Lou_Meluso

I like the strong graphic approach. With the right composition, the images can perform a visual dance of shape and line that can be very beautiful. I just don't think this is the best composition of those elements (which is easy to say from my armchair). It starts out well left-to-right in a interesting frieze but gets a bit busy in the middle and clumpy on the right side.
It takes a good eye to see the shape and line of the subject beyond the subject and Nancy did a fine job of isolating these interesting shapes. Sometimes your point of view and the natural composition order works well for you and sometimes it doesn't. But the technique and effort is a good one.

I love the body position here. Very classical looking with a nice featureless background. Of course, the fact that this woman has one beautiful body doesn't hurt either. Nice shot, John!

Lots to like in this casual portrait. Beautiful soft lighting. Nice sharpness contrasted against the soft (though a bit busy) background. I find, with sitters that are leadership figures, to take a somewhat lower-than eye-point camera position which give a bit more strength to the persons status. With that direct gaze, I think you could have cropped even tighter to zero in on the eyes. Good work, Ray!

A cute shot overall. I would ask the model, next time, to get a "John Waters" wax so all butt hair is removed or at least provide a bit of PS retouch to keep the butt crack clean looking since it appears that is the subject of this photo.

Looks like a movie matte painting. Really nicely framed and I like that you didn't lay on the HDR too heavy. Very nice, indeed.

Wonderfully gross! Neat shot. I don't eat smoked fish so I sure some will find this mouth watering. 

I love the side stage viewpoint and back lighting. Has a romantic feel to it. Very Degas-like in her pose. Great work!

This picture is not to my taste in a conventional way, but I understand the approach. It's not a picture to please a sitter or viewer but rather it's more deeply personal, like a dream or distant memory I had. A quick flash of a moment in life long ago that is now just a buried fragment of thought, grown dim and dirty in the clutter of memory and time, of a girl I once loved. All I can remember of her was that windswept, sunny day and that smile. She was young and beautiful and I was strong and clever and said something funny to make her laugh. We were carefree and happy that moment.

I sometimes have flashes of fragmented memories like this and this picture reminded me of them.

This is a very beautiful model and I just love the lighting and muted colors of this picture. What I don't like is the pose. She looks like she is giving herself a neck adjustment. The two hands and neck turn are awkward looking. The shawl is a nice prop but information at the bottom of the frame is excessive and doesn't help the portrait. I'd crop up a bit to improve the composition.

I like this picture. Folks from most western countries tend to enter and examine a photo much the same way we read words on a page, starting at the upper left and across. Here there is a strong leading line that begins as my eye enters the frame and directs me right to the sharply rendered subject. I like that. The delicacy of the dried up flower and soft background add to a pleasing effect.
The only suggestions for improvement, and these are nitpiks, would be to warm the image up a bit as it looks a bit blue on my calibrated LaCie 526 monitor. I might raise the frame fractionally to give a slight improvement to the overall balance, but as I said, these are small details. Kudos to you, Ellen, for a fine nature close-up.

I like the image. The powerful sense of scale is enhanced by both the figure and the palatable sense of depth in the scene. The obvious mastery of the B&W tonal scale adds additional appeal as the weather and textural components gain a wonderful clarity.
The figure does add to the drama of scale, however, I think if the persons legs or arms could be seen better it would improve the effect and be even more eye-catching. Nice work, Maciek!

To test my own idea, I made the right figure larger, opened up the shadows a bit and re-cropped the image. Not bad. OK, I may have gone too far in size with her. Kinda looking like the 50ft woman. I just wanted to see if my own advice would hold up. It definitively changes the feel of the shot. If it was shot a bit closer to her the effect would be more natural than a post manipulation. As Stephen points out, that may not have been possible or appropriate. I'm very good at Monday morning photography.

I rather like the photo. There is a surrealistic feel about it. They seem like actors on a stage. To my eye this is not a documentary image as an artistic one. The absence of surround focuses the eye strongly on the dynamic of figures. The figure on the right balances the group well. I rather like the contrast of the active, impassioned discussion of the group and the calm of the figure looking on. The sepia tone does not really add anything pictorially here other than give a nod to the earth tone that seems connected to this tribe of people. It doesn't bother me since all other indications of the local are not shown.

To improve it I would venture to advise to make the figure on the right even larger, more dominant and looming. A detached, anchor of calm in a turbulent discussion group, and to get a bit more detail in the dark group.

I like the picture. I like dog pictures. I like the tranquility of the woods that are well conveyed and the lighting is beautiful no matter how it was achieved. The delicate tonality of this winter scene is extremely well handled. The composition and placement of the subject is good.

What this image needs is a hook. The key subject is too static and doesn't grab you. I think it would be improved if the dog were running, or carrying something in it's mouth or some other sort of action. If the subject were a wild animal that would add interest. If you make the center of interest more interesting, it would elevate this image to a very high level. This, of course, is easier said than done. As it stands, it's still a pretty scene, with a dog, and that carries a certain baseline appeal factor. Especially if it's your dog.

I see your point, Stephen. Some of the appeal of the picture is the subtle quality of tone and color, so even if the color is "off" it still looks somehow appropriate. I think John has the right idea but just went too far with contrast and saturation and added a heaviness to the picture. To maintain the delicacy of the image the correction must be just as delicate. Here I offer a humble attempt. Mine differs from Landrum's as I added half his value of Mag and added half red and pulled the saturation back about 30%.

