gerrymorgan

I like this composition, especially the "V formation" of the people. And the people on the right provide a lot of movement that leads the eye towards the boat being launched. It's almost a decisive moment. In a perfect world, the boat in the distance would have moved to the left just a little, to provide separation from the man in the foreground. But by the time that happened, the arrangement of people would have been different, so perhaps this was the optimal moment.

 

I'd be tempted to dodge some of the shadows to open them up a little. The information is there, even in this JPEG. I've taken the liberty of doing so myself in the version below, and cropping slightly from the left, which makes the composition look more balanced to me. Do you think so too?

 

It was a difficult shot with the harsh light, heavy shadows, and glare on the sea. I think you got the exposure just right. With a little more darkroom work (or a better scan, only you can know which), it should look great.

It's similar to opuntia basilaris, but I've never seen a beavertail more than a couple of feet high. Beavertails are native here in southern Arizona and I've never seen this plant in the wild (this one grows near my house and I'm sure someone planted it). Also, I forgot to mention that the flowers on this cactus are orangey yellow (there's a photo of the flower here), and beavertail flowers are pink/red.

Thanks for the suggestion, though. Do you have any other thoughts on what it might be?

How about if you were to push one of the dumpsters to create a gap between the two so that you can shoot someone on the basketball court (or somewhere) framed by the smelly things. Do they have a second pair of wheels so that they could be repositioned in this way?

 

Good luck with your project, by the way. It's an admirable idea. I hope you'll get some coverage in the local press if that fits in with your goals.

I like the centered horizon. The vanishing point of the jetty seems to be on the horizon (that's where the two main lines converge) and so it feels to me as if this photo is to some extent *about* the horizon -- as if that is the boat's destination. Perhaps the trip will be to the islands that we see at the right, on the horizon (of course, looking closely, the passengers seem to be disembarking, so perhaps the horizon is where they have come from).

 

The central horizon is also OK because the sky is interesting. I might be tempted to selectively burn the sky in a little to make it more dramatic, but it's a matter of personal taste.

The brasserie certainly looks very warm and inviting, and contrasts well with the rainy street. I might be tempted to tone down the road sign a little, as it overpowers the warm light of the brasserie.

For me, this shot does not work on its own. The light is not interesting, the composition doesn't have anything that grabs my attention, and there is not even a decisive moment happening on the basketball court (perhaps if he were just putting the ball in net?) However, I like the other two photos ('Victoria' and the one of the two people -- the man with the red hat). If there were a person closer in this one it would be more interesting. Perhaps the guy playing ball would have posed for you. Or perhaps that's not what you were looking for in this shot.

This is my favourite of your three (so far?) scooter shots. I like the way the series is anchored by the theme of a single scooter, stationery (or almost so in the case of the other Saigon scooter photo). It's a great theme for a series!

 

What I particularly like about this one is how the rider in the orange top seems to have temporarily left the blur of scooters to be still and share a moment with a non-scooterist. I like the stillness of their transaction and how it contrasts with the beautiful, diagonal blur of movement. In the background, the riders in white are joining the blur, as if to make up for the temporary loss of the rider in orange.

 

I'm looking forward to the rest of this series.

 

They're a beautiful pair of jellyfish, and I love the contrasting colours between the jellies and the water. But they're rather underexposed. A little exposure compensation would have made this photo quite striking. You could have cranked up the ISO to keep it hand-holdable.

You've captured a great moment here. The concentration of the man carefully carrying the yacht. He carries it with the care of a man who perhaps built it himself and is about to send it on its maiden voyage across "le petit lac du Luxembourg"... or am I reading too much into this? The child looks at the yacht with pure excitement about the impending launch (i.e., does not share the man's fears about whether the maiden voyage will be successful).

 

There's a very powerful area in this photo -- the imaginary line between the two people's heads, with the boat right between them, and I like how that imaginary line is perpendicular to the (real) diagonal line made by the man's leg and the sail of the yacht. I also like the contrast in the photo, from the white of the sail to the black of the subjects' clothes. And, by presenting (or perhaps shooting) this in black and white, you have given their clothes a uniformity (medium-tone trousers, dark jacket) that reflects their unity of purpose.

 

Do you know these people? Did they get a copy of the print? I imagine they would both want to keep this photo forever. I will certainly come back to it.

 

For me, the position of the bird and the way it contrasts against the white cloud really makes this shot. Your timing was perfect.

Abducted by pigeons.. and you can see the contrail of the mother ship just passing overhead. I like this idea, and it works well in black and white. It would be nice to see a little more to the left of the frame -- the bird at the far left. But the pigeons probably gave you no warning that they were about to do this, so I understand that you might have had only a fleeting moment in which to compose.

The colours are so striking against the almost monochrome street scene. Nice shot!

I love this composition, Konstaninos -- you must be very pleased with it! The roof of the building frames the monkey perfectly, and the pillars at the lower left keep the eye in the area with the main subject (monkey, of course!) I really like the entire frame, the beautifully out-of-focus dome at the top left, the vegetation at top right, and the angle of the building. Even the wall at the bottom frames the shot perfectly, and the monkey is ideally positioned. I also like the muted tones that give it an almost sepia feeling.

