petemillis

Micki, this works for me - no surprise there! It's kind of comical - great sharpness on the leopard and the deep softness on the girl's eyes. It's the girl's eyes that are drawing me in. I like it.

Gabe, great portrait. You have some over-exposure of highlights giving a very harsh look, but I feel that this works well for this photograph in projecting a stark feeling. Did you take this yourself or have someone else helping? If it's a self-portrait, then you deserve more points for it ;)

Pete, this is a wonderful portrait. I need to ask if you are using tilt lens for some of these photographs, or doing to work in post processing. We seem to be on a path to create similar results! Nice work - and why would someone rate this average? So many people just don't see!

 

Another Pete.

 

 

Wonderful inspiring photograph. Love to know what technique you have used here to create an effect that looks like charcoal. Is it all done in post processing? It works really well.

How someone can only rate this as average I really don't know. Aesthetically, I don't like this photograph too much (that's just me I suppose), but it's certainly original and a clear 7 for originality.

Cheers Gord - I agree, I should be banned....I think this is the only picture where I've only got one 3/3 - I've cocked up ;)))

 

I've put this in nature category, as it isn't really a landscape or

anything else.

 

All this recent talk of sunsets......well, I just had to dig out one

of my efforts. It didn't look too exciting to start off with, but

now, after some big saturation boost, some considerable curves

tweaking and a nice heap of sharpening...I think I'm onto something!

 

Any thoughts please. Composition I know is not very interesting as

there are no hills/buildings/sea in the foreground, but using the

lens I was using I couldn't fit the blue bit and the ground in the

same frame.

Cheers Shay. I only see it in that image when I crank the brightness on my mnoitor right up. It doesn't come out in print. All it is is a bit of sensor noise because of the long exposure, and I didn't clip the left of the histogram enough in post processing. I've clipped the left further now and have uploaded the image again. Does this look better?

David, many thanks for your valuable comments on this and the old twig picture. I'm also torn between colour and BW for the old twig picture. When I took them last night I definitely wanted BW for both so that they would fit together, and I feel that BW definitely works best for this "new elder" picture. But when I look at the old twig one in colour, I can't help but think colour really does add something - with he red and green of the new buds, and the greyness of the lichen.

 

What I've done is uploaded colour versions of both of these pictures to the "nature" folder. If you get the chance to look I'd be most grateful.

 

Re the "sadness" resulting from the new elder pointing downwards - I hadn't considered that at the time. The thought I had in my mind was that when I'm felling pretty upbeat and happy I like to take pictures of venus flytraps and plants and plants and twiggy things like these, and I tend to do self portraits when I'm feeling pretty glum. Perhaps what I have done is unknowingly forced some sadness on the new elder! I've uploaded colour happy one as well now.

 

Thanks again David.

 

Pete

Rachel, I love the twisted look of this photograph. It reminds me of Medusa's snakey hair! Nice range of tones in my view. This works well. I'm also doing sticks at the moment :)

 

This was taken using a small LED torch for illumination, and just

painting light over the subject during the 5 second exposure. Black

background is rubber pond liner (from Firestone). I'm trying to

continue along the lines of my photographs of the Venus Flytrap.

These picture - in my view - look lovely when printed on satin

paper. Any comments or thoughts on how I might improve this would be

much appreciated.

Kyle, many thanks for the comment on this picture. Sometimes when going around the streets, a scene just pops out at me, and this was one of those times. I really wish I could spend more time walking around with the camera, but the past few months have been so hectic with work and family. Hopefully with the longer days coming then I'll be able to get more time!

 

Thanks again.

 

Pete

Nice composition here. It would have been so easy to make the mistake of shooting the cars straight on. The angle here works really well. The image reminds me of a pair of cold and frosty breasts..... Good work. I'm seriously having a hard time thinking of things that could have been done better so that I could offer something else.....nothing is coming to mind.

