wenger

Ok, so the phone doesn't work, but how are you showing us that it is in fact broken? There is nothing that would seperate this one from a working phone. The shapes and colors do offer some interest, if for no other reason than the retro look that Peter refers to. In the end though I agree with Michael in not being crazy about this one. With that said, I could really see it working if it were part of a series or body of work. Based on style I think I have PT pegged on this one.

Carl - Sorry, took me some time to get around to downloading my shooting records from my camera. This was 1/60 f5.6 with a flash. Looks like I should have shot more like f8 or f16 though.

Thanks for the correction Michael.

Carl- This is about an hour away, so I likely will get back there sooner or later. I will try your suggestion. The negative does have a little more space on the bottom, but the lower hinge was more distracting than the handle.

 

Liv - Yea, it's tough. As if the upper/lower proportions weren't enough of a sticky point, the right/left is also tough to deal with. If you crop from the left the bottom half looks off kilter.

 

I welcome anyone to play with a crop here. I've not been satisfied with any that I've come up with.

 

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Ahh... somone willing to risk life, limb and burning down their house for the sake of PT. Certainly a fine shot of a difficult subject (glass always is). I'm surprised you got the brightness out of the filament that you seem to have here (though exposure can be deceiving in such ways). Usually the vacuum in a requisite to make it glow brightly. In any event, really nice image. I like the blue cast. It really balances well with the yellow. Broken and still working. Great paradox PT.

I have struggled with this one a little bit. If I cut from the bottom I lose both the door handle (which adds at least a little interest) and a lot of the picture (espcially if I try to get to a 1/3 compostion) If I crop from the top I don't think I lose as much except there becomes less color. I'm a little more inclined to crop from the top, but I don't know... Two votes for the bottom so far though. Thanks very much for your comments.

But John, isn't that the fun of it? Well I guess I'll let you in. It's actually a macro of some spilled stop bath (as the title indicates) that didn't get cleaned up before drying into this interesting formation.

Thoughtful critiques (good and bad) always appreciated. Thanks.

Thoughtful critiques (good or bad) appreciated.

Thanks Jos. I agree the "stuff" is my least favorite part of the image. Here's the background: My daughter LOVES pulling these colorful filing drawers out of their holder and sliding them back in (well not always sliding them back in). She pulled the drawer up to her face and I saw an opportunity for a unique image. I grabbed my camera and was only able to get one or two shots before she got totally tired of the game. The thing next to her nose is from the drawer's mold where the plastic was injected. It is the center of the drawer. Thanks again for the comment.

Ha! I had come up virtually this exact same setup, but opted for some other ideas. Unlike Peter, I like the placement of the ring. It seems to me the bottom left would be too cramped and make it too unbalanced. I also don't mind the parting words. I think it is very realistic (maybe cultural differences?). Well done PT.

Yes, as was my correction. There was a big database failure yesterday, so not photo.net reverted to a previous version (before the comments and correction). Thanks again Walter.

Well for me, this is my favorite of the three. I agree that this would be much more appealing if the person in the foreground were more in focus, but that's asking a lot for a night shot where you're trading off DOF for speed. Of course a hand held picture with exposure as long as this must be isn't too easy either. The texture of the tiles looks good over the road.

Sally, from the thumbnails this was the one I liked the most in the drain series (though others were not far behind). Upon opening it I was a little disappointed. I'm not sure the embossing(?) filter has really added anything here. I also am not crazy about the coloring in the lower left hand corner. As far as composition and mood, I like it very much. The swirls are great as are the coloration and light fall off. I think the series itself is a wonderful take on a mundane subject. True art. Someday I will have to get over my ADD and spend so much effort on a single subject. Nicely done.

Definitely strange. Like Melissa indicated... who went to the trouble to get this so far into the bus and why. If it was junk... why go to such effort? I agree the whole thing is a touch too centered. My idea for the shot would be to get up to the roof and shoot parallel to the roof using a lot of roof in the foreground then rotate the whole thing 180 degrees. Just a thought. Oh... and regarding theme fit... maybe it's not the dresser that is broken, but rather the bus.

Melissa - As far as filter, it would definitely be a PS (or the like) filter, not a screw on. A screw on would never produce that kind of DOF and blocked areas would turn black, not white.

 

As for the image itself, I wonder if there was room on the left of the toilet to produce a similar composition, but with the john on the right side of the frame. The situation of the lieu would then lead the eye into the frame as opposed to out of it. Otherwise... I keep bouncing back and forth regarding the grid. In some ways I like it (despite my general dislike for canned effects).

First roumen dimitrov if you are going to use powerful things like HTML tags, learn to use them properly and close them when you are finished.

 

"so, you are angry because of my ratings? whats a pity, indeed,"

 

No, not angry. Please note, when I commented on your image, I did not make any comments regarding how deserving this image or any of the others of mine were of the scores you attributed them. What did bother me however (as it would most people here), is that you didn't bother to expain WHY you gave the ratings that you did.

 

"that was your request"

 

Yes, I did submit a CRITIQUE REQUEST not a RATING REQUEST.

 

"I didn't like the picture, I didn't find it original"

 

You should try reading the Photo.net Rating System sometime.

 

"I wanted to skip it, but this is not possible at photo.net any more, ergo, I gave my honest opinion."

 

Exactly what do you think the box "Skip to the next photo" means? I just tried it... it works fine.

 

"You want a comment? Here it is:"

 

Yes I do... too bad it's like pulling teeth.

