daniel guerin

About time for another departure from the norm I think. This is the

cone from one of my speakers. I cannot afford any kind of specialized

lighting so I composed the picture using a tripod, blocked the

windows and turned out the lights. Then I 'painted' the speaker with

a tiny blue LED torch whilst having the camera exposing on the 'bulb'

setting. I am pleased with the result considering the crude method

used but I'd like to know what you think. As ever, there was some

improvement in Photoshop after scanning the print but the image

itself is basically the same. Thankyou for viewing.

BelleGreve Bay at sunrise taken whilst on holiday in my home-island

of Guernsey recently. This beach is often described as an 'eyesore'

by many locals. I say they lack vision.

This slide was massively underexposed and, although certainly not

perfect, it was the best I could do to 'salvage' it.

 

I'd be interested in your thoughts, Thanks for viewing.

I'm after some advise on this one if anyone is able to give it.

Firstly, I've got this problem with the flares. I've removed some in

photoshop which encroached further into the picture, I didn't want to

ruin it by trying to remove more. I've had this problem with other

photographs where the sun was more centralized. I've seen other

peoples pictures without flare and wondered how it's done. I did use

a lens-hood but it didn't help. Secondly, what do you think of the

composition? I'm not too sure about it and maybe think it would have

been better to include the sillhouette of a person standing 2/3 down

the slipway. As always, I'd appreciate any comments. Thanks for

viewing.

Second in the series taken at Cobo Bay on my recent holiday to my

home-island of Guernsey in the English Channel. The sky was becoming

more and more overcast as the afternoon progressed but I decided to

drive to the beach anyway. The small gap between the cloud and the

horizon looked promising and, as the sun passed through it,

everything around was painted a beautiful orange. It lasted only a

few minutes then was gone. I'm interested what people think of it,

it's my first ever roll of this amazing slide film. Thanks for

viewing. There may be a few more on their way soon.

My first venture into slide film and wow! I'm impressed with the

quality and colour of this film. I took this after sunset a few weeks

ago while on holiday in my home-island of Guernsey in the English

Channel. I'd be very interested to here other peoples opinions of it.

I've played a little with levels and stuff in photoshop, I

also 'removed' a lollipop stick which somehow strayed into the

frame:o) This is one of several shots taken at the time, more may

come later. Thanks for viewing.

Wonderful! I like how the flowers have such a soft delicate edge to them whereas the leaves are pin-sharp and solid. Very nice.

This was just some fun really. I had an uninteresting colour print

of an entire herd of cows so played around to see what I

could 'salvage'. I think I've seen something similar before so maybe

not much for originallity. The colours were great but thought black

and white gave a better effect somehow. What do you think?

 

Thanks for viewing.

This is the kind of image which teaches me things. If only I had a macro lens. Beautiful shot.

It's a wonderful picture. I kinda want to eat those pods as they look a bit like biscuits:oP

 

I love the colours, good work!

Hi, Liv.

 

I like this very much. I actually think it gives it a pleasing effect. Well done.

This was taken on the first roll of film I'd ever used in my new

camera just over a year ago (I'd not done any photography before

that). I don't think it's one of my best and, before photoshop, the

print seemed fairly bland. I cleaned up/sharpened and played with

colour saturation a little which I think has transformed this into an

acceptable image. I know the enhancement of colour doesn't appeal to

everyone and maybe I take it a bit far sometimes. Others really like

the colour. My theory is; I use colour film, why not make the most

of the colours? Others opinions matter to me but I really only do

this for the enjoyment of it. I have no plans in making money from

it or getting my name known. Please, I'd appreciate constructive

criticism and any hints and tips.

 

Thankyou for viewing.

Terry,

I Like it. True, it may have been done before but there is a reason why it's done so often, it's because people enjoy 'doing' it and others enjoy seeing it. Lacking in much technical knowledge, I comment on peoples photographs with the 'would I like to hang it on my wall?' theory. It's not always the details which are important, sometimes people should take a step back and appreciate the image for what it is.

 

That said, I think the 'splash' at the foot of the fall is a little to 'white' and perhaps taking a slighty different angle to remove some of the right hand side could turn an already lovely photograph into something even better. I like a lot:o)

 

This is one of my first journeys into flower photography. I guess it's a fairly 'standard' image but I think it's the technique which gives it some credit. This flower only stood about 4 inches tall and, with the relatively low-budget equipment I own, it took some thought to come up with this result. I had some metallic paper in several different colours which I taped to pieces of stiff cardboard. I used different combinations of these and plain, coloured card to reflect sunlight onto the flowers. The viewfinder was inaccesible due to the awkward position of the flower so it was a case of almost guessing. This was the best of 3 'reasonable' images. I'd appreciate any criticism to help me progress in this particular area.

 

Thanks for looking.

