aldrich

Thanks, Gail! Actually, she is the daughter of a former co-worker. This was taken at a Christmas party in 2007.

Thanks again for the compliments.

--Ryan

Trying to take a more abstract approach as a change from weddings and portraits.

Comments appreciated. Thanks for looking!

--Ryan

Comments appreciated. Thanks for viewing!

--Ryan

I captured this during a shoot in May. There were no cues to pose, as the boy's mother

wanted candids only.

Looking for feedback on the capture itself...does it work as a portrait to you?

Any other constructive comments or feedback are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

--Ryan

Peter,

Absolutely stunning shot...you captured the perfect moment of agony and force. The detail in the water is mind-blowing. This is going straight into my favorite image collection.

Thanks for sharing, I cant say enough.

--Ryan

Choi,

This image immediately caught my eye. It's just plain cool! Great capture!

I like the red and yellow playing off each other in just the right places, with the clear of the water playing it's own role.

Thanks for sharing!

--Ryan

The blues and greens are very soothing to me. And the geometry of a pinwheel gives it continuity beyond the borders of what the camera can capture.

The only tiny bother I have is the wisps in the green upper left. Although they may not be, they appear to be a side effect of poor cloning. Correct me if I'm wrong though, John!

Thanks for sharing!

--Ryan

Cape Neddick Light, a.k.a. Nubble Light...one of my favorite places, and the place where I proposed to my wife. :-)

For me...the vignetting is a bit uneven...I see more darkening on the right side than the left (calibrated 20" iMac)...this may have been from natural light, but it does distract me a bit.

Also, for such a panoramic shot, the center composition detracts from the subject of the shot. I would consider cropping off the entire right side that is darker and some of the left to make a more square image, which is a better supporter of center composition.

For added dynamics, you could clone clouds and paste above the lighthouse, but either way is good for me.

Thanks for sharing! I haven't been there in a few years.

--Ryan

Rajat,

I took the original and put some focus on the boy via his shirt...it's a technique I personally love to use...I don't know if you'll like it, but here we go.

--Ryan

In terms of a documentary photograph, I wish the boy were looking at his task and not you. Still, it captures the essence of the slums in the manner in whic the boy is washing.

--Ryan

Hey Kelly,

This shot is a toughie for me to critique. I don't really take sunrise/sunset shots, so it's not my area of expertise.

It's hard for anyone these days to pass off a sunrise/sunset shot as not being cliché. I can see past that and I do, but there are things that confuse me as a viewer.

Based on the title of the submission, the focus is supposed to be on the jet trail. Due to the composition of the image, the jet trail is such a miniscule makeup of the image. The issue I'm having is that I don't know how to recrop to change it. The shot is so vertical that cropping the top will only make the jet trail less apparent, and cropping the bottom takes out the sun. Side cropping makes the image even more of a vertical panorama, which for skies and nature shots I personally tend to dislike (though others may disagree).

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the entire shot. I like the colors and the smooth transition from the orange hue of the sun to the blues of early morning.

Perhaps if the shot were taken in landscape orientation? Then again, with a 28-80 on a D50, that would almost not allow the jet trail and sun to be in the same shot, but you could have done a photostitch and merged them (if you haven't tried that before, it's easier than you think, I promise).

Overall, I think you did all you could to incorporate both important focal points in the image. Tough shot to "nail," but you did give it a go!

Hopefully I was somewhat helpful!

--Ryan

Rajat,

I much prefer the desaturated image, but I have to say that there is something very funky on image right with her arm in this one...looks like bad pixelation or some kind of edit that didn't go smoothly...it's not in the other shots from what I can see.

Anyway...more comments on the other one.

--Ryan

Thanks everyone.

He is climbing a ladder to a slide. I am at the bottom of the slide standing straight and tall (I'm 6'4"). It's cropped in a bit because of a rope that is part of the playstation: it was dangling to his left and was laying on the perch he was climbing to. I made the choice to crop.

@ Lorenza - Mom already ordered two 11x14's and 6 8x10's to distribute to family, some in color as well as this image. :-)

--Ryan

Thank you, Rajat. I too am distracted with the corner of the deck, but only slightly...the main focus is on the bubble. I could not come up with a way to eliminate the deck corner without it being apparent that it's supposed to be there, if you get what I mean...then again, I could take another look at it...it's always good to look a good week or two later to see if I missed something.

This was one tough kid to catch...there were many shots that were off by more than a few milliseconds!

I am short of time right now, about to take off for a few hours, but I will have time either tonight or tomorrow to try the suggested crop.

Thanks again!