 

I wonder whether perhaps a little dodging of the monkey's face would make this an even better photo. For me, the monkey is a little overpowered by the brightness of the roof. I took the liberty of experimenting with this myself. I dodged the monkey's face and burned in the roof a little. For me, it gives the photo a more even tonality and allows the monkey's face to be more prominent in the frame, as I think it should be (in other words, for me, this photo is about the monkey, not about the roof).

 

Now I'm going to 1) mark this as a favourite and 2) look at your other work. This is very impressive!

Nice portrait, Monica. I like how you have lit this -- it's very subtle and I enjoy how it allows the reflections off the floor to work. The exposure is also very nice. There's just the right amount of shadow detail in the Christmas tree for it not to distract the viewer's attention from the children.

 

I keep wondering about that area at the far left of the frame. Should there be a tiny crop from the left (perhaps about 2/3 of the way from the edge of the frame to the nose of the stuffed toy)? Or should there have been something else there to round out the photo? Either way, my eye tends to wander out to the left a little. But I'm just nit picking -- it's a great shot!

Nice, shot, Sanja. You're timing is impeccable. I love the cigarette smoke. Your photo is also beautifully exposed. In a perfect world, perhaps the model would have been a little further to our left. This would have left a little more space for the photo to "breathe" between her hair and the edge of the frame. And it would also have removed some of the dead space between the model and the curtain (shower curtain?) with the musical notes on it. Still, I love this portrait -- congratulations!

I love the light in this photo, including the specular highlight on the jug. I checked out your photos after seeing this one in the No Words forum and being struck by the fact that you lit it with a wind-up flashlight..

Hi Dorota... your title requests opinions about this photo. I think it has strengths, and also leaves room for some improvement. There is enough contrast in the frame to make this a good black and white subject. I also think your fundamental idea and composition are good -- the converging lines that guide the viewer's eye to the main subject. But when the eye reaches the main subject, I find her to be too dark. Her head blends with the dark wall at the end of the walkway, and the brighter areas above her and to each side compete with her for my attention and draw my eye away from her.

 

If you have the chance to shoot at this location again, perhaps you could shoot from a lower angle, which would the subject's head against the white area on the back wall rather than the black. I realise that this might spoil the symmetry that you are seeking, but perhaps this could be fixed by cropping slightly.

 

Alternatively, and depending what colour the back wall is, perhaps you could control the separation in your black and white conversion by tweaking the red/blue/green channels so that the back wall contrasts with her hair (i.e., so that the wall is rendered as a lighter shade of grey). Some judicious dodging and burning could also be used to fine-tune this effect, and also to control the contrast between the woman and the background in other places (torso, arms). It would also perhaps allow for a little more detail in the woman's arms and legs, which are blocked-up shadows (on my monitor, at least). You might be able to make these adjustments to this photo, without reshooting.

 

I think this location (and perhaps this photo) has potential.

 

This is a beautiful portrait with the contrasty look that I admire in so much of your work on Photo.net. I love how her light-coloured ear-rings contrast starkly with her dark hair -- it really attracts the eye towards her face. The much-debated trash can does not disturb me in the slightest and breaks up what would otherwise be an empty expanse of white, which otherwise might lead the eye away from her face.

 

In a perfect world, it would have been nice to have softer light. The straight lines and harsh light transitions of the shadows detract from the tonal gradients and curved lines of the photo. But the moment presented itself in the light that was available, and you seized the moment! I also agree that it might be worth considering removing the power lines.

 

Nice shot, Meir. I'm just discovering your work this morning and it's quite inspiring!

 

I love the juxtaposition of this shot. And your timing was impeccable.

You've really captured the moment here. I like the composition a lot, and it's beautifully exposed. Great job!

From the thumbnail, I thought perhaps you had desaturated everything except the flowers to black and white. In fact, your photo is much more subtle than that. I love how the bright red of the flowers contrasts with the subdued colours of the grass and trees. The shapes in the clouds remind me of the cutout paper shapes that Matisse sometimes worked with. I really love the contrast between the vibrant flowers and the cold sky.

 

I wonder about a square crop. losing the right quarter of the frame. This would put the fountain in a stronger position and anchor the viewer's eye on the foreground flowers. I find my eye drifting over to the right, where the both the sky and the bush are less interesting. It would mean losing some (but not all) of the red in the bush on the right, but it might be worth it.

 

With or without the crop, I like this photo a lot.

Creat composition. I like the diagonal of the bridge and the way the building on the right is framed by the bridge support. The car turning the corner gives it a feeling of dynamism, and I like how its position echos the diagonal of the bridge. The dramatic sky really helps too.

 

On my monitor, I don't see much detail in the underside of the bridge or in the side of the car in the foreground. Your high-contrast processing has blocked up those areas and I would have liked a hint of detail. Still, I like this photo a lot.

 

Very good composition. And I like how the selective focus has given a sense of movement in the out-of-focus areas.

It's very much to your credit that you spotted this opportunity! I find my eye is first attracted to the right half of the photo, then gets led to the vanishing point at middle-left, then returns to the foreground to start its journey again. So the photo is very successful at keeping the viewer's attention, and I like the contrasting colours. Also, the slightly battered car is a nice touch.

What a beautiful wave! You really caught the moment perfectly. I like the angle you've put it at (the diagonal) and the contrast between the blue shadow and the orange light is just right. There seems to be a slight motion blur in the curve of the wave, and this works well, in my opinion. Yet you've also managed to stop the action for those water droplets at top right.