venicia_l

Tamara,

I've come to realize that the unique look in your eyes in your self portraits is partly due to your waiting for the self timer to fire your camera. Sometimes the look is one of being startled, sometimes expectant, sometimes quizzical but always unique and captivating.

I had thought that you were behind the camera for your portraits of your child. But here it looks like she is waiting for the self timer to fire on an untended camera. Am I right?

So compelling - hypnotic.

VL

The effect would have been a little more convincing if the running figures had been captured with a slower shutter to allow some motion blur of hands and feet. They look like static, posing figures.

Or is the big blonde girl just playing with dolls?

VL

The composition is, of course, beautiful in its simplicity of form and powerful color.

I see a woman from the rear, slightly impatient, hand resting on her hip with her first 2 fingers curled up.

VL

I understand that vinyards are planted for the pleasure of photographers! (to photograph)

There was a field in Napa, California I passed dozens of times that was the twin of this. Same family on different sides of the globe?

Marvelous image.

VL

Just discovered your portfolio. You have a marvelous eye for seeing abstract shapes, lines, masses and compositions in otherwise ordinary scenes. I wish I could see that way more often.

While this is probably a quite litteral rendition of these clouds, aside from their sheer beauty and compelling size, the rest of your work shows why you were compelled to make this image.

Keep doing it!

VL

Excellent essential image.

VL

The sinuous curves, repeated in the dunes and the shape of the lake are unusual and beautiful. As is the deep-blue sky. Strange that the clouds are not lightened by the polarizer.

The foreground cloud shadow on the left adds to the drama. Inclusion of the human figue is a very good touch and greatly enhances the composition by providing scale and juxtaposing the known with the other-wordly appearance of this scene.

Beautiful

VL

Not the best example of the rule of thirds? Thank goodness! The best thing you can do is forget that rule exists. It's mainly for authors of "how to" articles in photo magazines to tell rank amateurs how to compose. Actually quite useless.

This and other similar compositions in your portfolio are well done with good use of placement, depth (as well as depth of field), detail, contrast.

But one rule about horizons that you can depend on is that they should be straight. This one tilts down to the left. You have to be careful with that or all the water in the lake will run out!

VL

Beautiful. Mysterious. Ambiguous. Abstract. Hypnotic. Chromatic.

Now you'll ruin it all for us and admit that the camera went off accidently as you were taking it out of your pocket!

VL

Beautiful composition. It looks just a trifle (maybe 1/3 stop) overexposed.

VL

I thought this was a photography comment site. But I guess I was wrong. It's really a place for Maria to demand that only nice things be said about her images.

She is quite a brat about this kind of thing.

Are you finished throwing your little tantrum now, Miss? Are you going to hold your breath until you turn blue? Where I'm from we send naughty little girls like you to stand in the corner for a while, until they can learn to play well with the other kiddies.

VL

Georgi,

Thank you for showing us all, once again, that honest commentary is not tolerated about some members here. Thank you very kindly for the personal attack. That is certainly the best way to deal with disagreement.

Do you have some intelligent commentary to offer on this piece, rather than your childish tantrum? Since you consider my portfolio to be stunning, you are welcome to comment on any of the images there. That's how this place is supposed to work. There is no place for violent reactions like yours or unbridled adulation and gushing praise no matter what is posted by a particular crowd that dares and challenges any honest response to their work.

Maybe someday you will display your work, Georgi. That is, if you tire of being an attack dog.

VL

Maria,

Stop playing this silly little game. Polemic? You set up a controversial situation, then you dare anyone to challenge it. Shame on you.

Constructive criticism? Sometimes there is nothing constructive to say about a particular image. There is nothing to suggest about the composition or point of interest, because there simply is none. If you think this image is correctly exposed, then you need to learn about exposure. But I don't really think that's the case.

And pumping up the saturation on an image that already has blown out highlights, simply makes it garrish as you have shown

Move on. Stop this game. It doesn't benefit you or anyone here to continue this kind of nonsense (expecting high ratings just because you have fostered a virtual realtionship with strangers across the Internet). This image is a stinker, technically and aesthetically. I have no problem giving honest evaluations of photographic images. I do it for a living.

Any photographer who has any ability knows exactly the value of an image before posting it. You knew your friends would praise this, no matter that it is very weak. Although I refuse to use this site's rating system, this image is worth about 3/3 and you know it very well.

On the other hand, if you truly believe this image has merit, on any grounds, I have seriously overrated your abilities. I could give a complete novice a point-and-shoot camera and expect to see this kind of work, maybe a little better.

VL

Oh, My. Just another blatant exercise in mate rating.

This is simply an uninteresting snapshot. A throw-away. It's over-exposed. The colors are washed out. The lighting is dull and flat. The foreground is empty. There is no point of interest. It says nothing.

Is this just a "test" to see how far this silly rating game can be pushed on PN with inane congrats from as many friends as possible just to prove a point?

