tar heel

Great, great shot, well exposed, excellent EXCEPT: What's with the tilted horizon? This kills it for me. SO cliche'... and adds nothing to the image at all, IMHO.

The subject matter is very compelling and worthy of discussion, but the photograph itself is not. This is a snapshot, plain and simple. I see no effort to use creative lighting, angles, etc. Shot from eye level...

 

I get SO bored with shots of children (or elderly people) in 3rd world countries looking forlornly into the camera, large pleading eyes, a dirty face, and people thinking this is a good shot. Anyone can walk down the street in a 3rd world country and find this kind of subject matter. It takes no creativity, special effort or talent.

 

Now, take that same child reaching for a food handout, or licking a bowl, or in some way DOING something relative to the "story" a photographer wants to tell, then you've got a photograph worth capturing. C'mon, folks, put some effort into your photography. Do something different.

Wow, I love it. Unusual lighting, great expression, very sexy without being overboard... two thumbs up!

Holy s***!!! Completely spectacular...

Several problems with this shot;

 

Background is horrible. WAY too busy. Depth of field is way deep, which renders the subject completely lost in the clutter. The two guys standing in the orange shirts are in the way, occupying too much of the frame.

 

Exposure is good, shutter is fast enough, but my first question is why did you not take this shot from the end of the track? And lower to the ground for more drama?

 

Keep trying...

GREAT shot, and excellent way to attract the bird, putting seed on the lens shade... Too bad you didn't have a PocketWizard to fire the 5D (?) I see the cable release, but what a shot that would be, of the bird sitting on the lens shade looking in to the camera... GREAT job!

How did you do this shot? It looks completely contrived. I know of no scenario in which that much water can be rendered 0/0/0 RGB. Can you describe the location, your vantage point and the camera settings and lenses, filters that gave this result? The waves look like artwork.

 

I'd be glad to be made dead wrong, but I don't buy it.

This shot is technically perfect; exposure, white-balance, composition, DOF, post, etc are spot-on. The skin treatment is very good, but is actually too good. The eyes are not natural and the skin is too smooth; no skin texture. I'm nitpicking here, but I feel it could be more natural. Less is more in skin treatment... imperfections need to be reduced not eliminated.

 

Aesthetically, this is a shot reflecting very little creativity. With all due respect, this kind of shot is achievable in any Sears photography studio in America. I don't mean this as criticism, and I know you worked hard on this image, it reflects a lot of work and attention, and it's a good shot, but not great. I see no personality. Nothing new in the pose, or the photog's POV.

 

I'm sure this person's husband or parents would LOVE this shot and put it on their wall, because it's technically perfect, but in professional circles there is much more you could have done with this person to bring out and express personality and to do something really eye catching. You're a good photographer, that's obvious, and you know post very well, that too is obvious, but try to think outside the box when shooting her the next time. Get her laughing, looking off-lens, thinking, playing with hair, scratching nose, etc etc.

 

Try this: Have her sit on the ground, you lie on the ground shooting through grass, or right on top of the grass, and then ask her to look at the lens and DON'T TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE LENS, get ready to shoot and then ask her "Tell me about the first time you had sex" She will give you a mountain of expressions that will evolve; you will start shooting for all you're worth, and one of those will be a classic keeper that will catch her personality in a way people will love. (And she doesn't have to actually tell you about the first time she had sex; your question will be enough)

 

She's a great looking gal, you're a good photographer, now stretch your creativity and try new things.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this... definitely eye-catching, but my main question, is how did you get her to do that? I mean, if I asked my girlfriend to "Hey, honey, how about you take off all your clothes and smear yourself with fireplace ash and sit in the fireplace naked and let me take a few shots..." I'd get a cold stare... I'd really like to see some outtakes from this session.

Reflects mood, excellent lighting, composition... very good!

GREAT composition, exposure. Also, excellent statement on the graveyard and the forboding look of the dark clouds, tree limbs w/o leaves, etc. I do, however, see a small error in your Photoshop correction aruond the top of the tower. There's a light glow around it where you evidently were adjusting things. Looks unnatural.

 

Excellent exposure, and I see what you are trying to do with the composition, but subjectively, it doesn't do anything for me. I think I would have concentrated on the flower. The upper areas of the image do not contribute to the shot, in my humble opinion. Great exposure and color, though.

 

One other comment; I notice you're using a DRebel, the same camera I use; but ditch that AWFUL 18-55mm lens. Notice the Chromatic Aberration around the edge of the person against the mountain? That comes from a poor lens. That EF-S lens is a toy. I upgraded to the Canon "L" series lenses and WHAT a difference!

 

Good luck!

 

Phil

You ALMOST hit the mark! There's too much dark background that obscures the right arm of your subject, thus ruining the effect. Great concept, but...

 

Phil

GREAT shot, excellent composition, excellent lighting, but POOR focus/sharpening. You detract a great deal from this shot from a lack of detail.

 

Phil

Really, really good! Excellent pastoral shot. I would have used a split neutral density filter to bring out detail in the foreground, but it's a very good shot.

 

Phil

Yes, I would concur; focus! You are too close physically to the rose for the DOF (depth of field) necessary to bring the elements of the bloom into focus. Back off and then crop tight.

 

Phil

Photo has potential, but you need to zoom in closer to the three men, and bring up the gamma, and increase the sharpness. Nice color contrast.

 

Phil

Again, it's amazing what you can do with simple subject matter. GREAT shot, but needs sharpening.

 

Phil

No question this is a brilliant sunset, and you captured the colors very well, but it's really just a run-of-the-mill sunset shot. To be sure, it's a real GOOD run-of-the-mill sunset shot, but it's very plain. Is there nothing around the location to include? An old boat? Or even a new boat? Dock? Brush in the water? Church steeple? Ducks swimming in the water/flying overhead? I think you could have done a lot with reflection; go to a portrait orientation and bring your camera very close to the water level and include sky AND water for a cool effect. Also, I think it could have been a little sharper. Did you put any sharpening on this? It doesn't like like it...

 

Don't get me wrong, it's a great shot, and one you can save and have a GREAT sky to put in other shots for composite work, but my rating on this would be 7 for aesthetices and 3 on originality.

 

Phil

GREAT shot. Very good.

GREAT shot! Colors well saturated, balanced (level) horizon, nice contrast between horizontal elements and vertical ones. Excellent.