astral

This is not a photograph

I honestly find this image really creepy. The girl looks as though she is scared stiff, and that makes me feel really very uneasy. I understand that this is a deliberately created effect, making the eyes unnaturally large?

So subtle, and excellent balance ... in fact, it's so good that if you crop the image any way (one tree, two trees, etc) it still and superb image - now that's no mean trick. Brilliant!

"Well seen" as they say - very nice balance and colour. Excellent.

A superbly balanced photography worth of the highest rating - thank you. AC

A supremely wonderful image which reveals the true value of photography in recording truth and beauty. A refreshing change to the digitally enhancement and fakery that is often misused to falsify or misrepresent real and poignant moments like this. Excellent.

 

AC

I find this a strange picture. The composition certainly isn't classically balanced, but it isn't actually balanced either. The reflection of the tree looks unnatural - no foreshortening, just an upsidedown tree. Then the cloud reflections don't seem natural either.

 

I appreciate that this is a small low-res image and is therefore not shown at its best, but it looks very odd. That doesn't mean I don't like it - I do like parts of it, but not the whole picture .... mainly because it feels more like a piece of graphic art drawn with charcoal than a photograph .... Very nice, but somewhat unconvincing. I'd like to see it much bigger ....

Second vote for: "Great graphic art, but not a photo in my opinion."

On first looking at this photograph my impression was "very good" and "I wish.." Overall, we have to accept many limitations with such action photos and there are several here, as discussed. I too feel that some cropping and tidying would greatly benefit the image; the top centre branches do intrude and the right-hand-side horseman could be removed, etc. The question of what to do with jet trails remains. For a "re-enactment" photo they are an unwanted/unwelcome intrusion: but remove the word "re-enactment" and say "On the Great Western Trail - 2006" and I believe the photo become more of a surprise, more real and documentary - even with jet trails.

 

Apart from these limitations, which are fixable, I really like the image, thank you. Alan.

Alan - yes it's often good idea to take filters off for these shots but the sun angle can be very difficult indeed. Another thought is to test a few different lens hoods - the manufacturers' ones are sometimes a little too wide. Final option: try a longer focal length lens .... Good luck - and don't give in!

Superb photograph, absolutely superb. This is the best photograph I have seen here for a very long time: it is also the best photograph I have seen anywhere outside National Geographic (etc) for at least a year (I do see a lot).

 

Lucky guy!

As they say - "If you can 'see' it, you can photograph it" - I wish I'd seen it, I'm glad you did!

 

Super photograph.

I like this image very much, more than any other I have seen so far this week. It captures a moment of vitality and exuberence. The black and white image conveys a classic feel with nice tones and textures. The single sharp static face in the bottom right is a nice counterfoil to the blur of the rest of the image. Being quite critical I would like to have seen a little more of the area around the woman's sharp face, just to balance the image more and bring her farther into the frame, but moments are like that - they come and pass and may not be perfectly captured - such is the charm of an image like this - it is in a sense incomplete .....

 

Love it!

Very good. I would try it purely b+w.

 

 

It calls for a lens hood or some other shading held so that no sunlight falls directly on the lens glass, causing flare and ghosting. This is difficult with wideangle shots aimed more-or-less at the sun. But correct shading (and total absence of dust on the lens) can give spectacular contre-jour photos, even of mundane subjects.

 

Try again, with a more normal focal length and a deeper hood. Contre-jour is tricky so you'll have to work at it.

A single figure in this scene would make it classic. Nevertheless a fine photo.

First class work - very saleable!

Excellent, more please.

It'd look great with a 1950s sedan coming towards us!

Fine scene that may only be rarely seen and should always be photographed. The recession and overall colour balance is very nice. If there is digital noise then I can't discern it. However, there is some distracting lightness on the left side around the branches that could be toned down to give a more uniform tone. Overall, I like it and think it has further potential

Excellent

Excellent