Reminds me of Lilt (the drink with the totally tropical taste)! Beautiful colours which contrast nicely with the more autumnal colours appearing in some of your other motion studies. This picture is sweet - the amount of movement just right to give a wonderfully smooth and dynamic, yet really solid feeling to the trunks.

 

Bet it must be nice to have got back home and away from that terrible warm weather ;)

Jane, for something to look unnatural when it is actually there in reality isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's still real after all. Here it almost gives an "alien invasion" feel!

Jane, I can't see that anything is lacking in this photograph. I like the composition with the road winding into the scene, and the larger lighter coloured building close to centre, and the river estuary cutting the frame where it does. The rays of sun through the cloud add interest too. It's certainly a photographs that has caught my attention and I'm now spending time looking closer and trying to work out all the details in it. What I would like to see is a larger version!

 

 

Jeff, this is a beautifully natural photograph. Great colours/tones and composition. Focus though may be ever so slightly off (or is it my eyes - I dunno!) just seems that the girl's hair to this side of the near eye is sharper than the eye itself. I find it hard though sometimes - there's a balance between getting the shot and faffing around missing it because you had to spend a moment longer thinking about focus. Here I think the subject is more important than perfectly sharp eyes.

Dear Gord. I expect you're in Honduras as I write this - hope all going well. And sorry for delay in responding to your note here. I agree - sepia vs colour....both seem to be working, and both are very different in the feeling of the picture. And I'm happy to say I now like both in equal measure :)

Dave, thank you too for the vote for colour! It's definitely appealing to me a lot more. Initially I was dead set on the monochrome just to get the form/shape of the board without the colour. But I'm seeing that the colour is a big thing here.

 

Cheers.

 

Pete

Fred, many thanks for the vote for colour. It's interesting how the choice of colour, or not, can make a photograph so different. The colour here is a big part of the picture, and the blue seems to complement the brown of the floor well. Hmmm...here I go trying to do some critique on my own picture!

 

Thanks again.

 

Pete

Emma, it's too scary. The stark contrast between bright blue eyes and monochrome skin is too much for me - but if this is what you are aiming for then you have succeeded. I would like to see the proper skin colours with the bright blue eyes - I wonder if it would perhaps look a bit friendlier? The plain monochrome version you have works really well.

 

Quick question....how much does Australian liquorice cost in Australia? I want a load of it - the sprogs love it and they're eating their way through my supply. Wonder if anyone over there sells it mail order?

Dear Pnina. Thank you very much for your most welcome input. I think this one works well too - I'm having trouble deciding between which I prefer of this, and the one Dennis prefers!

 

When I refer to "servicing" of the snowboard, I had to do the following: use a metal file to prepare the metal edges of the snowboard to accurate angles, then use a diamond stone to remove any burrs. The I heat the base of the board with the iron and apply molten wax which is then scraped off to remove any dirt that has accumulated in the base. Then I heat the base again, wax again, leave to cool, scrape the wax, then brush with a stiff brush from front to back, then apply a different wax (known as fluoro wax), brush again, and wipe clean. The board is now all ready to hit the snow in the mountains. It sounds like a long process but only takes about an hour and is quite relaxing to do! This one has been done for a friend who is paying me well :)

 

Gord, forgot to say - I think I've lost count too! It may be 3 down 3 to go if I'm lucky....

Thanks Dennis for that...and the PhD....is giving me pains at the moment. I've already had my viva (defense) and it went really well. I had a list of things to do and it's nearly complete, but I'm stuck in a bit of a writer's block at the moment and it's taken me months to finish a bit more lit review and final summing up! Nearly there...........I feel. Perhaps there should be a thesis titled "Uncertainty in the risk to health from taking on a PhD while working full time with a family with 4 kids"!

Nice sharp one Micki - and the toning works really well for this. Well caught smile. As for the crop.....well.....I prefer the uncropped version you posted. I like the OOF background, the bokeh of those little reflections on, I guess, the railings. And the fact that the background is light and neutral in tone contrasts well with the deeper tone of the subject and, for me, is therefore not a source of distraction. Instead I feel it provides nice framing and space around the subject. So there :))