02Pete

I like what you have done with the mirror image on the water. It would be interesting to see what this image would look like if you moved the camera slightly up or down, so that the waterline which divides the upper and lower portions of the image was somewhat lower or higher rather than directly in the center of the picture.

You might experiment with using less direct lighting, and also photographing from an angle to one side or the other rather than head-on. Note that the catchlights in the subject's eyes are located in the middle of the pupils, the light on the subject's forehead is bright enough to block up the highlights, and there are few shadows to provide a sense of depth or direct the viewer's attention to any particular portion of the picture.

The idea for this came from an old Hokusai print. Comments?

This is a Bowlus Baby Albatross sailplane on final to land at Harris

Hill near Elmira, NY. Comments?

Using old equipment is not always a disadvantage. This was taken with

a Canon 85mm f/1.9 LTM on a Leica M2 rangefinder film camera, both

from the 1950s. Older lenses, lacking modern coatings, are not always

well protected against flare and ghosting. In this case, however,

that may have added to the image rather than detracting from it. Your

thoughts?

The subject's hands, as well as her direct gaze, are what make this photo interesting. It's cropped rather closely -- moving back a few inches might have allowed a bit more space in the composition to the right of the lower hand, and also inclusion of the top of the subject's head. Those are minor comments, though -- this is a good portrait.

An interesting moment, with dramatic lighting. Situations such as this do not last long, so one has little time to make decisions and shoot before the wind moves opening in the clouds and the opportunity is gone. With leisure to consider the image and think, one might consider how pointing the camera slightly to the left and allowing slightly less exposure might have changed things -- shifting the hole in the clouds more to the upper right rather than center of the image, omitting the ship from the lower right corner of the image, and presenting the skyline of buildings as a dark silhouette rather than presenting the buildings with some residual color and detail. That is being overly critical, though. I like this photograph the way it is.

Nice photo. The lenticular (lens-shaped) cloud formation downwind (farther away from the camera), with the rotor cloud upwind (closer to the camera and lower), strongly suggests mountain wave activity. These types of clouds form when moderately strong and steady wind carrying a stable airmass (one without much heat-based convective activity) crosses a mountain ridge or mountain chain. As the air is forced upward to cross over the top of the mountains, it cools, and at the altitude where the temperature drops sufficiently to reach the dew point, the water vapor component of the air condenses to form water droplets which, collectively, make up a cloud. As the air descends again on the downwind (back) side of the mountains, it warms up enough to evaporate the water droplets, and the cloud dissipates. This type of cloud constantly forms on the upwind side and constantly dissipates on the downwind side, thus seeming to hover motionless in the same location even though the wind is blowing strongly. The rotor cloud marks a boundary area of turbulence, where lower cloud rolls and tumbles. Sailplane pilots can use the powerful rising air currents on the upwind side of a mountain wave to climb to considerable altitudes, but this kind of flying is only for well-trained and experienced pilots, because the turbulent rotor and the powerful downdrafts on the downwind side of the wave are very hazardous.

Good as this photo is (and it's excellent), there are notable greenish tints in the shadow areas. I don't know whether this comes from the lighting source you are using, the color balance of the film, or some other factor. If you could use a different lighting source, a film with different color balance or a color correction filter, it would strengthen the photo. Keep photographing this model. It's not simply beauty, but intelligence and character that make this worth viewing.

This would seem to be a photo taken in Australia...

I like the photo -- nobody's going to mistake this for an economy car. As a variation on the same theme, you might also try positioning the camera lower to the ground and slightly closer to the car, so that the composition and perspective would increase the emphasis on the size of the wheel and front fender; and so that the body of the car would occupy more of the frame, and less image area would be devoted to background. I like the quality of this lighting, but you might also try experimenting with different times of day to see how that affected the appearance of the surfaces of the bodywork and glass.

This picture shows the subject's specialty clearly. The overlap between the rear end of the gun and the helmet makes it a bit hard for an uninformed viewer to tell whether the dark bands on the helmet are equipment or shadows, though. With only sky for background, it's hard to tell where the photo was taken, although the sunglasses, what looks like a reflection of the sun in the glasses, and the bright lighting even in the shadows all suggest a desert environment. Then again, you may not have much opportunity to compose this kind of photo. If this was taken in Afghanistan or Iraq and you're still there, I hope that both you and the gunner get home OK.

Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking...

Jurassic Park-ing.

Interesting photo of a lenticular cloud formation formed by mountain wave activity.

 

Note not only the smooth, lens-shaped lenticular cloud, but also the rotor cloud (colored light to medium gray in this photo) formed at lower altitude upwind (closer to the mountains) in turbulent air. This type of cloud formation develops when strong, steady winds from a stable airmass blow directly across and are redirected upward by a mountain range, come back downward once on the other side of the mountain range, and repeat this cycle multiple times downwind of the mountain range, like a series of waves approaching a beach, or ripples in a brook downstream from a submerged rock. Air loses temperature as it gains altitude, and conversely gains temperature as it loses altitude. The lenticular cloud marks the range of altitude in which the smooth flow of air first cools to dewpoint as it ascends and water vapor in the air condenses to form a cloud on the upwind side, and then warms to evaporation point as it descends and dissipates on the downwind side. While the wind is continually blowing through, the cloud appears to remain stationary since it is constantly forming on one side and dissipating on the other. Generally, these clouds only develop in a stable airmass such as a cold-weather high pressure system, because the convective activity associated with an unstable airmass would disrupt their formation. Experienced pilots in oxygen-equipped sailplanes can ride the lift in the rising parts of mountain wave systems to considerable altitudes, but this sort of flying is not for the inexperienced as powerful rotor turbulence, powerful sinking air currents in the descending parts of the wave, the risk of increasing moisture in the airmass suddenly forming a solid cloud cover below a sailplane, and extreme cold at high altitudes, all require knowledge and skill to navigate safely.

 

If you prefer the non-technical version, this photo mirrors the beauty and grandeur of nature.

Interesting portrait. The close framing, and horizontal rather than vertical format, work well, as does the lighting.

Interesting photo. Glad you got back in good enough shape to be posting this photo now. Makes me think of those who are now getting supplied like this in Iraq. Hope they get back in shape to post some photos too some day.

I like what you did with the depth of field and shutter speed -- the selective focus on the face, and the hands and the headstock of the guitar showing the motion of playing. Good photo!

While the subject appears to be an interesting, intelligent and appealing woman, the composition is not cliched, and you are experimenting with the middle range of tonality, the placement of the lighting in relation to the subject causes difficulty. There is something slightly disturbing about the appearance of the catchlights in the eyes. In addition to there being two light reflections rather than one in each eye, the placement of those reflections at the edges of the pupils creates an impression of something being off. The highlights along the line of the nose also seem to exaggerate it. By all means continue photographing this woman and experimenting with composition and tonality in the process, because you're on to something with all three; but try fewer lights farther away next time, or at least move one of the lights far enough off axis that it is not reflected in the subject's eyes. The quality of light, where it's coming from, where it's going, and how it interacts with the subject -- that's always worth careful consideration in crafting a portrait. I don't mean to be negative, because there's enough going on in this picture that it's much more interesting than some other smoothly done yet conventional portraits on this site.