regis

Hello Steve

Very nice composition to begin.

I love that water twirls in the foreground and that light glow on the water surface. Very nice contrast and overall sharpness.

It would be a perfect if the filtering effect wasn't so obvious. That big cliff in the upper right corner looks like a black-hole on my screen (without any details in the shadows) - which quite spoils the overall impression. I therefore agree with Mark's comments about turning the grad to about 45 degrees. I'm quite surprised that the filter has darken that region so much (it's not a very strong one, isn't it ?).

Any chance to recover some details from that part ?

One final remark is to remove some CA from that rock in the middle of the horizon.

Beside that - lovely shot.

Cheers

Piotr

Hi Brian

Very dramatic sky to begin.

I personaly love that kind of weather conditions.

Very nice technique here - everything is vivid, sharp and contrasty.

The horizon indeed seems to be slightly tilted but that might be just and optical illusion.

Talking about the composition I am not sure about the position of that foreground element. I would suggest to place it more to the right and try to emphasise it a bit more (by lowering the perspective or moving closer to the subject for example).

At the moment it's just too static to my taste.

Beside that - very nice shot Brian

PS. I hate that yellow line in the framing :)

Greetings from Glasgow

Piotr

Very original shot.

Quite mystical and moody.

I would probably change that white frame for something more subtle but it's just a matter of one's taste.

Good work Paolo

Cheers

Piotr

Amazing moment to begin.

I like the composition and panoramic format suits here very well.

The quality, however looks quite poor to me. I'm not sure if this is a crop of a larger shot or maybe it's due to the compression. I like the muted colours in the background.

Anyway - very nice shot

Piotr

Hello Kurt

To be honest with you it's not the best result.

First of all your photo lacks some clarity (which I guess is due to the sea spray on the lens or may be also the side effect of HDR process).

Second thing is the colour saturation. It's a bit over the top - especially the bright water part (there's too much blue cast in it).

Finally - the composition. Placing the horizon directly in the middle is not the best choice here. It makes the whole image too static - therefore - I would probably cut out some sky part.

Regards

Piotr

Hello Catherine

Yes - unfortunately it's too much of HDR here.

First of all your photo lacks proper contrast and there are too many hdr-artifacts visible in the sky.

If I were you I would probably try to filter the sky with a GND filter or (if you don't have one) try to do some manual retouching.

This scene doesn't look to be very contrasty so I guess that even a single exposure could be enough here. If not - two maybe (blended together manually). HDR process is very tricky and if you want to get some nice results it takes a lot of time and practice.

That's why I would really recommend you some DRI (manual blending) for the beginning.

Cheers, Piotr

Beach at West Kilbride with its variety of interesting

patterns, 'rhythms' and lines. Please have a look at the larger

version. Your comments/critiques much appreciated !

Hello Andrey

Beautiful shot.

You've managed to capture the essence of that magical moment

Composition, colours and the light within the scene is just great.

Compliments

Piotr

Hello again Ana

Oh yes - it looks waaaay better when viewed large.

Actually it doesn't have to be that large either :)

What I call the 'optimum' resolution for web is something ~1200px

Compared to the original file it looks like you've stretched the photo across the width (which is fine for me as the landscape format suits here much better)

I would probably cut a little bit more of a sky part.

PS. You have a couple of dead pixels in your camera (visible in the sky). There is a software to remove such artifacts or you can simply clone them out.

Great scenery anyway.

Regards

Piotr

Great one Kaushik

I love the minimalism presented in this shot and the square format suits here very well.

Talking about the composition I would definitely place the boat inn the right side. At the moment they are heading west (left) - so there should be some space from that side.

Anyway - very nice shot

Regards

Piotr

You found an amazing place Paul.

I really envy you that :)

I love the drama in the foreground

Excellent shutter speed here

The quality is also 'tip-top'

Beautiful

Piotr

Helo Ana

As I basically love landscape shots - here I am :)

Nice composition to begin with - I like mountain vistas, where you can virtually feel the vast space around.

Unfortunatelly your photo is too tiny - to 'feel; it right.

With such a large frame the actual size is more like a thumbnail :/

I wish you had posted a larger one.

Talking about your composition I can say it is very well balanced.

Because of the picture size I can't tell you exactly about the overall quality.

For me it looks a bit flat (especially the sky part).

