elaine_roberts1

Plenty of potential here: I like how the subject is framed by the arches, and the color. The tilt though is very distracting. I've attached a cropped version of it--with some adjustments to levels and saturation--what do you think?

Nice composition; however, the sky does not seem to match :)

I like the tree. I think that it holds the composition together; without it the image would have no anchor. I do find myself a bit distracted by the various weeds in the foreground; I think some of that could be chopped without damaging the overall look. Nice exposure and lighting.

My, not a good day for the kitty. Certainly creative. She is certainly a good model.

An interesting take; very unique since normally one would show the butterfly's wings. The creativity enhances it, imo; the butterfly does not distract from the flower, and you have a pleasant composition here.

What a beautifully dramatic image you've captured. The black and white, hard contrast, light flares, (young) people running the streets, archtecture--they bring me to another time and place. Beautifully done.

This is a beautiful model, but this picture is a very unflattering one. Shooting from below like this will give even the most slender of subjects a double chin, and positioning her shoulders and torso to face the camera full on (as we see here) makes her body look blocky and ungraceful; one can see this by comparing to your other photos in this folder--many of which are excellent. The lighting is nice, though, and I like the bright catchlights in her eyes.

I like the lines and composition; however the washed out colors leave me a bit underwhelmed...I think either increasing the saturation, or converting it to black and white (and, either way, increasing the contrast a little), would make it stronger.

I love the framing of this; the hat is a fantastic framing device, the lighting is dramatic, and the lines harmonious (golden mean). I'm not a big fan of the out-of-focus face in the background; I think the image would be stronger without it. Also, just a touch more depth of field would have brought that hat into focus and strengthened the composition. Still, a very nice shot.

Incredible! What did you use for the coloring? Cross-processing?? Very eerie image.

What a wonderful collection of portriats. This is one of my favorites. I spent some time in Russia as a student, and the room, the bed/couch, the look of the family, everything--it is very similar to a family with whom I stayed in Vladimir, Russia in 1999. The ex-Soviet 'mark' lingers broadly, it would seem. Lovely work. I'm glad to have discovered your portfolio.

A cute pet portrait!

I really like this image; its a very unconventional framing, but it works. I think a little more contrast and shadow detail would improve it immensely.

I like the soft-looking branches, like feathers. Overall, the image seems a bit dark--have you tried dodging the beach area to bring out some detail?

Comments and ratings appreciated. Does this work in monotone?

I always find it useful to carry on a conversation with someone while I'm photographing them. Just interject at random, "okay, look right back over here!" and shoot. I also have my subject scrunch up their face, stretch it out, before having them smile--helps smiles look more natural.

 

I've attached a copy of your pic. It's amazing what a careful crop and a little processing can do. I increased saturation, darkened down the highlights in her hair and shirt (to bring attention to her face), added some red and yellow to the midtones using levels; created a vingnette effect using a layer mask to darken only the outside areas. And cloned out the stray hairs on her forehead. It takes practice, but there's a lot that can be done to work with photos that might not otherwise seem very useable.

 

Good luck, let me know how things go the next time!

 

Elaine

I think that this is a nice face, but an awkward crop. Her neck seeems a bit hunched up; I think if more of her face were visible on the right, the image would flow a little better. Is this the original crop, or was there more space around her head in the original frame? Less important, it looks like it could use just a little more contrast.

 

Good job on the exposure and focus. And interesting lighting (through a tree?), which adds some interest.

I like the portrait, but not the drawings...the edge of mask where you dropped in the bluefield is a bit jagged and not well blended....an interesting idea; I'd recommend you keep working with it.

I like the digital treatment of this photo; nice softness and subtle coloring; but find her chopped-off right foot rather distressing..In this case I think the traditional rule of giving a walking figure 'room' to walk into--by having more space in front than behind--would improve the dynamism of this image. Also, even if her attitude at the time was 'don't look at me', the image itself looks more like a little girl blissfully lost in her own daydreams and imaginings...Still, a nice image.

I love the colors and abstract quality of this. I'd clone out that little dark spot in the upper right corner; its a little distracting. But a nice shot, and a funny story--if, I'm sure, a bit painful!

Taken at the zoo. Comments and ratings appreciated.

I like this effect. It turns what would otherwise be a rather boring image into a much more interesting one. The tree, bench,a nd subject are well-balanced, and as I said I like the digital work. Would you mind sharing how you did it (ie which programs, etc)? The fact that the subject is looking out of the frame adds interest, although I think that having her look at the camera would make for a very strong (albeit very different) image as well.

 

Cheers

 

Elaine

Yes, I know that St Peter's is photographed excessively...but still,

what do you think of this shot? I corrected the perspective in PS;

the original, uncorrected version is in this same folder. Thanks for

comments and ratings.

 

Cheers!

 

Elaine

I could not pass up a tribute to Ray Bradbury without offering a comment!! Great concept; I'm not sure of the composition/crop--you might want to play around w/this idea some more, get some cheap secondhand books to work with :). Very cool, though, thanks for sharing.

Have you thought of converting this to black and white? I think it would work well as a monotone.