petemillis

Thanks Michael - I'm pleased it conveys a "not very uplifting mood". I like the "orphan wishing for better days" thought. I was aiming for a solemn mood and your thoughts sum that up fr me. Thanks again. Pete

I'm interested to know what (if any) mood or feeling this photograph

communicates (as opposed to technical bits) - feedback would be

appreciated. Thanks, Pete

I was drawn to this one when looking through your new stuff Shannon (and fancy finding you were, too, Gord!). Great photograph - the movement gives an impression of a financial meltdown! The toning works very well here. Nice one.

Pete

Hi Shannon. Thought I'd pop by and see what you were up to, and this photograph really struck me. The lens flare from taking the picture into the light gives the impression of one of those cinematic moment as the camera is following the characters down the street and catches the light. Lens flare is something that so many people strive to avoid and see as a mistake, but here it adds so much to the picture. A good photograph.

 

Pete

Hi Bob,

 

Many thanks for your vote of confidence. I enjoy taking these sorts of pictures, and it's nice to know others appreciate them too.

 

Pete

Stefany, this has Great texture and dynamism, and I love the composition - it's a combination of so many things I enjoy. Nothing to criticise!

Stefany, this is Beautiful - lovely crisp areas contrasting well with the soft areas to produce a striking "3 dimensional" photograph. I feel I can reach out and pull the petals off the flower!

 

Pete

Lars, this photograph made me smile - the ewe and both the lambs looking at the camera makes them look human! And the scene is so much like the countryside around here with the grazing sheep.

 

Out of interest, which lens did you use on your Pentacon six camera? Reason I ask is that I use several Pentacon six mount lenses on my Canon 10D, and I like the slight softness that they usually seem to show.

 

Pete

Intention here is to convey a feeling of resignation - someone who is

locked away and has given up. Would appreciate feedback on how this

has, or hasn't, worked.

 

For tech info, the photograph was taken in a dark place (it's one of a set

in my Dark Places folder), with no flash, using a fairly long exposure

with a Fuji E900. Post processing is limited to a crop, decrease in

saturation, increase in contrast and tweak of R,G and B channels to get

the look I wanted - this has come out exactly as planned.

 

Many thanks, Pete

Hi Gord,

 

Thanks for the extra info on the picture. I agree - its nice at times to get a sense of placement, and you've got a nice combination of unobtrusive yet interesting background to complement the flower. You've done good!

 

Well...I'm working outdoors all the time and absolutely knackered! The D.Phil thesis is now complete and I submitted it about 4 weeks ago. Just waiting now to hear whether or not I'll have to sit another viva, or whether it'll be accepted with perhaps minor edits. Fingers crossed!

 

I'm definitely finding more time for pictures now. the latest lot are in my "Seeds of Love" folder. I'm in the middle of going through your work and am excited by what I am seeing - pleased to see you're always busy at it.

 

Speak soon I hope.

 

Pete

 

 

Here's another in my Seeds of Love set - again no manipulation, just a

simple shot taken against a dark background and illuminated with an

LED light, with BW conversion and bit of sepia tint.

 

As I said when I posted the photograph Seeds of Love 1, it just struck

me how beautiful these grasses are when they've gone to seed and

ready to start the next generation.

 

This pictures aren't really meant as detailed nature pictures, but more

as an expression of feeling. Not sure how well they're working to any

input appreciated.

 

Thanks. Pete

Really nice Gord - I enjoy photographs like this! The flower comes out really well from the background, and I like the inclusion of a few drops of water that gives the picture a hint of sadness - tears, you see.

 

Definitely a good one.

 

Pete

I haven't taken any photographs for a while as I have been so busy with

work and finishing my D.Phil (PhD). And I promise to try and catch up

with old friends here. But when I was out walking today, I was struck by

the beauty of wild plants and grasses going to seed. So I collected a

few specimens to bring home and photograph.

 

Photographs from today are in my folder titled "Seeds of Love", and

here is one example. I used my trusty Canon 10D, with an old

Pentacon 1.8/50 manual focus lens, along with a small LED torch for

lighting. Converted to monochrome in Canon DPP as usual.

 

Thanks for looking. All critiques welcome (but don't be too harsh today

as I haven't really done any photography for past 8 or 9 months!)

