nikos

I like it *because* it's warped. There's a strange sense of motion in the warping. The coulous are too saturated, but the warping and vignetting (??) work well with that, giving the impression of a non-realistic representation of the scene. Interesting.

Really this is a great photo. If you look around my comments and ratings, you'll notice I don't hand out random praise in all directions. This photo stands out from the norm. But of course, my heart lies with your other photo, 'teaching about art' which is in all honesty one of the best photos I have seen in photo.net in many years. Don't be put off by the response or lack thereof to this photo - after all such things are matters of taste to a great extent. And it seems that we share a lot in this department.. the photo you mention from my portfolio is the one I'd pick as my best photo, too.

Stunning! Thousands have tried to make a decent photo out of the same fundamental idea and failed. Yours is clever, striking, sublime!

Shawn, you're damn right, very observative!! I hadn't noticed that. It's very cool indeed!

Fantastic! Simply fantastic. Great point of view and composition, the right moment, excellent colours and plenty of fascinating and eye-catching detail. Outstanding for its genre!

Despite the soft focus (or lack of focus) on the area that the composition suggest to be the focal point, this is a very interesting photo on many aspects: the shapes, the arrangement of objects and the awkward but engaging features. (such as the life-vested passengers) It may not be an astounding photo, neither a winner in its genre, but it surely is a keeper and an indication of a good eye for point of view and composition.

Great composition, quite orgiinal for the subject matter, in the sense that it doesn't try to exaggerate any of its elements as some of the more stereotypical images of the genre do. I like the abstractive choice of elements and colours.

Technically it's pretty well done. I won't waste any time talking about whether the highlights are too bright etc. The technical quality of your photos shows that you pretty much know what you're doing in this respect.

 

What interests me, and actually puzzles me, in this photo, is the actual content. What I see is a beautiful girl, sitting naked in a dark prison cell, with a pose an expression totally unfitting to the emotions likely to be carried by a girl in this situation. It is not just meaningless, in fact it is hurtfully meaningless for the viewer.

 

Ho-ho, I'm imprisoned and I'm naked. That would suggest absence of freedom, humiliation and the possibility of sexual violence. Yet my hair is combed and I sit there comfortably in the corner, choosing to sit so that my private parts are in contact with the pissing-spot of the cell, take a teasing pose as if this were another glamour shot, and give onlookers a half-inviting, half-satiated expression, because this must be the flirting etiquette in prisons. DUH?

 

I'm not trying to make fun of the photo, but seriously, look at the ideas/interpretations I described above vis-a-vis the elements of the photo and I'm sure you'll learn something about how it could have been made a stronger photo.

 

For example, what about a pose/expression that shows protectiveness of her naked self, as opposed to 'controlled revaling of sexy deatails'. The former is for prison cells, the latter for fashion photography. What about scruffier hair? Contrasts don't need be as simple as sticking a gorgeous girl in a sirty place. They could be subtler like, a grorgeous girl made to look as less-than-gorgeous to the effect that they're currently sitting in a prison cell. There's more along the same lines that one could think, but I believe the point is clear already.

 

If it's not yet clear, here's the point in one sentence: "A beautiful sexy girl is naked, in prison - what about it?" The photo is not about the first part, it is about the "what about" part. In which it fails miserably.

 

In all honesty, what I see in this photo is a photographer who knows how to take technically competent photos, but who hasn't got a clearly defined vision and sense of directing in setting up environmental photo-shoots. (and I stress, in THIS photo, the comment does not apply to all your work) What I see is a simplistic approach of sticking a sexy girl naked and teasingly revealing in the shot and the hell with everything else. Doesn't work quite like that.

 

I am not as accomplished a photographer as to point you to learning example in my own work, but I will point you to look (if you haven't so already) at Rene Asmussen's work here in photo.net, from whom there is a lot to be learned about dark/rough environmental shots of beautiful women. The difference is that most of the time there is clearly some directing and background thinking behind the photo, and it shows in the work of poses, expressions, details, etc.

 

Best regards.

 

 

Some motion blurring is fitting and would have helped this photo, but here it's just too much. It's to the effect that there is no focused and forzen point of reference for the motion blur, aside from the rocks. A little faster shutted could have made this way much better. I like the engle, and the moment that you caught. A slightly faster exposure adn it could be fantastic.

The 'out of focus' comment rocked me off my chair! As if it's the focus that mattered here. The point of this excercise is not to produce a sharply focused image, even though it wouldn't hurt.

 

In fact, the relative blurrines is hardly the first shortcoming one would notice, and it's probably not because of bad focus, rather the result of a little sloppy manipulation. It's an interesting concept - not devastatingly original, but still funny to look at - but it could have been done so that the guy doesn't look pasted and the basket is not hanging cartoonishly in the air. I understand that the cartoonish look is part of the idea, but maybe it's a little overdone, or at least, not done subtly enough.

 

It never hurts playing around with things like this one here and there. It's certainly not a bad attempt, but there is definetly room for improvement in the processing of a theme like that.

Overdone... but nicely done.

The light pole is just where it ought to be. Without it, the surreal and contradicting obliqueness of the right-side world versus the left-side world would not be apparent!

Composition-wise this is a good photo, for the particular subject. Unfortunately, the scan is very poor and no effor has been made to correct the levels and contrast of the photo. If the dark areas did not appear washed out, and some contrast was present to show the detail in the glyphs, that could have been a very nice photo. I'm sure the print version is scales better.