VL

John,

It's easy to avoid a sharp demarcation between the sharp part of the image and the blurring. In Photoshop there are always several ways to do just about anything.

1. Use a soft edged brush to apply blurring where you want it, carefully "sneaking up" to the untouched part of the image.

2. Make a selection loosely with the lasso tool around the part to be left sharp. Feather the selection. The feather radius depends on the size of the image. 3-5 pixels is good for a Web image of 800 x 600 pixels. More for larger images. Invert the selection and apply Gaussiam blur (the amount again depends on the size of the image.

These edits are "destructive" in that they change the actual pixels of the image. So always work on a copy of the image. You can make them non-destructive by adding an adjustment layer.

VL

Kay,

The series is beautiful in its simplicity and graphic character. It is very pleasing to see the completed series.

I assume the images will be displayed as a group of three. I had anticipated that all three would be the same size and proportions. This last one is different from the first two. It would be interesting seeing them matted and framed and hanging together on a large, white wall. I'm not sure how the sizing difference will affect the presentation.

VL

John,

You are shy taking photographs of women? How surprising after all your work on display. I would think you would have lined her up for your next photo shoot! You are destroying my confidence in you. Get out there right away and find her!

And I can guarantee you, she knew exactly what she was doing wearing that dress to a wedding! Please find out where she got it. I must have one!

VL

Less is certainly much more in this lovely, dignified composition. I assume you added the red color to the back panels of the case in Photoshop? (and the green in your other submission?)

Very nice work.

VL

I was about to dismiss this image as a computer-generated graphic until I read some of the comments. The colors, tones and forms are almost too perfect. At first I thought that the orange-colored building and the blue sky were dead giveaways as they seemed too evenly lit.

How long had you photographed this remarkable scene until this even more remarkable light occured? Just beautiful.

VL

. . . that you were able to grab the shot under these conditions! I love how muted color can become so bright in this kind of light.

Ah, how I miss summer weather in New York. NOT!

Did the passing of the storm result in better weather or just make things more steamy?

VL

Lillian is quite graceful. I think it is almost impossible to take a bad photograph of a Calla. Nature put all her most beautiful lines and forms into this one flower. I like the focus on the upper part of the bowl by leaving the lower half in shadow.

How do you like that lens on the S2? I used it for about a year and was very frustrated by it's strangely erratic performance. In some situations it seemed very sharp with beautiful contrast. In others, I just couldn't get a high quality image. I now use all primes on the S2 with consistently excellent results.

VL

Maria,You are a good sport! You even got the broom handle (or whatever it was) out of the way!

But you better be careful, those blue rails and posts are so intense, you are going to exhaust all the blue pixels in your camera!

Have fun.

VL

Wonderful, Amelie!

Maria,

This is an interesting shot with a lot of possibilities, but it misses the mark in several ways. The colors are compelling, no question about that. The repetition of the blues and yellows to the exclusion of any other color, and the backup blue of the ocean and sky really grabs the eye. I think you saw this whole riot of color and lines and KNEW there had to be really wonderful potential here. Good eye.

But there is actually too much going on and the competiton of multiple "subjects" ultimately is a problem. Is the image about persepctive?, color?, repetition?, where does the eye finally settle? I think you just tried to do too much. And that makes a shot with good potential just average. By trying to get everything into the shot, the foreground is left empty.

This happens all the time in photography. We've just got to get every interesting element into the frame.

Shot down the middle of the passageway, there are certainly converging lines, but they are not that compelling. Again, the color theme is so intense as to be a confusing, competing second subject.

I don't know the focal length used, and you may be limited by the equipment. But I would move to the right at the widest angle you have and get lower and much closer to the near chairs, filling the frame as much as possible to avoid the empty forground. Shoot down the line of chairs to capture the receding line of the chairs, tables and blue rail with the doors to the left receding asymmetrically.

The opportunity for the surprising color combinations is still there, and the perspective is much more compelling.

It's almost impossible to critique on this site anymore without also acknowledging and either agreeing with or refuting the ratings or "social comments" left by others. I have little interest in the congratulations kind of comments that are so common here. We learn absolutely nothing by being told our work is a masterpiece. Nothing on this site is a masterpiece. So I hope you understand when I say this image does not begin to approach the superlative ratings it has gotten. But there is every reason to strive for such a goal with every image.

VL

Carl,

I focused on the near lip of the flower, manually. I use AF very seldom. I couldn't get enough DOF by stopping down. This was already at f/11 and the lens performance drops off too much for my taste smaller than this. This Calla was tiny - an inch across at the most. I was right on top of it and the DOF was razor thin.

I had the same "desire" -to see the green tip sharply rendered because it does demand attention and leaving it out of focus is a distraction.

I could have solved the problem with my 4x5 by tilting the rear into the plane of the top edge. I actually tried a few shots with the S2 tilted, which helped, but it ruined the composition, and the shape of the flower. I finally settled for this.

Thanks for taking the time to analyze the composition.