donald_l_fackler_jr

Interesting photo, I love the texture. It looks like it is made of stone and/or wood and has a 3D quality about it. I want to reach out and touch it to see what the texture feels like beneath my fingers. I like the light and shadow play across the spokes and the counter balance. I like the crop and the square format used too.

Don

Hi Richard, Thanks for stopping in to look at this. As fun as this project was to do I just can't help thinking that it would be so much easier to create it in PS. But where is the fun in that.

Don

Is he going potty?!! I was going to say you could crop down to make it just a head and shoulder shot but you would miss part of the humor in the shot. You have a blue cast that needs to be removed too. Nice timeing.

Don

I like this idea. It is very creative and beautifully put together. I like that you can see the veins of the leaf and a sort of history of the leaf at the same time.

Excellent image.

Don

I love the use of your leading lines and the gentle curvilinear path to fallow. it seems peacfull and yet cold. I have the feeling when looking at this image of being chilled to the bone and wanting to get home quickly and yet not being able to. I like your images because no matter which on I look at I get an emotional feel to them.

Don

I love this piece, it is simply beautiful. The only thing that bothers me is the plant growing from her lip and the stalk of the same plant that goes into her nasal passage. The dark tone of the nasal passage makes it look like the plant is going inside and for some reason that disturbs me.

Don

IMHO I think the correction of the perspect is well done. In the orginal the building looks like it is falling over and you don't get a sense of height. The corrected image also has a lot of strong lines running up the edge of the frame which seems to help compositionally. I love your conversion with all the rich tones in it. The way you go from the whites to blacks give this some nice dimension.

Impressive to say the least.

Don

Wow is all I have to say, well you know that I can't stop at that!!

I love what you have done with this image. I saw the thumbnail and immeadiatly I had to open it. I can't believe that those are the same images. The toning and contrast add so much more to the image. Choosing the sky really makes a difference to the whole thing too. It makes it like like it is a tall bridge.

The low perspective works well with this shot as it kind of makes the rails look like they are taller then they are. Replaceing the trees and people helps with the illusion as you don't have anything to compair height to. The blend of the sky is well done and helps to finish off the image. IMHO

Don

Thanks Pat and Bond for stopping by.

Pat. I have the image without the glow in my folder. I didn't get the glow right and like you I really like the cross with the background and no glow. I think it is an interesting cross with a lot of detail to exploit. I haven't played around with ps on any of the images as the project was to be minipulated it camera only. There were 5 different affects that we were to pick from. Ghosting, Outside camera maskin, Streaking, Neon Glow, and Incamera Masking. So far this is the only one I have tried.

Hi Bond, I wonder if the receding affect is because I chose a dark color instead of a light color. I almost used a yellow or orange but went with purple because of lent and easter comming up. I don't see the cross as receding as much as I see it moving forward as if it is comming towards me.

Thanks again to both of you for taking a look.

Don

In cammera minipulation Sinar 4X5 shot on chrome. Used a 500 watt

light pointed through the ground glass using the lens as a

spotlight. Cut out the image and placed a difused light behind the

cut out with a purple Gel (purple was used because of lent). Cross

was shot at F8 against a backdrop using 2 lihgts, one for back drop

and a honey comb for harsh lighting on cross. The backdrop was

removed and the glow was shot at F5.6 with a shear curtain over the

lens to give a difused edge on the neon glow. All minipulation was

done in camera with 2 exposures. No PhotoShop was used.

Your environmental portraits are amazing. They show great emotion. I like the contrast in your shots too as it realy brings out all of the details. Great work.

Don

Looking at both shots I can't decide which I like better.

In the original what I like is how the reflection seems to create a border on the left side and the mud bank on the right, allowing you to move into the picture from the bottom. It leads you deep into the image letting you wander causualy through the image.

As far as reducing the highlight, I don't think it was a mistake. You have great detail there and you would have lost a lot of that if they go too high and has a tendency to keep grabbing your eye and not allowing you to just wander around.

I would also say I think this could have been improved with a warming filter but that would have lowered your speed even more and I don't know what the additional blur would have done to the overall affect. I don't think changing the aperture would have worked because I like the DOF that you have. It always seems like we have to sacrifice something when we make the decision to push that little botton.

Don

Thanks Len, I will deffinatly try out those different angles the next time I get someone like him into the studio. I believe the ratio was 3:1 in this shot. I have experimented with Hollywood lighting with the high ratio and liked the affect. I should have cropped out the negative space before posting, I don't know why I didn't. For me my biggest problem comes with trying to crop pictures, I usually crop in camera because I have such a hard time cropping after the fact.

Thanks again for the tips.

Don

Nice composition, I like the stark harshness of this photo. You captured an interesting expression that the rim lighting enhances. I like the grain and almost wish that there was more.

Don

I like the image but I can't get by what looks like a color cast to the image. The saturation just doesn't look right. IMHO it looks as if the image is overexposed.

I like the fact that you had the patience to wait until they moved into the highlighted area to break it up and I like the diagonal movement the highlight makes but the image looks a little flat. I hope that you don't think I am being rude, I just can't seem to find the right words.

Don

This is an interesting shot with a lot of potential. Something that would be good to reshoot if you can. I think the lighting is a little too harsh for the subject although it is a great exposure. The crop would be nice to see if it were a portrait shot to emphasize the height issue instead of the width and a lower perspective as if it were through the eyes of a child looking up instead of the downward angel. I like the concept behind this, like you said it is a great growing moment. With all that said even just the verticle crop could do a lot to improve this shot.

Don

I don't know, I think I like the darker version better. I think I am partial to the dark foreground. I feel I can fall into the image with the light in the back. It pulls me into the imeage. I get a sence of moodiness in the darker image.

I think it is incredible what David was able to do and the detail he was able to pull out, but I am more attached to the original. Then again that is just me.

Don

I like the toned down sleeve a lot better, I don't find myself drawn to it any more. It is just another element of a great photo.

Don

I love what you have captured in this shot. Both seem to be very content and happy. The composition is great and I like the square crop.

The one thing that bothers me in the photo is the bright white of the sleeve. It has a tendency to pull my attention to it. I can see that there is detail but I wish it wern't so bright.

Don

Thanks David. It has been a busy year so far. The lighting was natural lighting comming through a sliding glass door. I went for a softer foreground to try to de-emphasize the dog in the foreground in the picture. Because he was so much closer I didn't want to give him a big bottom, I think even dogs can be a little vain. I also wanted to pull the objects in the background more into focus too. trying to bring out the silver picture frame.

I am now just beginning to start some commercial shots and hope that I will be able to post more of my environmental portraiture in the near future.

Thanks for stopping by and having a look.

Don

Thank you Ayse and Thank you for stopping by.

Don

I think I would have liked it with a little more contrast. It might be just me but the snow is too grey. I tink that more contrast would have helped the Imagine to pop out too.

Don

I like the desaturated trees and sky caused by the fog and how you have such rich colors in the umbrella adding life to a flat image.

Don

To me I wish the be had the point of focus and it was sharper. I would have to give you kudos for managing to capture the bee at this point but because of the lack of sharpness on the bee I think the image lacks a strong focal point.

Don