zaan

I agree with the previous poster: much work is needed. However, I think great improvements would be easy if Gloria just found a way to transfer traditional film pictures to the computer, for I'm quite sure the bad color and sharpness here are mainly due to a bad transfer.

 

However, I do want to ask you: if this is a picture from "Gloria and Fred's" wedding, and you are Gloria, I'm guessing this is Gloria in the picture. Leading to the real point: who took this picture? I'm not really saying anything about anything, but I do think it's a basic rule of participation here to only post pictures you made yourself. If you did make this picture, then by all means: excuse what I just mentioned.

 

 

I shot this from the passenger seat early one morning as we were

driving back home (what is home though?) after a short skiing holiday

in Austria. I love the tree and the stark contrast of it against the

sky behind it. I like the composition, I like the framing. I like this

shot, but I would be curious to hear what you find

wrong/uninteresting/bad about it.

Silky smooth. Aesthetically pleasing. The color, the sharpness, the lines and direction are all top. If I had to remark on something I didn't like as much, it would be the fact that I'd like to see a little more of the top-left side. I feel the smoke plume is cut off a little too abruptly there. I'd like to see the direction we see here taken to the extreme: smoke flowing from the lower right corner straight to the upper left corner. Also, perhaps this is an image that deserves some sort of (dark) frame.

 

Good work!

Nice image! Haven't seen many like this before. A definite 7 for originality. Aesthetics 6, with the one reason that I find the 4 young'uns a little too dark to comfortably enjoy. Have you considered clearing them up a little in Photoshop? The composition of the shot is very nice though, quite amazing, especially seeing the speed that the machine was probably moving at. Good work!

Very nice image. The mood is so solemn. Even though there are children's drawings as a focal point, the entire scene has a feeling of emptiness, of nothingness. The man/woman in the haze next to the column seems to be walking slowly and deliberately, suggestive of an elderly person, which adds to the sphere.

 

I like what you've done with the light.

 

It was surprising that you write that this was the first day of 2007, because it might as well have been the first day of 1950, or even before. The mood is that devoid of modernity.

 

I see snow though, and ice. Ni shi beifangren ma?

This image is wonderful. The composition is helped immensely by the two vehicles... one moving in, one leaving the frame. I like the solitary figure walking forlornly through the frame, in a tunnel that wasn't meant for pedestrians. The bad, polluted air suggested by the motion blur of the cars.

 

When I saw the thumbnail of this image, I first thought the road was a swimming pool. There is this ever so fine motion blur on the road which makes its surface look eerily smooth. Wonderful.

 

The only real flaw (in my opinion) is the grayish cast on the white sky outside the tunnel. I can guess that that was done to avoid the blown-out effect that that sky perhaps had (overexposure) but the grayish quality it has now is just not natural (even for China!).

 

I love the format. The extreme wideness of the frame makes it almost look like a panorama. Great... it also avoids plenty of useless information in ceiling and floor.

 

Where was this image taken?

 

6/7.

I agree that a b/w version might be preferable. Otherwise, to make the image stick more, some more play with light and dark could be edited in with Photoshop. Perhaps it wouldn't be bad to make those doors really jump out, while saturating the whole a little more, and perhaps darkening the sides ever so lightly. I'm also ever so lightly bothered by the grass in the foreground. Maybe a wider angle could have been used, I'm not sure. Anyway, I would be curious as to see a b/w version.

You're welcome!

 

I understand your position on manipulating, but I don't really agree. I've found working in Photoshop to be liberating to the extreme: You add an entire new realm of possibilities to see, explore and improve your photography. It gives you an extra toolset to learn and understand what works for you and what doesn't. As such, I would only recommend it. Moreover, you may rest assured that any serious photographer uses Photoshop (except perhaps the remaining few who've made NOT using Photoshop their trademark). Photoshop is not something that is primarily used to 'fake' images, but rather to aesthetically enhance images so that they shine at their brightest. (It's my opinion that) Using Photoshop is allowed and good!

A very nice image indeed. The multitudes, the churning water, the contorted faces... very nice. One thought that struck me when I opened this image is that that idea might have even been better communicated had you used a wider angle in this shot (and I say that without having looked at which lens-distance you used). Am I right in thinking that the small upper bar of the image is the (river) bank? Perhaps it would be worth cropping that small band out and comparing as to which version is more striking.

Nice portrait technique. The glare of the flash is a little distracting.

I like where this is going, but I did feel that the image is not quite 'there'. Perhaps the biggest problem I have with this picture is the fact that the upper half of the image is empty and black, and doesn't really add anything to the image. You could say that it conveys a feeling of 'night', but so do the different lights in the picture. So, if I were you, I would crop a big part of the upper half of the image (and give it more of a widescreen feel). Then, I would perhaps be a little more aggressive with levels in Photoshop, and brighten the image up a little (as well as increase contrast). To end, I would saturate. I believe that nightshots like this usually fare well with a bit of saturation.