I am not sure whether you've used any filters here, but some slight curves adjustment would definitely help with that (by increasing the local contrast for a better impact)

Beside that - a very nice shot Ana

Greetings from Glasgow

Piotr

Beach at West Kilbride with Isle of Arran visible in the distance. A

place full of amazing structures, creatures, shapes and textures -

when the tide is low. Please have a look at the larger version. Your

comments much appreciated

Visible on the left is Turnberry Lighthouse, which marks a dangerous

part of the Ayrshire coast, off which lies Bristo Rock which was

responsible for many wrecks. The Lighthouse was designed by

Engineers David and Thomas Stevenson. They examined the rock and

reported on 18 May 1869 that it was inadvisable to erect a

lighthouse on the rock itself, but suggested that the best place

would be on Turnberry Point, where it now stands. It is situated

close to the 9th hole of Turnberry Golf Course in what was once the

moat of Turnberry Castle, which disputes with Lochmaben the honour

of being the birthplace of Robert Bruce (1274 -1329). A tiny little

light in the distance comes from Aisla Craig's lighthouse. Aisla

Craig is a small island, natural seabird reserve, which is

considered to be one of the most important breeding sites for

northern gannets. It is also a haven for other seabird species,

including guillemot and razorbill. Please have a look at the larger

version. Your comments/critiques much appreciated.

Hello again Dean

I am really glad you've taken my comment quite easy :)

It's sometimes really hard to predict people's response to few, rather harsh, words, but I just want to be honest with my critiques.

Coming back to digital manipulation techniques.

For a coastal shots I would probably advice you DRI technique instead of pure HDR one.

The main difference between these two techniques is that HDR image is generated automatically pixel by pixel from all the available data. It can be really good for certain situations, but since it's not easy to control the whole process, the results are often very poor.

DRI (Dynamic Range Increase) is a simple manual technique, where you use a few differently exposed photos and blend them together (using layers and masks in PS). It requires a lot of patience and precision, but results are usually much more natural since you have absolute control over the whole process.

Piotr

Wow

That is just a killer shot Paul !!!

I just love your composition.

Amazing place.

A few little things worth mentioning :

- I would probably slightly enlighten that rock on the top left (the top part of it - just to hide the filtering effect)

- a sky part is a little bit noisy (I would apply some NR here - which would give some nice smooth effect here)

- you have some strange "marks" in the right part of the sky (worth retouching)

Beside that - a truly Killer Shot !!!

Greeting from Glasgow

Piotr

I like this one Dean.

Simple, but effective composition and a beautiful evening light.

Would love to see a larger version as ~700px is more like a thumbnail.

I would also try to capture this scene from a slightly lower perspective - which could put more emphasis on the foreground part by bringing all these details closer to the viewer.

Cheers

Piotr

Sorry Dean but I have to be honest with you.

This is the kind of HDR image that I personaly hate as it looks just awful to me ! Colour saturation is completely over the top (especially water and the sky part).

I had a look at your other photo, of the same location

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5632895

which looks much more natural.

By the way - I read in one of your comment that you're just taking one exposure and develop it later with 3 different exposure settings.

Well - it's not really a true dynamic range increase as you are still using one exposure and simply forcing it to capture more details. It may work fine for sunset shots (where contrast within the scene is not so huge) but you'll get much better results when taking a bracketed sequence (i.e. -2, 0, +2EV).

HDR technique is very tricky, and one can be often mislead, with results that look quite effective but very artificial. Please don't treat this comment as a personal attack. This is just my advice on HDR topic.

Regards

Piotr

The Storr is a rocky hill on the Trotternish peninsula of the Isle

of Skye. The hill presents a steep rocky eastern face overlooking

the Sound of Raasay, contrasting with gentler grassy slopes to the

west. The Storr is prime example of the Trotternish landslip, the

longest such feature in Great Britain. The area in front of the

cliffs of The Storr is known as The Sanctuary. This has a number of

weirdly shaped rock pinnacles, the remains of ancient volcanic

plugs. One of the most famous of these is known as The Old Man of

Storr.

This is slightly ususual view of this amazing place, taken one hour

after an amazing sunrise, when the weather changed completly. This

time I would like to present a B/W version, which in my opinion has

more "feel" of that moment.

Please have a look at a larger version. Your comments/critiques much

appreciated.

Thank you very much for all your comments. I really appreciate it.

Michael - it was taken some time after sunrise, when the whole area was covered with a very dense mist - hence the mountain in the distance and the sky is a bit soft. I must admit I like it the way it is right now - especially the difference between the contrasts within the scene.

This is another photo taken on the very same day (just few minutes before)

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6508617

I am going to post the colour version of the vertical shot so you'll see it more clearly, I hope :)

Thank for your nice comment. I can see you've just started adding some photos to your pf. Can't wait to see more :)

Greetings from Glasgow

Jonathan - this particular one was taken at 14mm.

Thanks for your comment

Piotr

Hello Nicholas

Very nice shot.

I like the way you played with DOF here

It creates a really pleasant and mysterious mood here.

Your composition, together with the exposure is again spot on.

Nice framing, too :)

I like it a lot

Cheers, Piotr

Lochain na h'Achlaise, Rannoch Moor, Scotland. Please have a look at

a larger version. Your comments/critiques much appreciated.

Beautiful shot Mike

Very nice symmetrical composition

Perfect exposure too.

Wouldn't change a thing :)

Cheers

Piotr

Ben

This is really great shot.

Amazing drama in the sky and a very well balanced composition.

I really can't wait to visit this island :)

Cheers

Piotr