 

"I pay for seeing some interesting pictures here, instead I must lose my time and money"

 

Pay what? Lose what money? You don't have a Patron icon next to your name. It's only $25.00. Quit taking advantage and pay up!

 

"to comment such pictures I have seen thousand of millions."

 

That's the whole thing... you didn't comment. I've never seen this shot before, but maybe you've seen millions more images than I have.

 

"I should put immediately a one (1), but I was indulgent, I didn't want to make a big noise."

 

Again I would refer you to read the Photo.net Rating System

 

"You are not alone here with such boring stuff, if I put the ratings I would like to, there should not be an "excelent" photographers here any more (with few exceptions)."

 

So you think if you were given the opportunity to express what true ratings should be it would have some effect on the talent of the artists? There suddenly would be fewer excellent ones? They are only numbers after all.

 

"But you can also take a look on my ratings and you'll see which photographers and there pictures I prefer. If you don't like my choice, well, I can accept that, I have seen many different tastes out there and I know how different they could be."

 

I did, and any comment I would make here would be on the artists that this collection represents, so I choose not to comment.

 

"I tried even to understand every picture, even such I didn't find especially "aestitical"."

 

Fine, you have a right to feel that way, but maybe you could tell me how this image should be better composed to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

 

"But, plelase, could you explain me, what is the idea here? What do you want to say with the paralel lines"

 

Can't an abstract geometric image have its own aesthetic? Or does it need to be blurry to be original. There is a difference between blurring for artistic effect and blurring because you can't work a camera you know.

 

"part of whitch are orange, part - some non-descriptable color?"

 

Hmmm, a color so unique it is non-descriptable, sounds pretty original to me.

 

"Is this the ultimative proof of life on Mars?"

 

Umm... No. Did you think it was? I can recommend a shrink if you'd like.

 

"Maybe I am blind and stupid"

 

Maybe. But you already kind of established that with your inability to find the "Skip to the next photo" box.

 

"but I can't see anything here. I can not see even some technique... Why did you use a Velvia? You have spent you money ungrounded."

 

I'd enjoy seeing you tackle the subject of a shopping mall roof more creatively.

 

"Why did you convert it later even to bw? This is a clear proof for me that you didn't have any idea why this picture should be taken, otherwise you would prepare yourself more precisely."

 

It was suggested by another member. One who was considerate enough to leave a comment. I did it, and liked the result. I'll admit that I still have some to learn and appreciate such useful input. Apparently you already know it all though.

 

"Did you know, that the bees build a perfect constructions, many archtitecs would be ashamed of their buildings compared to the bees' constructions. However, the human beeing has some advantage to the bee: (s)he could plan his/her activity and learn from his/her failures, yes, (s)he could, but rather (s)he doesn't take an advantage of it."

 

More rather nonsensical ramblings I see.

 

"and last but not least, what is the secret concept of this weird exposure, I would say it is overexposed in the middle and underexposed on the bottom right . Was this the intend? Hard to believe..."

 

If this is how you see it. I appreciate your input. Better than the the whole thing being underexposed though.

 

"I try to find some catching point, too, but maybe it is on the other side of picture, I have to disassemle my monitor to find it perhaps, but I know it is dangerous. "

 

Go for it... please.

Any thoughts and comments are always appreciated.

I assumed that the curved lines were horizontal (though not straight)... I just can't figure out the dark areas. A reflection of what? You don't need to tell if you don't want to, it is just boggling my mind (at times an easy task, though usually not). Good job.

I've been wanting to try some shots like this (being in my business I have accumulated a number of glasses with nicks that I can't sell that would make great specimins) but the combination of my analog technology, my lack of desire to clean up the mess, and lack of a sound trigger have kept me from following through (mostly the second one). I like this kind of imagery quite a bit. They are like snowflakes, no two are the same. I really like the way you added the rock at the bottom. It gives definition to what is doing the breaking. How many glasses are you destroying here PT? If I'm not mistaken I see at least 3. I do wish I could make out more clearly some sign of the stems, but I guess they were already mere shards. Nice job PT.

Further proof that ratings are hogwash. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well this translated to B&W. It almost has more depth and interest than the color version (though the color one does have interesting complimentary colors - much better on the slide). Thanks for the suggestion. Such is the real value of this site.

All that water can't be good for the blade!!! Ha. No reason to be humble. This is a beautiful piece of work. It's funny I often find fault with photographers (even myself sometimes) taking pictures of other people's art. Though photographically you've added enough elements that I would not have accused you of such, you circumvented any possibility by creating the art! I'm not sure why you chose ballbearings as the balancing factor (I especially don't like how close they are to the handle) except to offer a fleeting glimpse of the blacksmith. Not that I really mind them as much as I don't see the correlation. I think a touch more light on the handle also would be nice. Nevertheless this is a fine image of a fine piece of work. Can you tell any more about what causes the intricate pattern on the blade itself?

I agree with Thomas that it does feel top heavy, not compositionally, but rather because of the heavy color as opposed to the lighter lower half. I wouldn't change anything compositionally, I too enjoy the curves the way they are. In fact they seem to be the main driving force of what takes this from a simple building shot to more of an abstract. If in fact the curves are not against the glass in the darker areas I think I've figured it out. If that is not the case I remain sufficiently confused by this image. Can you give me a hint?

John, great idea. I tried it and liked it also. It's posted here. Thanks!

Critiques greatly appreciated and most always reciprocated.