--Ryan

From a recent outdoor shoot. I'm looking for opinions on the tonal

effects I've used on this image and the overall "moment." Does it work

for you? Why or why not? As always, any other constructive

comments, positive and negative, are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!

--Ryan

Rajat,

I like the revised version much better than the initial version.

Even though the highlights have been blown out somewhat in this shot, it makes items more apparent, especially the axles (or whatever they are) on the ground at the mechanic's feet.

Unfortunately, I don't see anything you can do to prevent your viewers from getting a hearty clothed mooning from the gentleman adjacent to your subject! This version makes his posterior even more apparent, but I still like it better.

--Ryan

This is from a recent outdoor photo shoot... the child's mother was

insistent that I not bother the child, just shoot.

Are the peaks of the fence posts distracting to you? Does his face

stand out against the light background enough? Is his shirt too

distracting? All of these are things I'm trying to work on...blending and

contrasting. I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on these topics, as well as

any other constructive comments you'd like to make. Thanks!

--Ryan

Tracy,

This is an improvement. I must say, the left-leaning flag pole struck me as a symbol of the recent elections ;-). Also, you did leave some blue in the dome, which is good...you kept some of what you actually saw, while also making it a bit more uniform. Well done.

--Ryan

Rajat,

This image doesn't work as well for me as your prior shot. The first version of this has a more glossy feel to it, and it gave it a dream like aura. I find this image very harsh on the eyes to the point where I don't even know where to look. Because the water makes the image so bright, my eyes are focused on the leaf upper left and the bush lower right, and nothing in between, although the dog's hind quarters seem visible somewhat.

I'm not sure if this is the same fountain as before, or if it's a similar angle (Though the position of the bush and the leaves suggest it may be the same spot as the first shot). I'm curious as to what you did differently, or what made the water so harsh this time and so fluid before.

--Ryan

Marcin:

I can appreciate that fact that the image is not manipulated, but I am going to judge it as such, at least aesthetically.

The title works. I like the illuminated trees, and it seems as if they are radioactive.

As many have said, the simplicity of the image is what makes it work. The curves of the towers are striking, and the illuminated trees provide focus and contrast.

The powerlines are VERY, VERY distracting. They detract from the simplicity, they just shouldn't be there. I know it's not manipulated and I'm sure you take pride in that, but clone them out and you have a MUCH cleaner image.

Thanks for sharing, and congratulations!

--Ryan

The mood I was trying to convey here was harshness and cold. When shooting, I asked her to "whip her head around as if a piggish man just said "nice a**!" The look on her face is one of anger (her lips) and surprise (her eyes) as well. The harsh side lighting was intended to add to this, as if she suddenly moved from where she was supposed to be.

Thanks for the compliments pretty much through this series on Kelly's eyes. 99% of the time it is the main criteria as to whether an image makes my cut or not. It can be all there, but if the eyes aren't, in the trash it goes :-).

I enjoy the difference of opinions here. Rajat feels there should be more open space to the sides, while Gordon feels the opposite. At first, I wanted to crop this more vertically. Had I done so, it would have avoided the awkward crop Gordon identified. While I don't disagree with that comment, I wanted the focus to be on the hair and eyes/facial expression. Perhaps I should crop more of the bosom area away?

We also have very different opinions of favorite image in the series. I think everyone has indicated each of the four as their personal favorite. When things like this happen, I take it as positively as I can...in this case, as versatility that appeals to many. I don't like using the same pose. I find a need to mix things up with different tones, expressions, etc. I'd rather change those than backgrounds :-). FWIW, this image and Kelly 3 are my favorites of the shoot. Kelly's favorite is Kelly 1.

Thanks again everyone! I'm still awaiting response from others, and I can't wait to see what discussion comes in the future!

--Ryan

First off, thanks to all for your comments so far!

The backdrop...this was a blunder on my part. I am used to using focal lengths of 70mm or more for studio shots. This creates a more shallow depth of field, which blurs the background sufficiently. This entire series was taken with the 50 1.4 AF-S. This did not do a sufficient enough job of blurring the background. I didn't think it was too distracting, but it seems otherwise here in the real world :-).

--Ryan

Tracy, she was facing with her back to me, and I had her whip around and look at me with serious faces, as well as smiles. No fan involved. I used 1/200 sec. shutter speed to get sufficient sharpness (and because that's the fastest flash sync my camera allows).

Thank you very much!

--Ryan

This model was quite serious and I mostly wanted to bring that out.

What works for you in this image?

As always, constructive comments, positive and negative, are welcome

and appreciated. Constructive comments help us all improve. Thanks for

looking!

--Ryan