I like this picture. This IS a studio shot so it is, by definition, a staged picture. A beautiful model is lit extremely well with a soft quality that highlights her features. I personally love the shifted gaze. The effect is very painterly and "Madonna-like". The skin texture is well handled with a pleasing combination of detail and softness.The hat prop works perfectly here to lend a curving linear element.
Frankly, I wish the frame were shifted up an inch to see a bit more of it to strengthen the effect. Her face feels a touch high in the frame and giving up an inch more from the bottom wouldn't hurt the image composition structure .

The color issue has already been discussed and although often a desaturated, mono-tonish look can be pleasing in portraiture, green/cyan tone is not the best choice here, if, indeed, it was a choice and not just a calibration/color space/color vision problem. A simple enough fix however and a small nit-pik in an otherwise well done studio portrait. Kudos, Dimitar!

I like this picture. For me the primary strength of the image is the forced perspective which puts that big nose and red tongue right in your face and leads you up to the eyes. I like that the focus carries solidly from nose to the eyebrows, too. I like the square composition especially with the upward gaze which really makes the shot. The background seems fine. There is a direct simplicity to the approach that I like. Nothing fancy, no big hook, no song and dance, just all dog mug. If I were the dogs owner, I'd be glad to display a print of that image.

I like the idea expressed in this picture but I don't like the execution. This is a very attractive model and the costume and props are fine. Even the de-saturated effect post processing looks good. The specular highlight in the eye gives a nice focal point to the image. The composition is balanced well enough although the overall effect is one of heaviness.

What I don't like is the camera angle which not only makes her strong chin even more pronounced but I'm looking right up her nose, which I might add is very bright via the lighting. It's a very strong point of contrast and my eye keeps going right up that nostril. I am going to take liberty and assume the dark, dingy background, frayed shoulder of her dress, unkempt, almost dirty looking hair are intentional for effect and I think are fine. However the completely un-retouched condition of the model skin I find disturbing (I did zoom in a bit). Clearly, heavy retouching would out of place, but some would make this image easier to look at and linger. And what's that thing on the wall behind her mouth and white line through her index finger knuckle? This is a very nice idea that didn't quite jell for me.

Thanks Stephen, high praise indeed coming from you.

I like this picture. The expression on the baby alone is worth the price of admission. Very cute. And very clever the effect of tossing the kid. The composition is good and the arms direct your gaze up to the baby. The only thing that hits me as wrong is the extreme difference in exposure between the arms and the baby. It suspends my disbelief for a moment. I might understand a slight down play of the value of the arms but they look positively gray and the baby is so bright. I think a bit better lighting balance here would turn a cute shot into a great picture. Nicely done, Andy!

Thanks, the camera is sitting on a small table and I pre-focused and used a self-timer.

Really. Says who? What if you came upon this image in a group show or museum gallery. You are going to reserve judgement till you contact the artist and grill them as to their technique before you can appreciate and make comment on the image? Photographs, by definition, are an abstract of reality. The photograph before you is the object under consideration. It is a work of creative effort and artistic intent. As it exists, for all it's quality or lack thereof, complete as the artist intended. It stands before you, as is, for your consumption. It is the thing under consideration. How it was made is meaningless. What the artist did before or after creating it is unimportant except in the most tangential art historical sense of the artist oeuvre.

Use your eyes and digest the information through the filter of your heart, emotions, intellect and experience. Then formulate an opinion and express what you like/dislike and why. To try and interpret the artist intent or method is not only pure conjecture but distracts from the most important thing, the discussion of the image itself. The photographer, via the POW selection process, has provided us with a visual artistic statement. They are not bound to hold your hand to aid you in your process. That is your responsibility. Everything you need to know stands before you and inside of you.

Stephen-I don't feel there is anything wrong with creating an interesting, natural-looking photo illustration. I know some have an issue with photographs being "real". I don't. You are correct, we don't "know" if it is or isn't but I don't think it matters.

Even, on the outside chance, this were a real scene, my comments on sappy sentiment and liking the image would be unchanged. The picture stands and fails on it's own merit regardless how it came into existence.

I would, however, add in my remarks that, if it was revealed to be a natural scene capture, I would be the first to congratulate the photographer on their incredible luck of stumbling onto this fortuitous arrangement of subject, dramatic lighting, unique location and animal motion all captured with, great presence of mind, in a well composed frame, one perfect exposure with impeccable timing. It could happen I suppose.

I don't like this photo illustration. The staging, execution and post work is very well done, but the sappy sentiment is tired. The winged bird, as metaphor of spirit, rising above the grave is a pretty short reach creatively. A good technical display of an idea that needs work.

I like it. It has an intimate feeling to it. I agree that she could be lightened up, and less sharpened than she is, and the kitchen area brought down some, but lighting in homes is not perfect and that lends a sense of genuine place, a real person in a real home. Showing the doorway through to the kitchen area adds a sense of depth to the scene. The overall composition is very balanced. The picture has a lot of visual appeal and with a few post processing moves, would sit proudly in any portrait or artistic portfolio. Nice work, Paul!