 

Pete

FANTASTIC - this really brought a smile to me! Love the impossible to see through glasses. Great details on the balaclava and face, all nicely framed by your hood. I notice a white line going all around the hood - is that just light or is it where you had done a selection in post proc?

 

Wish you well for the New Year, and hope your Christmas was good. Sorry I haven't been around to study yours, and everyone else's, work recently, but work has continued to be flat out and I'm knackered. Just enjoying a couple of weeks off now with the family, before it all starts up again in the new year!

 

All my best.

 

Pete

Great natural looking portrait. I agree it's a shame that the foot was cropped, but it doesn't detract at all from the feeling of the portrait. The background is excellent and gives the feeling of being at home. I like it.

 

Pete

monochrome flowers work fantastically and show so much structure. This is a good one. Nice tonal range, plenty visible detail in the leaves. The only thing I might do is to clone out that little dagger like bit of plant that projects into the top of the frame one third in from the right - but then I might just leave it as I tend not to clone bits out meself!

 

.

 

Pete

any comments on composition would be much appreciated - I had

thought about cropping out the adjoining parts of the buildings to the

left, but settled on what I first had in mind. Also, how does the sepia

toning come across for this? The untoned monochrome seemed too

cold and documentary-like to me.

 

Thanks.

 

Pete

Piotr, this photograph really stood out in the critique forum when I was browsing through just now. The BW tones and the overall composition are perfect. This picture has a beautiful feel to it. The only change I might make would be to crop a little off the bottom of the photograph. For me, there is a little too much grass at the bottom, and it sort of drags my eye toward it,

 

Kind regards

 

Pete

Joost, I wish you a speedy recovery!

 

What really MAKES this photograph for me is the symmetry with the frame being split left/right down the centre by the arm and nose, and by the different shade in each half - it makes the photograph stand out. The hand, arm and elbow are very important in this photograph. It's more than just a portrait of the model's face.

 

Initially I wasn't too sure about the sharp contrast between light top left and dark top right areas, but the more I look, and the more I see the difference between each side of the frame, the better it looks. I like it.

 

Pete

Phaedra, it dawned on me just as I logged off last night that this was probably shot on film! I must have been having a stupid moment (tired!) as the "noise" is quite clearly film grain when I look again this morning. I wouldn't try and clean it up - it's look as it should.

 

Rather than saving for photoshop, how about having a look at GIMP2? It's completely free and has just about everything you could possibly want in terms of post-processing photographs.

 

P

Phaedra, he looks like a cheeky little bloke! I really like the composition here and the way you have caught your boy grabbing at the drawer handle. The DOF and the focus point both work really well, and the colours are nice and natural. There is quite a lot of noise in the picture though and I wonder what camera ISO setting you were using. I would have thought there would have been plenty of light to use a lower ISO setting and still use a fast enough shutter speed.

 

Pete

Hi Phaedra - this captures the feeling of being at sea with the low sun really well. I imagine squinting while talking to someone in front of me. The lens flare gives a cinematic feel to the photograph - I imagine a film where the camera moves across the scene with the sun in full view. The toning gives a good evening warmth to the picture. You could straighten the horizon but I don't think this is essential - often now we see films these days, where handheld video camera seem to be used more and more often, the horizon tilting as the camera pans across a scene, and it adds some nice movement to the picture. It seems to do the same here.

 

You have demonstrated a pretty good eye for seeing the sort of scene that is only noticed by people with an interest in photography, as opposed to people just snapping shots.

 

 

here's file same size you linked to

Hi there. It's good to see a panoramic photograph - don't see many in the critique queue. I like the composition here, but the photograph seems a little dark/underexposed on my monitor (calibrated). This is particularly a problem in the middle of the picture where the trees seem very dark. Hope you don't mind, but I tok the liberty of doing a quick enhancement in Canon DPP, just to boost the combined RGB curve slightly, and ended up with this... (if your monitor isn't calibrated though I gues it might now seem too bright for you, but it should print better).

 

Pete

Ana, I love the BW and toning you have used for this photograph - it works so well. So good to see MacDonalds and Longines together - hallmarks of quality!

 

Nice work.

 

Pete