Wow! That is quite incredible! I've seen trees grow in some funny places but this is just stupid! It's a shame the subject seems so hazy; personally, I think I'd like it a bit clearer. The large trunk in the foreground does appear a little distracting but without it I think the subject could look like just a bonsai tree. So, it works, I like, great shot!

OK, well I'm suprised nobody even made a comment, I guess that's a form of criticism in its own right.

 

It was in fact a quick shot I took for fun. I'd just cooked some oven chips, filled the tray with some cold water and this was the effect of the residual oil rising ontop of the water. I closed in as close as I could, the extra cropping was thanks to photoshop.

Great picture, though it may have been nice to see a bit more detail in the land on the left. Still a nice shot though, I like it.

 

(BTW; you might want to look into the cloud type - Alto = medium level, Cirro = High level. I would say that is very high altocumulus or possibly cirrocumulus. 40,000ft is very very high and, if anything, you'll only find Cirrocumulus, Cirrus and Cirrostratus at such a height). Sorry to be pedantic!!!

This about as original as I'm ever likely to get. I'll give you all

a chance to guess what it is first, just for fun! I'll let you know

when you start getting bored! More seriously, what do you think from

a photographic point of view? Ratings and criticism all welcome!

Hmmm... well... I'm a bit worried about my mums name suddenly changing to Garry McDonald, something you're not telling me? Maybe I should have asked you not to vote as it's obvious you'd give me sevens. I'm not complaining though, I'm glad you like it. Love you too (as long as that WAS a mistake with your name!) and looking forward to coming back home:o)

 

Well to be honest, I don't believe you should be listening to my advice too hard as I really am a beginner myself (I've only been experimenting in Photoshop for a couple of weeks). As you asked though, I've just had a quick 'mess around' with your image and came up with this. I hope you don't mind but I gave you a blue eye just for fun! Don't worry about any different colours or difference in levels - I think you've got them just right in your final image, I just did it for fun. Colour change was done by selecting with lasso tool, feathering by 10 pixels and adjusting master sliders in 'hue/saturation'. I removed a few reflections by using the 'clone stamp' tool. I reduced the size of the brush to 2, zoomed in 'alt+left click' on the area to clone then painted over the reflections (I think it helps to select as many suitable 'clone' areas as possible while painting). I then used the 'blur' tool on a small brush to blend the changes in. I very slightly enhanced the whites of the eye also.

 

I think the reflection removal was all that the image needed. I did the other things because it was easy to do and your original was unprocessed unlike your final. The blue eye was just fun, I think the colour you have in your final works much better. Amy difference in levels is only because I didn't know the exact settings you used.

 

Just my opinion, I thought your image was great anyway. I don't know if these are standard photoshop practices, just experimentation. Stick with what you have but have a play with the reflections, I think the large one should still stay.

 

Please feel fre to take a look at my pictures and rip them apart also:o) Congrats again on a great photograph!

Florin; You're right, it was a long exposure. I'd forgotten to take my light-meter with me and the cameras meter only does up to 30 seconds so I took an uneducated guess of somewhere between 2 or 3 minutes at f/22. Although it doesn't look like it, I took this after sunset when it was almost impossible to look through the veiwfinder. I also had a polarizer on so I guess this prolonged the exposure too. I'm not sure about improving your tequnique by listening to me as I'm only a beginner myself and not sure if I used 'correct' methods. This was pure experimentation. Still, I guess if you like the result, it doesn't matter what the method was. I know I certainly like it, really pleased you do too:o) Good luck.

 

Roger; I appreciate your idea. I did actually take almost a whole roll on various parts of this area using differing exposures, time of day etc... Due to my lack of experience this is the only satisfactory shot out of all of them. I wish others came out well and would have loved to see the result of a faster exposure. Maybe next time! I actually wanted to blur the flow in this way although at the time, I had no idea what the result would be. It does look 'unnatural' but I personally think that's what makes it interesting. Thanks for your thoughts, appreciated.

Thankyou for your kind words. Makes me want to go back and take more:o)

Thankyou both for your kind words. You're very encouraging:o)

I'm not sure about this one. I drastically cropped to make it

narrower which I think was the coorect thing to do. I needed to try

to seperate the greens from the yellows as the print I scanned from

looked fairly muddy. These must be the toughest colours to alter

seperately! I've played as much as I can without ruining it! I'm at

the tough end of the photoshop learning curve and not yet a massively

accomplished photographer. Any tips/ratings/advice/criticism greatly

appreciated on all my images! Thanks for looking.

This is great. Detail is excellent. I'm a newbie too so can't really comment technically, just how the picture strikes me. If it was me, I'd have a go at removing the 'rectangular' reflection to the right side of the iris. Otherwise, it's great as it is. Just out of interest, It might be fun to see a slightly 'unnatural' version with the eye colour enhanced/changed but the surroundings left mono. Good stuff!

Often, a shot which looks faked is a bad shot. This one doesn't look real but that's what makes it such a great shot! Not sure if my comment would have been different if you'd not stated it was released unharmed though!