swillden

Thanks, Andrea. It's a pretty place.

Thanks for the comments, Ian.

Thanks, Maria. I know what I like about it, but I'm more than a little biased :-)

Thanks for all your kind comments. Apurba: Any suggestions on how to make the sky more vivid? Increasing the contrast doesn't look good, and I don't like to oversaturate the colors too much, but I don't really know what I'm doing, yet. Thanks.

Thanks for commenting. I like it too :-)

Thanks for your comments.

Please comment. Would you crop this differently? Thanks.

Thanks

Thanks for rating

It's gone. I knew I should have removed it first, but I was hurrying to get the picture uploaded so someone else could see it. Thanks for the comments.

Thanks for rating.

I don't think it would be too bad to crop the office building and lamppost, leaving the temple off-centered. Removing the lamppost would be a really good idea, IMO, because I think it distracts more than the office building.

 

Congrats on your 20D, I'm sure you'll love it. What lens came with it? If it's the same as the 350D kit lens, you'll want to get something better ASAP (of course, even the kit lens will be a big step up from your P&S).

Comments welcome

That storm was just as nasty as it looks, too. Comments appreciated.

I've tried taking some pictures of the temple, and it's a tough one to really capture. This is a good photo, but it's not as sharp as it could be, and the lights on the ground floor have nearly blown out that part. I suspect it's not sharp because it was an 1/8 second exposure and you wiggled a bit. To improve it, I'd suggest a tripod and a longer exposure time so you can lower the ISO (I don't know if grain was an issue here, but it's always good to minimize it, unless you actually want a grainy photo). To address the high contrast range, you might try shooting RAW mode, if your camera supports it, and then adjust the curves to bring it into a contrast range that 8-bit JPEG can handle.

Take all my comments with a grain of salt, though. Looking at your portfolio, I think you're a better photographer than I am. I have played a bit with figuring out how to get these sorts of night shots to come out.

One comment on your plan to purchase a Canon 20D (from your bio) -- I was going to do the same thing, but an experienced photographer friend convinced me to buy the less expensive 350D (Rebel XT) instead, and spend the price difference on a good lens. The two cameras have identical sensors and processors, and their capabilities are pretty similar. I followed his advice and I'm quite happy I did; the kit lens is pretty low end, and better optics make far more difference than the small feature differences between the cameras. I may outgrow the 350D a little sooner than I would the 20D, but it will be a good camera for several years, at least, and by that time even better stuff will be available.

Comments appreciated.

Sharpness in the eyes and DOF is good, but I rated this lower because it was just not very interesting to me. More personality would help a lot, and the lighting and colors are kind of bland.

I gave this a lowish rating (3/3), because it was just not interesting at all to me. I probably should have just passed on rating it, since I find I don't like many abstracts.

Here's a lighter version. I prefer the darker one. What do you think?

Actually, it wouldn't be that hard to brighten the dark areas without (further) blowing out the bright corners, but I liked the darkness. The high contrast between the areas where the light penetrated the tree cover and where it didn't is what attracted me to the shot. Just a matter of taste, perhaps, but maybe more people would like it if it were brighter. Thanks for the input.

All comments appreciated.

Please rate, I'd like to know what people think. Suggestions for

improvement are greatly appreciated.

I'd like to know what people think of this.