dominiquedodge

Kudos for geological textures :-)

 

Interesting rocks without a doubt, but just looking at the photo I wouldn't have guessed fossilized wood.

 

I like the black line passing between the blocks, but would crop a bit off the right side to avoid the yellow (sulfurous ?) blob and the dark top corner.

 

I would also have been tempted to enhance the dark lines, either more contrast or selective burn.

 

The photo makes me think of a very dry hot day, perhaps under the shade of a rock overhang, with tons of reflected light coming from behind the photographer.

"yellow" "stone" ?

I like the subject (a lot) and find that the lighting is excellent since it brings out the shapes very well. Colour and sharpness, are spot on (on the spot?). All in all a well presented image, and one that I could enjoy looking at for a long time.

 

I forgot to say that what works well is the fact that the leaf has the same shape as we see repeated in the sand.

 

Looking now at the composition there's the leaf top right that catches the eye first of all, and then a group of darker ovals 3/4 down and to the left. I think the overall composition would be stronger if these two elements were in opposite corners of the frame. As it is I'm not so fond of the almost-square format, or the dark bottom left corner.

These sort of shots are always moving. Life barely clinging on...

 

The photo seems a bit too bright, but maybe you were trying to make a statement with that?

PS I hadnt seen the location when I wrote that!

Nicely found subject, full of intrigue all around yet sufficiently focussed on the main element (which for me is the stair inside the doorway), so holds the viewers attention.

 

I might consider a tiny crop of the right edge to get rid of the dark zone in top right corner (angle of railing). More contrast would work well too.

 

Reminds me of stairwells in Salerno (Italy).

Simple subject but your very nicely done conversion to B&W makes it stand out. I love the complexity of the clouds in the space between the trees (and not elsewhere).

For me it would work both in B&W and/or in colour if the composition was stronger. Ideally I'd like the feathers closer together, perhaps touching each other, and shown tighter in the frame (macro), without the stick thing on the right. The feathers against this background certainly hold some potential, especially with the play of shadows on them.

No exit or no entry ?

Wonderful subject PT! I love this centered as it is, and in colour. The colours of the bricks have bags of "pop" and the white and blue details, as well as mold, add interest. Well spotted.

 

A tiny crop at the bottom to eliminate the zone of ground that appears darker (reddish) along the bottom edge, would keep our eyes on the main subject, but that's the only cropping I find it needs.

 

As others have said, the white bricks top left seem overexposed, probably because the exposure meter is sensing a lot of dark bricks. it's better to expose for the brightest part of the scene and fix the rest later in Photoshop (a very easy "mistake" to make). Burning the shadows in that zone would help but some textures have been lost.

 

PS Its weird how the newer bricks seem to have been painted white before being sealed into the wall - there's certainly a complex story here.

I think, like Seven, that it's a valid submission because of the visual textures shown. Thanks for opening my eyes!

 

The lacey details are visually interesting but I find it hard to find a strong subject in the composition. Darkening the central zone would enhance the arch - a good thing IMO.

 

Playing around in Photoshop (hope PT doesnt mind) here's an alternative (distort, curves, crop, invert). Pity about the light cable though ...

It works for me! The placement of all the subjects in the frame is spot on (shadows rocks building cloud). A brief moment in time ...

 

Did you try a B&W from this? Think it might be realy nice too.

Great composition - well spotted and nicely executed.

I love it when you show something like this (so easy to miss), but I prefer my table napkins to be white!

 

PS Could do with wine glasses too ...

Your idea to use the rough canvas as a textured background for the shadow's of the bottles, is a very good one (two month's assignments in one shot!). The photo holds lots of intrigue because of the subject and lighting.

 

I'd prefer a tiny bit darker in the centre. I'm not sure that this is the best possible composition (I would have grouped the bottles more but I guess you are trying to emphasise thier separation (isolation?)).

Certainly very nicely "on the spot". I like the contemplative nature of the scene, the contrast between the large boulder and small human figure and the way the lighting enhances that contrast.

 

I'd prefer a landscape format showing more of the right hand side (so we get a feeling of what the person is looking at) or (if not possible) a closer crop on the left.

 

Nice scene, nice feeling of being on the spot (the place to be!).

I find that the photographer's reflection adds something because it looks like a different person in each glass with the distortion. Strong theme fit and nice tones. The dark stems are very pleasing.

 

For me the second verre-sion is better, especially for the space at the bottom. But a more random arrangements of glasses might work well too. Or some wine (not water!) to break the symmetry.

I'm struggling to find the theme fit here unless its about the embroidery that remains to be done still where the pencil lines outline flowers. Could that be your idea PT? A good one if so, but then I think we need more clues (needle, thread etc) ... please help!

I'll comment spontaneously without reading the comments above: The strength of the photo comes from the numerous curves which lead the eye from the door handle(s), hand, elbow,shoulder, cheeck and then to the swish of the hair. I like that effect (without it the photo would be much less original) and I think that anything that can be done to enhance that would be beneficial. So I suggest crop right to remove door edge, clone the stray finger extreme left, convert to B&W and enhance contrast.

 

just ideas of course.

I like the abstract nature of this one, while at the same time getting a very glassy feeling from it.

 

I feel that there's a slight pull of the eyes both left and right and so I wonder if there are not two possible crops in this. One would be the horizontal portion up and including about half of the glassy tunnel (ie crop away right 1/3 of the image). The other would focus on the speckled bit right part of the image which seems to me to be the most interesting (ie portrait format, having cropped away 3/5 off the left side).

 

As it is, is nice but there's a bit too much going on IMO. Very glassy and interesting (summery too!).

It doesnt fit my expectation for negative space but I always like it when a photo causes us to rethink our own personal definitions, so well done for that.

 

As a lover of rope textures I'm craving to see the details in the rope and at a pinch I think even if the rope was pin sharp it could still be said to fit the theme (since we have so many gaps in the structure, like spaces that are not concrete just defined by the geometry of the surrounding).

 

I'd prefer the centre line to be centered more precisely.

 

Thanks for showing an alternative way of approaching the subject.

I think the idea has a lot of potential and overall it works well in providing us with a visual puzzle. While I like the panoramic format used here, the top left and bottom right bright blueish zones would be better cropped out, perhaps using a bit of tilt too. Another option IMO would be to crop off the top curve, bottom strip as well as left and right, leaving you with a panoramic format without any bright zones (keep as much of the lovely green top bit as possible though).

 

PS Did you put your camera in a fish bowl? Interesting and intriguing effect.

One gets a very painterly feel from this image (= nice aesthetics). At first sight the bfly looked like a poppy, so I thought it was a vase. Having a glass bfly in amongst all the other glass glasses gives it a very strong theme fit.

 

Can't think of any improvements !

I really like your simple approach to things - as illustrated here. And I could say the same for so many of your photos.

 

I will visit your portfolio regularly.

 

PS Thanks for your comments on some of my photos (but you can choose the ones you like less and be more critical too!!).

She has incredible eyes and you've caught her with them wide wide open. This plus the sepia toning IMO makes her look a bit doll like (since the skin is not it's natural colour), so it's a bit wierd. The red flower is a distraction. But please show the B&W so we can compare.

Very nicely done especially the lighting - all in all it looks very natural and spontaneous. I like the overall darkness of the image and the three parallels formed by the arms and nose, but I'm not sure the ear ring is not a bit of a distraction. Could work well in landscape too with more space on the left.