wayne_suns

Sometimes I'll use a rubber band to attach a white index card to the back and sides of the flash. I'll then point the flash at the ceiling. The ceiling bounce gives a nice overall lighting, and the light bounced off the index card usually pushes enough light forward to "dampen" the harsh shadow. Alternatively, have her stand a little further from the wall. Have fun!

I'm pretty sure it's not. Although it looks pretty similiar. Black Widows don't have as much red on their abdomens -- just an "hourglass" red shape. Your spiders have red stripes. However, in the interest of safety I wouldn't try to pick it up!! Maybe it's some type of black widow "variant"??

Without the moon. It definitely draws the eyes away from the Northern Lights, the true subject of your photo. Maybe wait until the Northern Lights appear when the moon's behind you, and try to get a little moon-glow in the scenery.

Very nice. I like the fact that the foreground is at least halfway interesting. Most meteor shots are just stars and a streak, you've got a little more here. I also like the "dawnlight" (well, it's towards the north so maybe that's city lights...) you've captured too!

 

Unfortunately I have no shots to reciprocate. It was cloudy at my site! I'm going to try for the Geminids though (Dec 13-14).

That's the funniest thing I've seen on this site in a long time! I have a few of these myself. I think, considering the subject, you did a fine job of framing. There was only so much you could do without "coaxing" the cat into a different position. The only thing that bothers me is the stray christmas light. It kind of takes away from the "naturalness" of it. Good shot though.

I think it's a nice Milky Way photo as is. A barndoor tracker will obviously allow you to bump your exposure into the realm of many minutes, but I'll point out the obvious -- if you use the tracker the sillouette of the ground will blur, ruining the effect....

For a very brief moment I thought it was the capsule in space! For all I knew it was flying over an azure ocean with the clouds. I thought, "How the heck did Daniel get a press pass for this?!". OK, I'm half-joking, but for a moment I thought it was the capsule in space. Great photo!

I really like the angle you chose. As Andy stated above the angle makes it look like the bug is on a hillside. Nicely done.

Oh, you caught me, Tuan! No, really, the only improvement that I'd like to see would be a small "pop" of flash into the pinwheel. That would bring out the colors even more. Other than that I think it's good.

Please, make your model lay somewhere else! That had to be uncomfortable. The picture is fine enough, but the model's attire seems totally out of place.

Well, we were warned it was an ABSTRACT! And that it is....

The only real criticism I would have about this picture is that it seems to tilt towards the right. Otherwise I like it. There is sort of a cool, spooky aura about the scene. Good photo.

Some would say the cat should be much closer. I don't know about that. I kind of like it. The only real thing I would do is crop the picture. I would crop out the "rafters" at the top of the photo, and the sunlit portion at the bottom. Basically you would just see the cat, a stone wall, and the shadowed area.

 

The Pentax k1000 is a great camera by the way! I have one that's nearly 20 years old, and it still works like a charm.

Overall I really like the picture. I especially like the starburst effect on the flying drop of water. Did you plan on that? The only thing I would like to see different would be more room at the top. Maybe move the column of water down and a little to the left. But it sure is a great effort!

Wow! A fellow Tulsan (well, Bartlesville) on photo.net!

 

As for the picture it's amazing you were able to get this close, especially since you were working with a 200mm. Good job at that! You must have nature photographer instincts. The foreground is a little messy though, but being from this area I can say it's darn near impossible to NOT get a messy foreground/background in these woods. Plus I'm thinking this was a "grab" shot, as in you weren't going to spend the entire day stalking the turkey waiting for an ideal foreground/background situation. I like the lighting too since the diffusion allows you to easily see the entire bird (no harsh shadows).

 

 

I like it. As the above poster said, the right side tower could use some "breathing" room. I also like the boat on the lower right about to sail under the bridge (don't know if that was intentional or not, but great touch if it was!).

 

Also, and this is not to take away from your picture, I think there ARE certain subjects that it is very difficult to take a bad picture of. You are just capturing its "inherent beauty" so to speak. The GGB is a marvelous work of architecture, and you've captured a great shot of it.