 

Overall, throughout your portfolio, it is evident that, even though your picture-taking is mostly the 'documenting my vacations' kind, you have an eye for good compositions here and there. It would we worth investing a little more effort in technique and post-processing - the results would be reqarding.

Hauntingly dramatic. Could be a Hitchkok still.

Technically, the photo has been executed very well. There is interesting contrast range, detail, good use of light, etc. As a concept, to me it is maybe a bit too loudly spoken, but that is a matter of personal taste. Of course, it is much more interesting than shooting flowers in your backyard.

 

As a last note, the framing is hideous and really detracts from the aesthetic of the photo. You don't need to add scratches to roughen up the look of a strong photo, if it is strong enough. (and it is in this case) I understand this is not a comment regarding the photo itself, but when the photographer introduces scratchmarks inside the photo frame, I take that as a statement of inclusion in the artwork. In my opinion, it spoils it.

It's an amazingly original photo. I mean it. This sort of subject has been photographed again and again by thousands of photographers, and it always results in beautiful but very common photos. You have a very good eye and have managed to spot a detail and a composition that is novel and refreshingly different. This is very hard to do with a subject that has been snapped at so much as Santorini streets, churches, windows and views. Well done. The result photo is surreal, and aesthetically pleasant. There is perceived distortion of space, a weird sense of depth, location and function on all elements inside the frame. Great work.

Great. I wouldn't change a thing. The composition, timing, choice of colour and grain.. everything fits very well in this photo and it all makes sense.

Reflections are always interesting if they are used to show two different expressions, two different aspects of a moment in a person's time. In this, the photo has succeeded immensely. What we see here is not just a girl and her reflection. It's two girls, two different faces, two different emotions. It's very intriguing to notice how the perspective and angle of viewing one's face can have a direct effect on the perceived emotion. The ancient Greek and Roman sculpture masterpieces exhibited this trait, with some famous sculptures seeiming to be rejoicing or to be saddened if looked upon from different sides. I'm amazed at how you capture this here, and for that credit is due to the model and her charmingly enigmatic face. Technically the photo is problematic. But who cares? One need only look at the two juxtaposed, competing expressions. Great photo!

Just wanted to add something: My first impression was that it looked a lot like a film still. Is your black bordering on top and bottom a conscious attempt to enforce that style, or is it just accidental?

The bi-partite composition is a very good idea, the particular scene being given to this sort of photographic capture. The model's presence and white outfit enforces several contrast between the two scenes: lively presence versus solemn emptiness; light verus dark; etc. On the technical aspect it's a little lacking. Much of the scene on the left has been rendered out of focus and I'm not sure this work well in this particular case. The pose is nice, but the positioning is far from perfect. (maybe a little closer, a little to the right so the wall edge doesn't spring on the back of her head) Of course these are details. Overall it's a clever and interesting capture that provides something to think about beyond the stereotypical 'pretty girl in pretty clothes, sitting somewhere' photo.

Very intriguing perspective and sense-of-depth. The figure on the left dimensions the photo perfectly and the whitewashed light-flood on the top right, works excellent for the particular subject. I'm impressed at how you managed the exposure balance on this one. The figures on the escalator are well-defined with strong highlists and shadows, and the distribution of exposure between the inside and outside of the station is just about right to paint the three-dimensional reality of the scene. The tilting of the frame and the choice of lens work excellently to add a dynamic to the entire scene. Sure there are quite a few technical 'shortcomings' - if one wants to call them so - but the overall result is very good.

Interesting subject and composition. The dark framing region on top is a little confusing and I don't think it adds anything to the photo. It interferes with the boat on the background and chokes the frame. A little space towards the top would be better.

On the thumbnail it looks like an interesting (if weird) take on a common and often-done subject. Looking at the large view, the technical shortcomings are overwhelming. Saturation has not just gone over the top here. It has gone wrong. I understand that this is no mistake. I can see this is intentional. I understand that perhaps you intention was to do something different with a cliche subject. A good idea to begin with, because with this type of subject, unless you do something different and new, it's only useful as a postcard or as an excercise. But I don't think this particular approach worked. Not because it's unrealistic. It's irregular and strong, without actually making a point of it. Gives away the feeling that the photographer was trying to achieve some novel effect, but ended up with an undefined and unbalanced aesthetic that doesn't make too much sense. But in any case, it's clear that you're onto something, and trying different approaches at common-subject photography is not a bad path to be on. Even if it ends up being an excercise, it's good excercise for the eye.

This is a beautiful photo. I am not too sure about the composition, but I can't see any obvious alternative anyway, and this particular one seems to work. The upper part of the photo is a little weird. While the sunrays are excellently portrayed in a grainy style, this cloud on the top left turns out like a smudge. I don't want to be the technical nazi telling you that it's badly printed, or wrong choice of film, or over-contrasted.. It could have been just fine, if it fitted more with the appearance of the rest of the photo. As it is now, it makes you think that the grain and contrast has been cranked up in just a part of the photo - it just doesn't fit. Have you tried to 'resuce' this photo in photoshop by manipulating specific regions? Without having seen the original it's hard to tell whether it was a good or bad idea. Nevertheless, give that the composition and subject are interesting, I have the hunch that you sort of ruined part of the photo in post-processiong. That being said, I will reiterate that even with its technical flaws, it's still a very nice photo.

Common U/W photo trick.. but the backdrop lighting, the pose of your buddy and the perfect rendering of the bubbles makes this one quite exceptional. Excellent execution, very interesting result! Your entire UW portfolio is very impressive!