Very nice shot! I could imagine hanging this on my wall. It has a kind of retro feeling, linking back to the underground arts scene of the 70s perhaps, but then also feeling like today (it can't have been taken that long ago, seeing as how it was made digitally). I like the black and white, I like the sharpness both in the hand and the face, the motion blur of the magazine, the face and expression of the subject.

I think I understand what your 'message' is in this picture. You want to point out the extremely overdone visual stimuli in Hong Kong's urban landscape. I'm not overly impressed with the image though. I hope you don't mind me saying that. One main reason is that the image seems to lack a certain focal point. I'm drawn to the green sign, but then there are other signs and there is nothing that really speaks to me as the subject. I think I'm saying that the composition is not optimal. Moreover, am I right in seeing that the lower quarter of the image is desaturated (black/white)? That creates an effect that I do not like very much. It doesn't add any clear idea to the message. What is the point you wanted to make doing that (if indeed you did that)? It feels as if you want to create a contrast between the extremely busy signage overhead, and the traffic below. However, I don't really think there is a real contrast there: both are busy and both wear out the eye.

 

What do I not like about the composition though? I feel the hind end of the bus on the left is not very nice. It kind of pulls the eye out of the picture. It hints at something that the eye wants to investigate, but when the eye actually goes there, there's nothing there. Also, I wish the people in the foreground where a little more prominent, because that could be a visual cue in the picture, we watch with local spectators, bewildered at the commercial jungle ahead. But then, I also wish that the empty expanse of concrete below were cropped out a little more.

 

I hope you don't mind my comments, I really am trying to help you by giving you my honest opinion. Also, this is just one man's opinion.

This image is quite powerful. The composition is nice in a classic sort of way. The lighting is a little fierce (is that a flash-related overexposure on the little critter's exoskeleton?).

 

The thing that makes me doubt my liking of this image is the fact that I don't know whether it's manipulated or not, (or at least: to which extent). Why is the background black? Why is there a tiny branch that ends in a fork? Is the black background only due to lighting and DOF or was it removed with Photoshop? I don't know, but the fact that I'm wondering might show which way my opinion is going. Perhaps this picture was staged... that's another possibility. Two insects in a studio with a black background... interesting. As you can see, I haven't really made up my mind. If anything... it's an image that's better than anything I'm capable of at the moment. Cheers!

This image is one that deserves a closer look. I'm still debating whether the darkness in it is a good or a bad thing. One advantage of the image being so dark is that it adds to the somber atmosphere that most people typically connect with hospitals. On the other hand, the darkness makes it so that it's a little difficult to really see what's going on.

 

I very much like the feeling of the image. It seems these two people are just waiting, not really comfortable even, as one tends to be in a hospital. Perhaps they don't really know what to say, or perhaps it's not necessary to say something.

 

The only thing I find a little disappointing about the image (and I admit, I'm nitpicking) is the shape (and distortion) of the window. I'm guessing a rather wide angle was used to shoot this image, which would explain why the vertical lines are going towards one point. For some reason, I get the impression the windowsill is not really straight. I may be wrong. More importantly: it may not be important.

 

The more I look at it, the more powerful this image becomes. Good work! 6/7

I'm just going to go ahead and show you what I mean... please tell me what you think:

With the sun coming from the lower left corner, I find the image very overpowering and almost unsettling.

 

If it were mine, I'd try for some symmetry in the crop (top as much as bottom) and I'd lighten up the center of the flower somewhat using the lasso tool, feather selection and levels (in Photoshop, that is). If you're interested, I wouldn't mind sketching it out.

This image at least made me smile, after pondering it for a moment. Many colors, with a peace sign in the middle. Mind you, this comes shortly after hearing that I'm dismissed because the father of the apple of my eye doesn't like foreigners. :(

 

I like the idea. I find the left side a little dark. Perhaps a somewhat more shallow depth of field could help (but I'm by no means an expert).

It was here on Photo.net that someone once told me something along the

lines of 'I'd rather see where they're going, rather than where

they're from", and I agree. However, this was the best shot after a

(short) evening of trying a new 'panning' technique I'd heard from on

a (martin bailey photography) podcast. Many of the stripes in this

pictures represent other cars (moving at different speeds). The car I

shot was moving, and I had an exposure of 1/2 second at f/2.8. It's a

miracle anything is recognizable at all ;)

There's a strange spot on the moon. The few twigs on the foreground are a little annoying. I do like the composition and the frame.

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I find the colors in this image too green/blueish. A slowish shutter speed was used to create the 'curtain' effect in the waterfall (I think). The absence of any direct sunlight (?) and the hue seems to point towards an early morning/late evening exposure. More details?

Nice picture. Interesting composition. The black of the window frame and latticework is a little too dark perhaps.

Wonderful set up, pity of the softness in the man's face (very visible in the large version of this image, but also in the smaller versions). I wonder which lens was used at what setting to make this image.

Very nice. The light, color and saturation are just right.

 

I find the grain pattern a pity. Without it, the picture would be a 7/7.

Nice. The framing and composition is interesting. I don't much like the blue frame you've put around it though. I'm not sure if I like or dislike the blue haze noticeable in the netting.