and the back-to-front sharpness really make this shot. This is one that really needs to be viewed larger to fully appreciate. Composition works well for me. Congraulations on POW.

Abdullah -- thanks for your comment. As I noted, this was taken on a Kuwaiti installaion in an area controlled by American personnel, so it doesn't reflect fairly on the rest of the country. I suppose it could be taken as a statement of our stewardship of your bases...I don't know. It was just a water bottle in front of some protective barriers at the time.

Backwards negative.

 

Happy 4th, from Kuwait.

Backwards negative.

 

Happy 4th, from Kuwait.

Backwards negative.

 

Happy 4th, from Kuwait.

I like the bare hint of color in this. Very curious effect with her lack of expression while jumping up -- it definitely lends credence to your zero gravity title.

 

Her hair and clothes really remind me of the girl in the movie "The Professional." Interesting.

Even on my honeymoon, I can't put the camera away! This beat-up

building is about a block from River Street in Savannah, Georgia,

where Kelly and I vacationed last spring. Of the several different

exposure and composition variations, I think this one works the best.

 

Thanks for your comments and ratings.

As if desert life wasn't inhospitable enough, this plant is clinging

to life in the cracks of these concrete bunkers. Shot somewhere in

Kuwait.

 

Thanks for your comments and ratings.