kezia

This looks really nicely exposed to me, with an attractive and simple background and nice angle to the branch. I find it very pleasing.

This child was feeling a bit insecure as her new baby brother was

getting all the attention. She moved around a lot and there was very

little light in the room so I didn't expect to get a decent photo of

her, but then she turned towards the window and the light looked

perfect so I took this very quickly. I'd appreciate comments on the

appropriateness of lighting, grain etc. and the success or otherwise

of the desaturation.

While I agree the colour version is lovely, I find that the colours interfere with my appreciation of the originality of this picture because while good, they are similar to the colourings of so many other landscapes of this type. However, the dramatic b&w truly does justice the beautiful composition, lighting and PS work in the photograph. I don't care that it is busy, and while I agree with other comments that the eye is encouraged to move around rather than be focussed on one element I don't consider that a criticism; it reflects what the eye does naturally when viewing a real landscape. That it can include so much yet still work as a whole compositionally is for me its greatest charm. I've been trying out some of these PS filtering techniques since my local lab showed me how to do this, and for me it's one of the more interesting techniques in the transformation of colour to b&w, though I've not been able to produce anything to match the quality of this photo.

I like this very much, with one exception, which may just be personal prejudice: I think when a baby clamps down on a teething ring it's face is distorted and loses a lot of the spontaneous expression that you might have caught without it. I suppose in the context of a whole album of photos or a series that wouldn't matter, and would add variety to that endless series of photos of baby, but viewed as a single portrait of the baby I would have preferred it without the teething ring.

I'm new to this forum too, and still working out the system. Your photo looks interesting, with a nice range of tones, but I would suggest scanning in a larger image because I find I really can't see enough detail to critique this.

I find the exposure, colour and mood very nice. I'm not sure about the sharpness of the image, but I'm not viewing it on a very good screen so can't be sure I'm right on that. The ripples in the foreground spreading out to the calmer water beyond are lovely, but the composition, with the grasses cut off by the edge of the picture in all directions, give it an enclosed feel to me. If it were me I would experiment with the composition, first trying to include the water beyond the further grasses to give the calming feeling of it going on for ever, second coming in closer for an abstract composition of vertical grasses. I also find the one lighter piece of grass at LRC foreground distracting.

Nice. I like the mood of this. Have you thought of cropping the background out of the right and left edges so that the pillars frame the picture? I think the eye would then be drawn in towards the figure in the centre, rather than moving outwards to the edges of the image. I also think the vertical format that would give it would suit the image better.

I agree with the previous comment. This photo didn't need the fuzzy head(?) in the foreground. It was a good and imaginative shot without it. However, if your intention was to leave a slightly disoriented feel in the mind of the viewer then it works, as I find my eyes moving between the foreground object and the background in a disconcerting way. So an additional comment about your intention here might be helpful for viewers.

I like both versions of this photo and can't quite decide which I prefer. I find the broodiness of the b&w version more intereting -- the colour version has less atmosphere. However, the sweeping upward arc of the mountain edge, which you caught just as it was perfectly lit, and which is reflected in reverse, is very successful in the colour version but for some reason doesn't show up so clearly in the b&w. I find them both beautiful.

Lovely dreamy quality. Frozen in time.

Beautiful. One of the nicest desert scenes I have seen. I love the subtle colours. I, too, would prefer to see another colour used for the mat, perhaps one of the darker brown tones, or even the very subtle dark green of the palm trees, but I can see why you would have chosen to match the sand tones -- it makes the desert seem to continue beyond the frame.

Beautiful light, very atmospheric. I like this a lot. The only small change I might suggest is to burn the triangular highlight on the neck slightly. On my screen at least this is significantly brighter than other highlights and tends to distract. I like the tilted horizon; it's tilted enough not to be mistaken for an accident, it follows the line of his shoulders, and avoids having a horizontal line cutting the image through the back of his head.

My first post. Any thoughts or advice welcomed.