kai_compagner

Very nice portrait Jen!

That is some nice light in the canyon. I like how the temples are lighter than the horizon. For me the greater contrast gives this a little more impact than the other picture in your folder with (almost) the same composition.

That's a good tip Ken. I should try that some time. Those circular waves might make for hard stitching though :-)

Nice seascape. I like this a little bit than the other version because the rocks on the right are closer, it makes the scene more 3d. Good job on aligning your individual frames, but the left seam is visible in the sky.

Let me know what you think!

This is beautiful. I like the sense of motion in the semi blurred waves.

This was taken in a farm field on top of a small hill east of Tacoma. I wish I knew exactly where so I would be able to return to this spot but unfortunately I don't. I was randomly driving around while the good light on the mountain was fading, with plenty of sub-suburban clutter all around (telephone poles, factories, trees). Saw this empty field with a fairly clean view, jumped a fence and walked as far back across the field as I could. This hid the industrial buildings and other ugly stuff beneath the horizon of the field.

Wow, that's a lot of good feedback.

 

Phil, the camera is pretty low to the ground, so moving sideways would have moved the stone considerably without upsetting the rest of the composition. I just wasn't very sure where to put it at the time. Just to see what it would look like I've photoshopped it into the right corner, I guess it is better but it still feels unbalanced. Maybe I should have shopped around longer for a foreground... oh well.

 

Jeff, I've heard great things about the yellow larches but this trip was about one month to early to see them. Unfortunately photo oppertunities is not the only thing controlling the agenda :-(

 

Thanks for all your comments. I've never had this much helpful feedback on a photo!

I'd like to hear your opinions about the placement of the stone in the

foreground.

Nice crystal clear reflection. Well exposed for the last sunlight striking the top, but overall a bit dark. GND would probably have helped. Depending on how blocked up those shadows really are on the original, it might be worthwhile to try to lighten them digitally.

 

Another technical comment, why f22? there are no close foreground details that I can see. f8 would have been enough DOF for sure.

 

Still it is a fine image, and the darkness does give it a nice mood.

Some very interesting weather conditions. What really adds to the shot is the fact that we can see the summit of the mountain, and the sunlit snags. Are those bristlecones?

 

What bothers me a little bit about this composition is that I can't see the base of the snags and tree. As is, they feel a bit truncated.

Welcome to the wonderful world of photo.net! Rule number one: don't lose sleep over which photos get responses and which one do not, because it is impossible to figure out. Lots of great photos get ignored and sometimes mediocre ones get praised. In your case if you haven't requested critique on them, probably no-one has seen them. There's a lot of photos on this site.

 

The best way to get something out of this site is to interact with people whose work you like.

 

This is for sure an interesting picture. The light beams give it something mysterious. The other thing that really gets my attention (because I speak dutch) are the words 'poison gas' on the door. That is unusual text for a door.

Thanks Phil and Kurt. It seems that like mountain goats these animals like to hang out on rock promotions next to big drops. Must be a safety from predators thing. While they seem cornered they bounded down a ridiculously steep slope to the right with complete confidence.

These female bighorns (at least that's what I think they are) were

showing themselves off at the Grand Canyon village. It was nice to be

able to include their favorite habitat in the background.

It's a nice field of flowers. The low camera level helps to examine them in detail and to give a sense of space and depth. However, I do think that the encroachments of man in the form of the road and the house take away from the effect. I would have preferred a composition without them.

I really like this composition. Some giant has been stacking boulders! It looks like a designed garden instead of a scene found in nature.

What really adds to the appeal of this picture is that it is overflowing with detail. Large format is perfect for this kind of subject matter. This picture is not oversharpened, it is just really really sharp! Pixels and perceived sharpness are a funny thing. You'd think that at 800 by 500 pixels the format doesn't matter, but somehow if you shot this with 35mm I don't think it would look like this even at this small size.

Allthough I've seen other large format photos on photo.net, the only other picture where I've noticed this extreme large format effect before is in the crystal mill shot of Bobby Douglas.

A large print of this picture must be quite impressive.One more thing: the blurry bird has got to go.

Interesting. At first sight you think the waterline should be straight. Also, you'd think the mountains should be reflected in the lake. These optical illusions draw you in to examine the picture more closely. For sure some nice moody light.

Impressive shot. Impressive getting up there too. Looks like no place to take your crampons off.

Stephan, this is a 2 second exposure. The patterns in the foreground are there because the water is not flowing very quickly there. They are soft and silky in the full sized version. Thanks for your comment!

Intesting up/down flipping example. I flipped this a couple of times to see the difference, and (to my surprise) I prefer it the way it's presented here. Somehow my eyes end up in the interesting blue tones this way, and with the other side up my eyes get stuck on the duller rock-colored rock. I have no clue why but this is what I see. By the way I'm not sure where the 'eye' is that you tried to position Phil.

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Very nice image. The curve in the foreground pulls you in. It works well as a black and white. As you shot with velvia, did you not like the color version? The blue water of Havasu should look great in this composition.

The issue here is disclosure. He's got great pictures here and on his site, and most seem genuine enough.

 

I think most people would react exactly like us when they find out about the shrunken people. They feel duped, and now view the rest of your pictures with suspicion. Worse, they now stop trusting mine also, especially after they find out I use photoshop!

 

There's nothing against editing (manipulating?) pictures. The question is not to edit or not to edit, but (to quote Dan) at what exact point along that spectrum of distortion lies the division between an "acceptable representation of reality" and an "unacceptable distortion of truth?".

 

To me, a line is crossed when disclosing the edits made to a picture really change it's perception. That's where I lose interest.

 

Now Dan may say: yes I shrunk those peole, and I'd do it again, dammit. And that's fine. He's free to do what he wants! But as his audience I would prefer disclosure.

Brian, the exposure for the waterfall was 1 second, 2 seconds or the cave. Applies to ISO 100 film too I guess but the real question you want answered I think is how to meter this. My very subtle digital technique is to blast away and adjust according to the histogram. This gives me perfect exposures every time but would be hard to do with film.

 

Todd, I knew I couldn't avoid the chain. For me the photo is as much about the almost vertical 'trail' down as it is about the waterfall.

 

Thank you all for your comments!

It's a female bighorn. Nice shot. Pity about the fence in the background, especially because it was probably a wild animal.