joe_garrick

The trees seem a little fuzzy, although that could be the scan. Striking image otherwise.

It appears to tilt just slightly to the left. Otherwise a decent shot of a subject that's pretty tough to do anything with that hasn't already been done a million times. This must be one of the most photographed small towers on earth outside of Piza.

I would need some point on the page to be absolutely razor sharp for this to work better for me (although that could just be the scan or my cheap monitor). I like the composition but would like to see just a little more DOF.

I like the pose and lighting, but the eyes seem just a bit too engaged for this pose. With the semi-reclining pose and the head tipped back, I would expect a somewhat sleepier look to the eyes. This gives me the feeling that she's reading something pasted on the ceiling of the studio. I would also have her take her weight off the bare shoulder so that she can relax it more - it has a somewhat bony look here that might be able to be eased a bit.

 

Overall this is still quite nice. There's great potential in the setup and she has a classic face that works splendidly with the dramatic lighting.

Great composition, but needs a little more sharpness. I still like it.

Needs more DOF.

I like the composition, but it feels like the horizon is tipped to the right a bit.

Nice, but I would have hidden his leg and foot behind her.

I like the pose, the lighting, the setting, and the expression, but the whole thing seems a little fuzzy. Might just be the scan.

Yet another great shot of this model. One nitpicky detail: It looks like there's a tiny bit of her hand or finger peeking out below her right knee that seems a little out of place (easy work for Photoshop with this background, of course). In any case, I definitely like this one also.

This looks like a very tight crop of the other shot with the hat and the red dress. I really like this one. Great lighting, great eyes and expression, and still that hand there hiding a hint of a grin. Very nice.

Sorry, but this doesn't work for me. Between the pose, the expression, and the added effects, it has a kind of alien look.

This hat with this dress creates a little "fashion tension" for me - I'm not sure if I like it not, but I'm leaning toward liking it. She has a sort of funny angle to her left wrist that seems a bit unnatural, but I think this could work with the entire left arm cropped. The rest of this I really like - she seems as if she's hiding sort of a little smirk behind her hand. It really works for me with the dramatic lighting.

The rock in the foreground seems just a bit too dominant for me. Good overall though.

A timeless image, well done.

With the distraction of the feet gone, I now really like this, although I can't quite put my finger on why. I think it might be that the expression on the girls face, to me, says "when do I get to put this stupid violin down." She may be a virtuoso, but she looks like she'd like to be somewhere else and somehow that makes this really compelling.

The composition and color are excellent, but there seems to be a lack of sharpness in the foreground. Very nice though.

Great image. Is it possible to brighten it up just a wee bit to bring out a little more detail in both faces?

I'm not sure that the problem is which rider is in focus so much as it is that there isn't enough DOF to get all of them in focus, and there's no way to get enough DOF without more ambient light, making it a bit of a no-win scenario (at least with this film). Setting that aside, I would also want a crop showing the hands of the lead rider on the bars, but that's a minor issue for me.

 

Beyond all that bad news, I like it. It's a classic cycling composition and the expressions on all of the riders faces, especially on rider 144's, capture the moment perfectly.

 

Anyway, as it is I can live with the lead rider a bit fuzzy, it's still a great shot.

Interesting face, but the lighting seems a bit flat. Also, the arm seems odd somehow, like it's too long or something - I can't quite put my finger on it.

This is really quite masterful. On a technical level, you've composed this beautifully and isolated him perfectly on a busy street. On an artistic level, it's extremely powerful. Congrats.

 

RE: #1 or #2 - I much prefer this one, I find the mood and composition far superior.

I would do two things to this: First, crop to straighten out the horizon. Second, crop to bring the horizon a little higher in the frame, maybe by bringing the top down to just above the first prominent wisp of cloud in the upper left corner. I like it otherwise. Normally these surf shots tend to fall flat for me, but the S curve in there is interesting.

I like the pose and expression, but the strong window light has burned all the detail from her face.

I definitely like the tighter crop on this one - it eliminates the problem of the distracting background. The eye contact both adds and takes away in comparison to the previous shot. The other shot made me wonder what she was thinking about, but in a way that almost made me feel voyeuristic or intrusive. This shot gives up that mood but replaces it with one that's equally engaging. They both work. I honestly can't say which one I prefer.

Losing the sparkles was a definite improvement. This is an interesting portrait now - the sparkles were, IMHO, a gimmick that detracted from the work.