ghuczek

!!!!!!!!!!!

Not really. The background highlights in the top right do though.

I like the flat, muted colours. The lack of foreground focus is distracting, as is the rock(?) in the bottom right third, which draws the eye away from the distant, central landmass.

Abandoned railway stations, metal milk jugs on railway baggage carts.

Obsolete grain elevators. As we watch more and more things around us

slowly becoming obsolete, it is worth noting that other generations

have watched as technology changed as well. Change is rapid,

relentless, and inevitable. There isn't much point debating whether

it's good or bad; it will happen anyway.

I haven't rated this, but I'm glad I read the other critiques. I would not have understood that the sign indicated the leading edge of the glacier in 1982. If this were stated in a caption, as in a magazine article, then the point of the photo would have been clearer to me. When I first looked at this, I thought the sign meant that the peak was first scaled in 1982.

Yuri: There is no rule in photography that makes it "unfair" to use any particular technique to create an image like this. Image manipulation has been done since the dawn of photography. Because your intent is to reveal, not to mislead, anything is fair game!

Gothic! Very nice. Could you do someting about the convergence of the verticals perhaps? 6/7

Great for textbook illustration. The photo has commercial potential.

 

Separated from the background it looses its context as a nature photo. In spite of the careful clipping, even the low res version here shows the extent of the manipulation.

The vertical format leaves too much empty space in the foreground. Look at the cropped version. Much stronger I think. If you don't like the square, then try composing more carefully at the time the photo is taken. Sharpness starts dropping off on the subject's foot as well. Watch that.

Intriguing. I like the way this works. Have you seen "Schindler's List"? The movie is in B&W except for a red jacket worn by a young Jewish girl. The red has tremendous emotional, symbolic and psychological impact in the movie. Red by itself in B&W dominates. Because of that, I need to see more of the girl's right eye. Without that content I am left trying to grasp at the significance of the symbolism. The conection between the girl and the apple is not quite clear enough for me to be able to make out their relationship. The two need to connect somehow.

Lovely urban landscape. All of the elements work harmoniously together.

The lighting on the face is wonderful. A closeup of the face might have been interesting. I agree with previous comments about the bottom right corner. Much too light. It needs to be burned down. Unusual posing. Very relaxed and full of expression.

The two background overlapping shapes might have wrecked this, but the light here is fantastic. Great lead-in lines created by the fallen timbers.

I haven't seen the "unworked" version. On my monitor the sky colours do not look natural (not that they have to). The foreground and midground are very convincing, but not against that sky. I like the composition. Try a monochrome version. Here's a quick B&W mock up ... looks like it would work well like that too.

The background wrecks this portrait, I think. The tracks lead to a vanishing point where the bright sky competes too much with the subject. Have a look at the shot, as I've cropped it. Imagine a viewpoint more from the left to get the full torso. The shoulder strap and underarm skin also distract.

This photo gives a peaceful, tranquil feeling. Very good work.

Very nice. Great technique. I love the flash fill and the way it makes the bird seem more lifelike.

Lovely abstract. Great alignment to get the symmetry right.

Amazing technique.

Very interesting. A bit overworked perhaps. The colour is very appealing.

A lovely image. Beautiful tonality. I tried cropping the image down to try to see if it worked better with the top left hightlight removed, but it didn't seem to work as well. In fact, it seems to spoil the composition completely. I hope you don't mind that I tried this for myself to see if cropping would help. See my cropped version in the attached jpeg. It doesn't work nearly as well as yours.

Beautiful work. 7/7. Feather bottom darker to drop off light a bit more before printing. The pose, even by itself without the rest, is very strong and classical.

This is all about expression, captured so well. The magic of this special moment shows the loving relationship between the adult and child. The adult has entered the world of the child, transformed by play. The foreboding sky can't begin to darken the relationship being portrayed. Black and white is the perfect medium for showing emotion. A pefect moment captured decisively.

I like the way the texture of the background works against the soft, newborn skin. The child seems as relaxed as in the fetal position on this rug. Black and white works well here too. Nicely cropped. Shadows are nice and soft, but the light could be more frontal to avoid the dark areas. Well done.

I love the expression and the way the colours all work so well together. Bottom right and top left could be toned down a bit, using digital burning in, to subdue the hot spots. If this is candid, unposed "street" work, it is a remarkable shot.