markbalcom

On the left the light reflected in water and coming from openings in the buildings is pleasingly offset by the light globe up high on the right and lighted passageway in the background, breaking up the symmetric composition made by the bridge, canal, and buildings on either side, in my view, for an enjoyable presentation.

I like, in Bela's revision, "rev-2s", the emergence of a little more detail in the foreground and the idea of brightening the image for whiter snow--but possibly not quite as bright. In the original, I prefer the lower contrast and less sharp detail in the top half of the picture. I have seen this flattening of tone and softness of detail when there's enough blowing snow; and I think that handling contrast and detail this way conveys the mood of the scene effectively.

This picture provokes thought and communicates the mood of the scene for me. Thank you Laurent for sharing.

I did not know how day lilies would reflect infrared light; apparently

quite brightly. Thanks for looking.

Nice job preserving detail both in the shadowed stairway and the brightly lit exterior. I prefer a less centered composition. It looks also a little tilted to me with the sloped front edge of a stair at the bottom of the frame. My taste would be to crop this image on the left and slightly at the  bottom.

Nice grey tones all over and texture of the pavement and steps. The curve of the round column and diagonal of stairs break up the vertical rectangular elements and add interest in my view.

In autumn the treetop canopy thins out and more light penetrates the

forest.

On Lake Champlain shore, stones that were underwater in spring rested

on dry ground mid summer. Aquatic plants that had anchored to them

caught my eye.

Black and white would be different--better, worse, equal? Would need to see. Could be an elegant formal black and white image. Full disclosure: I enjoy more monochromatic or duo-tone images than color; and there are lots of bird photos in color. Also, I'm a birder and appreciate this image as is. Maybe both formats?...

Compositionally, I like the more or less parallel diagonals of the owl's body and lower length of the branch on which it perches. They lead my eye to the owl's gaze.

I can see what Richard is saying, but I also see the diagonal lines of the ladder and the steeper diagonal slope of the right side of the building draw my eyes in from the sides toward the center foreground and from there to the child in the doorway. Thank you Naseer for documenting this.

I agree with Daniel. Also, I enjoy the effect of the crossing diagonal lines of composition together with the mild parallax effect between the foreground and background visible in the table top. Curved elements, the nuts, surface texture of the floor, and grain of the wood nicely soften and add texture .

Lex, Thanks for so generously taking the time for such a detailed response. I had met an area photographer who did color infrared with an unconverted point and shoot digital camera. Some manufacturer's normal sensors at the time were more sensitive to some infrared and suited his need. Cannot remember the make of camera he had, though.

Hi Lex. This caught my eye and made me curious about your process with the image. Was this made using a dedicated infrared sensor, for instance? Is the under-saturated color near infrared captured visible spectrum. Or was all the magic in the photo editing software or darkroom printing? Maybe others wonder how you worked this as well???

The mention of Catenada recalled all the interest in perception that was so strong in the youth of the baby boomer generation. Appropriate for visual artists, you think?

Sorry to be long winded--you do tend to provoke thought.

Shadows close in on your subject (or light breaks in). Her posture is also closed in and her arms tucked close; her eyes are shut. A photo that both reveals and hides.  Well done, in my opinion. Thanks for sharing.

I saw the thumbnail image without knowing quite what the subject was. Expanding the view to see the fish made me smile. I think the fish "pops" because of the contrast with the light background. Nice detail in the dark tones, too.

Good composition that divides the frame into two triangles. Subject extends outside the frame--I think that lets my brain create the rest of the image, for instance, to visualize the entire hat or head covering. Also, there is enough detail to know what I am looking at; but enough hidden that it took me a few seconds before I understood. An engaging image and an enjoyable experience.

I find this elegant composition pleasing to view. It is simple, but has many elements to notice--the straight boundary between the dark textured side and smooth white wall, a curved and frayed length of cable, the uneven balance of the left and right elements, the slight division in the right side made by the molding the cable hangs from. Very much and exercise in design; and I think a successful one.

Again with the ferns.... Looking straight down at one by the side of a

country road.

I thought ferns changing colors in autumn: green, yellow, and lastly

brown, beneath trees that are loosing their leaves and letting patches

of sunlight shine on them could be interesting subjects in black and

white.

I enjoy the rich color, play of light and shadow, use of about 2/3rds of the frame to the lower left, diagonal line made by shadow on the vase and the rose that pulls my eye across the image up to the right, and the detail in shadows on the vase and flower. Red roses carry various symbolic meanings for different people and occasions and your treatment neither romanticizes nor trivializes. I find this an evocative, simple image.

Hand held camera, dim inside, full sun on the entryways. Comments are

welcome. Thanks.

Hi Maurizio,

This shot definitely caught my eye. The foreground is somewhat blank compared with all the detailed imagery above it, but has some texture and nice grey tones. I'm not sure I wouldn't like it more with the pavement in the foreground cropped. I go back and forth looking--have you considered a crop? I'd be interested to hear.

I like the compositional line made by the back of the skirt to the building in shadow in the upper right.

I enjoy your work.

Mark

Thanks Robert, looking again it looks fine to me now also. I'll check the monitor I was using earlier and recalibrate it. So, simply elegant composition--very nice image.

Looking up at the ceiling of a Roman ruin: the arch of Septimus

Severus. I am not an expert on Roman buildings and monuments, but have

made some effort to correctly identify this structure at home as I did

not make notes while in Rome. Comments welcome. I hope everyone had a

safe New Year's eve.

A simple, but attractive composition using rich blacks, greys, and whites... However, I think the image would benefit from some burning in on some of the white areas, especially the fifth (leaf, blade, petal?) counting up from the bottom on the right; it looks particularly hot and absent of texture or detail on my monitor. Very nice in general.

Very fun to look at for me, there are lots of structural elements all over the image for my eyes to explore, lots of compositional lines to trace, tones from blacks to greys to whites: it's like a fun house zone system chart.