jurie

Susan,

 

Nice portfolio! I hope to someday be able to create shots like you have posted in your gallery.

 

I have one small suggestion that might help you improve your work. I noticed that the edges of the model in your white folder tend to blend into the background, in somecases disapearing completely into it. If you want a little more seperation between her and the background, you might benefit from flagging the light coming at her from the sides. Some black foamcore or a black sheet hung to the left and right of her just outside the frame and moving her farther away from the background might help to give her arms and shoulders a bit more definition.

 

Do you think that more seperation between your model and the background would improve this shot?

 

Jordan R. Urie

Tore,

Excellent portfolio. I like a lot of your shots, especially the cross-processed and lower-key shots. This one, however, caught my eye. The mark under her eye is under her right eye in this shot, however, in all the others it's under her left eye. Did some get scanned backwards or did you flip this for a specific reason?

If you did flip it, may I ask why you did? I can't think of any situation in which I would flip this photo, however, you obviously know what you are doing, so I'm wondering what thought process would bring you to flip an image.

Thanks,

 

Jordan R. Urie

Just curious, was this squirrel running down the wood? The way his back paws are positioned, they seem to be supporting his weight, as I've seen with the squirrels around here. It looks to me like you rotated the shot 90&deg clockwise.

Tell!

Jordan R. Urie

I find the flag quite soft in the lower right hand corner.

Other than that, good shot!

Any comments or critiques are welcome!

This is my first attempt at a still life setup.

 

I overexposed this shot intentionally, so as to keep the attention on

the contents of the glasses, not the stems. Does this work for you,

or do you find the lack of detail (AKA blown hilights) to be a problem?

 

What do you think of the way that the shadows on the background fall?

Are they distracting your eye from the subject? Should I have made

some attempt to blend them in more, perhaps by diffusing the light

coming through the window?

 

Is there anything else about this shot that I should fix? I plan on

trying this one again next time the light is right, and I would like

to see this from other people's eyes as well.

The boy didn't land this trick, nor did he land the five tries before

it. I cropped it this way in order to try and emphasize his tension

(fists, right arm out for balance) and the attention he was paying to

the trick. Does the cropping job communicate?

 

Other than a faster shutterspeed to get rid of the camera shake, what

else could I have done to make this a better photo?

 

Thanks,

 

Jordan R. Urie

Why on earth is the black cat staring directly into the chimney?

Nice composition, but it is way too light for my taste.

Nice job on the colours, however, the wheatfield seems a little distracting for some reason. Perhaps because it is significantly brighter than the barn in front or the sky behind?

Nice placement of the sun over the spire. (A touch more to the right and it would be perfect)

 

As well, the lake seems a little distracting. Without it, the composition is better to my eye.

Nice lightning strike, but I would definately crop out the surrounding city. The double strike would make a very nice shot on its own.

Nice cropping job. The vertical panoramic makes the clouds seem like they're about to come down and crush you. Quite a tense shot.

 

To my eyes, this photo doesn't need a "subject". The converging lines, and brigher sky towards the horizon force my eyes to move, and create a subject in themselves.

This picture is a riot. The bird on the left looks like he's about to bite the one on the right, and the one on the right looks somewhat petrified. Nice shot.

Nice job on the photoshopping.

The surroundings look too washed out in comparison to the nest. Perhaps a fill flash would have helped bring the contrast under control?

 

Also, try playing with the composition a bit. Perhaps zoom closer to the nest?

I like your use of colour, however, the whole "sky and grass" landscape has been done to death. Is there perhaps something you could have done to place more emphasis on the mountains in the distance?

I like the hilights in her hair.

Quite original.

 

IMO, it would have been a better shot if the snow around the twig had been flat like the rest of the shot, instead of rough and jagged. It seems a bit distracting, and almost makes it look like you set the twig up by hand. Not much you could do about that though ;-)

 

As well, I might have composed it with the twig a little lower, so as to emphasize the feeling of remoteness that the white field behind it gives.

Nice shot. I assume you just changed tint/hue in photoshop?

Nice bright colours.

Quite interesting. Most rock-climbing shots try to show nothing but natural environs. The placement of the silhouetted clibmer next to the quaint village is a new take on the genre.

Too contrasty in my opinion. The shadow cast in the bottom right corner takes the punch out of the picture. As a 1-hour photo lab monkey, I would have printed that a couple of points lighter, and done an "all soft" on it to try and bring the contrast under control, sky be damned.

 

The arch in the background suggests interesting possibilites. If you had moved a bit left, and turned it into the subject of your shot, the photo might be a bit more dynamic.

 

Just my $0.02.

Colourful!

I spent a day at the local historical park last month, playing with acamera from work. I've worked for a large Canadian 1-hr photo /equipment sales company for a while now, and they decided we shouldget all the sales staff together with a camera we didn't know and haveus practice with it for a day. I shot 5 rolls that day, and after Isaw the results, I decided that I want to get into the photographingside of photography as a hobby.

 

This is one of my favorite shots from that day, and, as such, is ripefor critical review. What should I have done to make it better?

 

I was at the wide end of a cheap 28-80mm Nikkor zoom (stock with theF-75 kit (N-75 to Americans)), and I like the effect that had on thestreetcar, however, I notice that there's some hardcore distortion atthe sides of the shot. Is there anything I could have done to correctfor this, short of taking a higher quality lens from the showcase?

 

I also notice that the sky is extremely light in comparison to thestreetcar. AFAIK, I was metering for the car, however, I'm still notsure about the exposure. With the sky covered, the car looks good,however, with the sky visible, the car almost seems to dark. Anyonecare to suggest how I could have improved that?

 

Sincerest thanks,