macgregor_anderson

Didi, thanks again for your help. It is such a cool thing to do. It's what this site is really all about. I need to spend some time on the critique forum helping some folks out now if I can.

 

I like that salmon fisherman shot too, though I didn't when I first saw it. A good lesson in it for me. I need to hit the brakes more often, keep my camera at hand, and see what comes of it.

great lighting and colors. I find the rock formation itself to be subject enough...thought the horse touch is amusing. Very nice snap to the shot, too. Would you consider lightening the foreground around the fence a little? Regardless, a fantastic shot.

thank you for taking the time to do that, and to share your technique with me. I applied a curve to the entire photo, but it seemed to wash out the foliage a bit. This version is an improvement. I need to spend more time learning photoshop...I only started with it in January, and got sidetracked a few months later when I started to focus on large format and doing my own b/w stuff in the laundry room.

Thanks all for your comments! Very helpful.

 

With a bit more attention in photoshop I think I could get a little more sparkle out of the trees. I was addressing the whole photo with very little masking when working on it. With a little more skill, I could probably find a better balance of saturation, contrast, brightness, etc by localizing it. I played a little with a gradient mask...kinda like a grad ND. But it looked fake with my poor PS skills, so I abandonded it.

 

Regarding cropping. I considered cropping the clouds out. And I considered trimming the green up a bit. I decided on this one to leave the green, since it was less eyecatching than the blue, I felt it needed more real estate. It was a balance thing...or my attempt anyhow. As a panoramic with the top cropped down to blue, and the bottom cropped up a third, it is a very different shot with a different feel. I chose this one after considering those options, but agree wholeheartedly that the crops are strong ideas. Maybe stronger.

 

Thanks again.

don't have any of this moutain in color up yet, though a few b/w

large format. Comments welcome.

it's dusty out here, and I was shooting earlier and hadn't cleaned the filter. I was in a rush to get this shot, and then get home before the rain soaked the paper shopping bags in the back of my truck. Also a LOT of noise. I probably oversharpened! Wouldn't be the first time.

On the way home from the grocery store. A snapshot, no doubt, and

tricky in PS as well (at least for me). We got a bit of thunder a

few minutes later.

Apologies if you saw the first upload 5 min ago. This was the one I

meant to put up.

 

Comments welcome.

I gave a somewhat unusual rating, a 3 A, 6 O, and thought I should explain it. The noise, at least as I'm viewing this, is very distracting. The highlights in the hair are blown out badly as well. I think a bit of a dodge around the eyes could help draw my attention back where it belongs. Also evening the lighting on the door some with dodging/burning could be in order. The major problem is that my eye is drawn away from the wonderful subject.

 

However, the photo is full of life, amusing and endearing. A real treasure, in fact. It's on photo.net, so it gets a critique and a couple ratings, but I think actually this shot is probably above such nitpicking. I enjoyed it very much.

 

Hope that is ok and that I explained myself clearly.

Becky...funny you should mention shutter speed. I can't remember the last time I shot at 1/1000 (or something close, can't remember here exactly). I was handholding a 300mm with 1.6x factor (not sure if that factor impacts it) and it was pretty windy up on the road. I love the effect it gave me here. But it really was one of those things...I needed my 300mm to take the shot, and in the end the compression from the telephoto I think made the shot more powerful. I had to use a fast shutter speed, and it froze the water nicely. I think it's called "better lucky than good."

 

Paul, it's what I love about this area. So much diverse scenery. I'll be back there next week I think to fish a little more and hopefully get some pics.

Thanks for all the positive comments! Makes my day.

 

Len, I'm really pleased with the lighting here too. Without a doubt, one of my weakest points is patience. I'd been fishing all day in hot weather and was ready to head home by 5pm or so. 2 hr drive ahead of me, with 2 hrs to get there that morning. But I hung around until 7:30 waiting for the light to get good (fishing all the while). The large format stuff I've done lately has really helped slow me down and I think it makes all the difference. Nice to have it pay off a bit here.

