john_h.1

"Lick me in the eye when I'm talking to you!"

Jerry's comment pretty much sums up my thoughts so I'll ditto his. Very cool.

"the idea behind the shot is great."

 

No pun intended of course.

 

The overwhelming post production effects detrat from an otherwise wonderful image. These over the top effects work well with other images in the portfolio, particularly the graphic art style samples, but on something like this its just too much.

Its very nice but this same composition has been published various times before.

Gotta love it when the duck goes by to make your shot complete. Everything came together composition wise and the exposures are good. Impressive.

A good mix of stuff. Exposures look great.

Beautiful scenery, nicely photographed.

A very eye catching image.

 

What would have happened with your carried 4 year old daughter if YOU were bit by those snakes? Would you and your back still be able carry her on the way out or make it out at all?

"Very nice capture"

 

Which image was the nice capture?

Good timing and composition.

Ideally J.W. is right but the the imperfect set-up makes the image seem more real and telling somehow. It might be better as it is than what it could have been. Also the image is not of two athletes in a sweat because they ran up a mountain so, of course, it shouldn't look like that.

 

They are two freinds sitting on a rock, probably at the ocean (see the barefeet), and that's what the picture looks like.

Fergus, while I don't assume any self aggrandizement on your part at all, you might forgive someone for thinking that your ratings request was not designed for the sake of others when your request was associated with your own image and merely asks that such ratings be made "elsewhere". We should all encourage ratings to be made in good faith and avoid making gratutitous deflated and inflated rates. The 'integrity' of the system will always be flawed however.

 

As to this image, I clicked on it as the thumbnail version alone was striking and I think its one of your best. While the image might have turned out as routine for seasoned photographers under normal conditions, you certainly were served well by being at the right place at the right time and the effort to be there then through all the cold ect. was worth it. The lead in of the icicled foreground proves quite interesting.

 

7/6

Do you see ratings as a means to giving feedback or to help win a ratings contest? You seem to know which ratings are invalid so if your concern is simply feedback, simply ignore those ratings you already deem unworthy. You won't have to get worked up over "vile" people. If you are in it for a photo rating constest, you should ask those giving inflated high rankings without critical analysis to stop giving such ratings as well. Of course there is no point in entering in to a "fair" ratings contest as it will never be one.

This is the ole' put a colorful leaf on a rock in the foreground of a waterfall technique. This one features the leave the brown leafs around it to make it appear realistic but it doesn't quite work variant.

 

I've done it myself from time to time and the general viewing public loves it..

Tomaso,

 

I have another image of this scene that is exactly the same as this but is seen in the more usual orange sunset/sunrise light. In this image I deviated from my usual practice of avoiding automatic scene modes and shot this in sunset mode which gave it this stark but fairly believable filtered effect. I tend to agree with your perspective but, for some reason, this version seems to resonate more with people so I posted this version.

 

Thanks to you and all for taking the time to comment.

The Midnight Black action?

Its obligatory to have an image of a woman flicking water from her hair in the collection now. It used to be hot air balloons.

 

Its done well.

Very eerie (is that the right spelling?). Cool foreground interest that blends well in to a gentle water transition. The trees in the background are interesting. The browning mist matches the ground for overall effect. Nice. How was it done?

Ignore the 3/3s. They are dishonest ratings. You captured a really cool moment. The direction of the bird's heads are perfect and much more interesting than the average bird shot. I could have rated the asthetics a bit lower but didn't considering that there isn't much post manipulation such as a fake saturated sky or something. How can those low originality ratings be given here while a hundreds of the exact same kind of sunset on the rocky shoreline shots get sevens? Those are beautiful images, no doubt, but how often does a shot with this kind of well juxtaposed interaction come around?

 

 

Typical but awesome.

"where are your images of comparison. Proof then speak."

 

No proof is required or even relevent as to critiquing. One can make valid observations about a photograph even if they are not able to create an image as good or in the same way. Certainly some film critics cannot make a sucessful movie but are well able to discuss the merits of one nevertheless.

 

Moreover the critique challenged here was that the image scene was cliche. No photograpghy skills are required to make that determination so again, the proof demanded is not relevent. One need never take a picture of kittens in a basket, a female flipping long wet hair in the water or a sunset on a rocky coastline to formulate an rational opinion on whether such an image is cliche or not. If there is a disagreement as to whether it IS cliche that is fair but it has nothing to do with the quality of someone's own images.

 

I find the image to be good and well composed with maybe a wee bit too much lightening of the shadow areas. So many photo's are cliche and over done so this one seems reasonably original.

"Fantastic creation!"

 

If those were birds placed there instead, someone would call it a "nice capture".

 

Nice job on this.

"Yes, I did"

 

Tried and true, it works every time. It doesn't look too obvious with the sticks except to someone like me. Overall a very successful image.

So go ahead. Tell us. Did you put it there?