dominiquedodge

A very worthy interpretation IMO. B&W was a good choice here and I find the whole scene has sufficient interest to make a potentially very good shot: rays of light in the sky, rectangular gap in the rock horizon, patches of dark and light on the rocks and also the vertical crack bottom right.

 

I'd like to suggest making the rocks more prominent (sharper, more contrasty) but some might argue that in doing so the sky will loose its dominance. Ideally if the two could be linked somehow in the composition (for example, using the crack and the gap to lead up to the sky) ... now that would be great.

Add me to the list of fans of this photo! I'd say keep the colour, keep the landscape format and the dark zones both right and left, but crop the top band (maybe). On first viewing, I thought the shadows were legs (at least some of them) so that makes me wonder if/how a human element could be included.

 

BTW can you give us the brand of floor wax - my timber floors don't look remotely like this ...

When you step back and look at this nice scene you see a burst of light coming at you from the brightly lit rim of the grasses top and bottom. That's good - fitting for the theme (the plant is also light and fluffy). But all in all the twiggy-ness of the central zone is a bit distracting (as PT pointed out).

 

Just for the sake of the exercise I've converted to B&W (Channels R80%, G18%,B-12%) then some curving, dodging and burning, sharpen (but only the top half) and added a touch of yellow in highlights, blue in shadows ("Seven's method"). What do you think?

I really like the mood you have created here - very suggestive of the light entering, so much so that it seems that the light is pushing the curtains back into the room!

 

I wonder what it would look like with the blur at a steeper angle, but maybe you tried and settled for this late-in-the-afternoon look. The only reason I mention this is that the strongest blur of light on the right side falls where the curtain is tied back (in the centre of the drape) and so almost looks like part of the tie-back.

 

As Seven said, good to have the foliage visible outside. The fact that we dont see where the light comes from adds to the mysterious feeling (somewhat ghostly).

Good idea, nice composition but I'd be tempted to crop the top off the door frame.

In a high contrast situation like this you have to watch the exposure otherwise you subject (in the shade) is virtually invisible (underexposed). Here it would have been better to exclude the bright awning if you wanted the person to be visible.

Ideally I see it as a wall of water with just one lip of wave pointing down - so the viewer first sees what appears to be an aquarium wall and only later grasps the reality of it being the face of a wave. For me the horizontal water above and below are not needed.

Seven, on reading this discussion and your mention of "champagne" I remember the look of a PT photo from over a year ago, which I admired for the way there was a hint of yellow in a basically B&W shot. You might remember it, it was a photo of a man's legs and feet at the end of a bed and with ladies highheeled shoes. I tried to find it but couldn't remember the folder title ... I think a technique similar to the one you describe here must have been used, but I've never managed to reproduce it like that.

For my tired eyes the sharpest zone of the photo is on the letters WA.

crop

Looking through the wave and seeing the light on the otherside, in a sort of underwater world peopled by fronds of sea weed waving their arms ... a very nice effect. I only wish PT had been able to get closer and fill more of the frame with this window into another world. Getting down lower would be better too, if at all possible.

 

While hoping PT may get a chance to return to this location (in May!) here's my cropping suggestion (perhaps a bit drastic?). Great colours in that water (where I live the sea water is muddy brown - zero visibility) so I find this cool.

I think maybe the problem comes from the bright patch on the left edge which steals the attention from the rest of the shot, especially as the sharpest point is elsewhere.

Just interested: do the flowers actually turn during the day?

I love little-details-hidden-in-nature kind of photos, including this one so nicely done/seen. Interesting crowd and great colours/sharpness. I'd be tempted to lighten all the fern heads but until you see it done it's hard to judge and anyway this is your interpretation.

 

PS Welcome to PT

I like this interpretation. There's the fact that all the flowers are facing the right and the way they are lit that make it very fitting for the assignment. I hope PT will give us some clues as to how this was lit (dappled sun or torch light?).

I like the soft mood but agree with Peter that some pop can be added and some details removed. But I would keep the colours muted (Peter's version seems a bit over saturated, less natural than the original).

 

On seeing the three flowers in the center, all on the same vertical, I wonder how it might look in portrait format (it doesnt work with a crop from this photo but recomposed in situ might work).

 

 

This one gets my vote (and I'll say why: it's the most photographic looking).

The bright sunlit area is distracting - would have been better to have just the timber background. However, with kids best to capture what you can when you can!

I'm not sure we should comment but I really like this one! However, the lettering of NOTICE would be more visible if all the lettering could be lowered a fraction?

I like the fact that it's both a "skylight" and "sky light" (light from the sky). The lamp shade is more prominent in Peter's crop - and there we find another light. All quite clever PT.

 

My main problem with the photo is the thick bar across it - but I realise that the device may have been unavoidable - pity though ...

I share PT and Peter's sympathy with this subject, and your theme fit. The message is subtly show in a tasteful way (I'm "used" to seeing whole forests wiped out and only mud and harsh sun invading what once was the Earth's lungs, so to me this looks fairly undamaged!).

 

The low down viewpoint and sigmoidal curve leading the eye up to the cut off top is good. The vertical version offered by Mark gives the trunk a more unbalanced feeling and i think that's better (it looks less stable, overhanging to the right so more damaged), but it's a pity some of the width was lost in the rotation. The cooler colours (especially the greyer trunk) work better IMO. How about cooler colours for the trunk but slightly warmer in the remaining forest?

As others have said, well handled exposure and composition. I also like the greens together with the streaks formed by the trickling water on the windows. The first rays of the sun melting the frost or an effect of heavy dew on a cold vehicle. Not something I've seen for many years.

 

Most of the interest is in the right 2/3 of the image, and in that area I see an arrow pointing to the corner. All of this makes me want to crop out the roof bar (top left) by no alternative composition/crop seemed to work better than what you have done PT.

 

I expect that the central window would also provide great opportunities for abstract macro shots.

Nice one PT. Sorry I have nothing to say technically, since everything seems right. Perhaps just one nitpick: the small dot of light on the wall to the left of the model, but that's really just a tiny detail. Good compsition which really draws the viewer down the tunnel.

 

The model seems to be waiting for us to follow (I don't see him/her as hesitating, but waiting). The trace of blue is very good.

 

I'm curious to read the writing above the passage way ... but it's nice that we can't. In this way each of us can interpret in our own way.

Lovely colours in the sky near the horizon and the suns rays are well captured too. The two spots of lens flare bring our eyes to the beach where the orange is nicely reflected on wet sand. The sun is our most obvious source of all "light" yet this is not a scene that I would have thought of for this assignment. Good thinking. the yellow disk around the sun is also good here.

 

I find it hard to comment on the foreground because I see vague things there and I wonder if I should be seeing more (monitor differences?) ...

 

Seven: what do you mean by "pulled" (do you mean made lighter?).

As Stephane said we have the impression of dancing in a shower of light - excellent. The lighting and pose are very evocative and I admire PT's skills here.

 

The choice of colour adds to the mood and gives the model a bronze statuesque kind of look. All good. Nice flow from top left to bottom right (barely visible but there).

 

I'm not bothered by the things on the right. The hot spot on the hip could be less intense but not really bothersome either. My main nitpick (if there is to be one) is the sort of double edge on the profile of the face. Better a sharp profile if possible, or a neater blurred one. But all that is nitpicking.

 

Great shot. Nice to see this genre in our folder.

here's tweaking attempt