Didi, thanks so much for your kind words. Today was mostly a fishing trip for me, but I shot a couple landscapes with my 4x5 (I'm worried about flare on those, I'll know tomorrow) and stopped here for a half hour watching these guys chase salmon. This is Warm Springs Tribe land and they still fish off these rickety platforms with nets...amazing to see. The photo doesn't do the real scene justice! This is the kind of shot I love to share just to show a place or event, and it's nice when people get enjoyment from it. I sure wish there were a fish in the pic...maybe next time.

Unfortunately I never saw him catch a fish. Also wish those shrubs

weren't in the foreground, but I had little option on location. Also

not a case where I could go down, introduce myself and shoot from up

close. I'd like to go back and shoot this some more! Comments

welcome.

Nice sophisticated (to my eye) composition, and of course extremely beautiful. I like the rock/mountain with the trees, flowers and clouds softening in juxtaposition. I need to join you guys on one of those trips!

Paul, that's really well done! This is different from much of your work, but I'd like to think I could have named the photographer without knowing. I know that's not a critique per se, but I don't have anything to add or subtract. Carry on please...

I've often thought of trying to shoot spider webs as I pass them in the forest but I have not yet tried it. I think this is a good example with very good detail in the web. Position of the spider is good too. I find the colors a little distracting, but I enjoy black and white so much that it's hard to know if this is good critique or not. The top third is a little bright, with all the little plants it could be hard to fix this. Very good job. You should explore this idea further!

Len, there's no need for humble pie :)

 

It's worthy of a discussion on the forums, in fact, I considered it before posting. Not kidding. Your without a doubt looks better to my eye. Not just the curves improvement, but the shoreline. There is nothing else in the image to give you a proper horizon or sense of orientation (does this make it abstract art??? only joking)

 

Interesting situation, if you are into that sort of thing, which I am, though it makes me wonder...

 

Thanks again for your input.

 

Mac

Thanks Len! I am a total curves novice. Need to work on that. I have trouble with horizons like that. What you've done appears much more level but may not be, as that is a receding shore line. I tried to check the picture using a grid against the tree trunks and it was shot fairly level I thought. However, appearance is the best indication and yours is a great improvement. Thanks for taking the time to work on that for me.

Roy...that is so classic. Believe it or not I thought about doing the same, though my Photoshop skills really aren't good enough. I would have opened the lens but it might have disturbed the darned butterfly. And the image would have been pretty faint. Anyhow, I admire your contribution, and also think the crop is good. This photo was just for fun (they all are, or should be) and I'm glad it provided a little entertainment for you.

 

Definitely give LF a try! I love it. And I was amazed how quick it was to start making images I liked. If you have any questions feel free to email me, but I don't know all that much yet so the LF forum may be better. Also check out LFPHOTO.INFO it's a great site with lots of info and a forum.

I should add a special thanks to Gary Calicott of this site for pointing me to this area. Meant to include that in the critique request. Thanks Gary!

Focus isn't the greatest. But a nice scene I came across today that

I thought I'd share. comments welcome.

Wanted to shoot this with my 4x5, but the lightning was coming in

from behind me pretty fast so I used the digital SLR. The butte is

uninteresting in this light so I chose to make it a silouette. Tried

keeping a little detail in the hills behind it, but that was hard.

Comments welcome.

Very interesting perspective and nice background. I'd like the depth of field to extend to the end of the driftwood if possible, keeping the background about the same focus-wise. That might have been impractical (can't always carry a tripod) and it's a lovely and creative shot either way I think.

thanks terry

 

there are some great photo-ops in this landscape. A bunch of spots with wildflowers and ferns growing through burnt out trees. Didn't find the shot I wanted today, but I'll be back soon.

This might be a good situation to use a "fill flash." You might be able to then have a sky with detail in it and still see your subject. Play with various flash compensation settings...you may not want to fire it at full blast! Just a little extra light on the subject. If the flash were mounted on the camera it might make for a weird set of shadows, so instead, a reflector off to the side (big piece of white board for instance) might also do the trick. Hope this helps. I'm not so experienced myself, especially with this sort of shot, so listen to others here first.