laceyhughes

hi Jeff!  i too would like to see your colors completely photoshopped into oblivion?  i'm a fan of the over fake too!  i don't like it when an image portrays the actual scene.  and how dare you actually take a long exposure image at night,,  what were you thinking?  that is just wretched,,  next time can you tell the harbor to cease operations so you can take a photograph?  i don't like how you have motion blur?  and the city lights are too bright, can you have them turned down too?  and really?  a watermark?  what's up with that,,  this is obviously a crap photo that at least one person would not want to steal? 

Very interesting!  At first glance in the thumbnail I thought you photoshopped eyes and mouth on a rock.  Of course I can see now it's some sort of critter! 

It appears to me there is perhaps some saturation noise in it's eyes.  Nothing too bad, just something I noticed.  As far as framing goes, I think I would have liked to see a little more room for the mouth at the bottom edge.  I think you could probably also classify this in the Humorous category.  I know I'm amused by looking at it.  :)  Nice detail. 

Lacey

Excellent composition!  Simple, well defined.  Makes for a great abstract.  This reminds me of the optical illusions where you can perceive both concave and convex.

3/3

Just kidding!!  I don't rate photos (since about 2 months after joining), and I don't leave mine up for ratings.  I find them competely useless.  But that's me.

Good focus on the wings.  You captured lots of detail in them.  I would like to see a little isolated lighting on the butterfly to help it stand out a bit more.  I darkened the brightness around the butterfly by about -25, and increased the contrast +10 in photoshop.  Just an idea. 

Cute expression.  I know many people think children should be smiling at all times...  I really like the look you captured. 

I feel the lighting is a bit flat.  I adjusted the levels in photoshop to give you an idea of what I see.  I also added a light sepia photo filter to warm her skin tone a bit.  Just ideas. 

Lacey

Intriguing.  This is not really my area of expertise, how to do these more intricate blends, but I think I would like to see the flower look like more a natural part of the model.  I see you used a drop shadow blending effect on the flower and "eye".  It gives it a stacked feel to me.  Without the shadows completely though it would look just cut and pasted.  Maybe make the shadow more subtle?  Not really sure exactly how to create what I'm envisioning.  Anyway, just my thoughts on that.

Otherwise I would do some cloning on the left side of the frame.  The corner of the eye, and the dark shadow above the nose are distracting to me.  I don't think I would crop it out though.  I like how you have the edge right on the edge of the nostril.  Any tighter would ruin that effect.   

I love how you composed a photo of a camera composing a photo of another piece of art, an eye almost watching you..  Very circle of life-ish.  Good lighting.  Everything is well balanced, allowing the viewer to easily flow through the image.  Was this a shoot on the fly sort of thing, or did you wait at this exhibit for someone to step into your staging?

I really like your composition of this one.  Simple, but still interesting.  I often find myself wondering what's just beyond the fog.  You have excellent detail, fine exposure.   

Your vignette is too noticeable, too dark and not enough feathering.  Vignettes are supposed to be subtle and draw the viewer into the scene.  This one just says, Hey look at me! 

I'm not sure how you shot this, whether it be multiple exposure or just one that was processed multiple times.  Either way, next time I would suggest using a polarizer filter.  It would have helped with the clouds, and helped remove more shine from the water in the foreground.  As far as the HDR processing goes, there is too much halo between the sky and foreground for my taste.  The clouds lack good definition.  The image as a whole is still under-exposed.  I would try and run the process again with a little more tone mapping.  Are there any photos from the brighter end of the sequencing?  Because of the lack of foreground elements, a scene like this might have worked out better as an exposure blend.  Or shooing once with a graduated ND filter.  With the blend you could have shot once for the sky, once for the foreground, and blended them together.  With the GND the sky would have already been darkened, allowing for one exposure.  The GND would have been especially easy with the clear, defined horizon.  Just some things to keep in mind for your next adventure. 

Gorgeous scenery!

I'm not sure what the area looked like and don't know if it's even possible, but if it were up to me I'd move to the right to compose the dark shadows in the foreground out of the scene.  There is also a little bit of a tree branch showing in the very left corner, also distracting.  As is I would try and lighten the shadow, lessen the harshness so less attention is drawn there.  I'm also not a fan of those annoying camera date stamps.  In general, not you personally, if you want to know when you took a photograph then you can easily look up the EXIF data, assuming the date/time is set correctly to begin with.  The EXIF holds all the data info on when and how you created your shot.  A very useful tool when looking back on past work. 

I'm not sure of the aperture you were using on this, my guess is that it was pretty wide open.  If you would have used a smaller aperture you would have been able to create the rays with the sun, instead of just a big blown ball of light.  I'm not sure what is on the right-hand side of the frame, but I find it a bit distracting.  I would probably go for a crop or clone. 

The fog is pretty cool looking.  :)

Funny!  :)

As far as critique - I would brighten the overall photo, and greatly increase contrast. 

Keep an eye on your horizon.  This one dips down on the left a considerable amount.  I do like the car coming around the corner.  I might also suggest a crop.  For me, there's too much open space not really adding to the photograph.  

Lacey 

I see what you're saying about the whole environment.  An overall scene.  I was trying to convey that (probably because of the harsh shadows) I find myself searching for something to latch on to.  I agree with the still reflections, foliage, etc. as all being part of the bigger picture.  Pardon the pun.  :)  I think I would try to soften the harshness and see if that helps any.  Good luck!  And congrats on finding tranquility.

I see that you were shooting this at an ISO of 800.  In normal daylight conditions there is no reason to be shooting that high.  Especially shooting into the sky like that, ISO 100 would have been more than enough.  Yes, your shutter speed would have been a lot lower as well.  I don't know about the A500, but there might be some camera settings you could change as well.  Boost the contrast and sharpness in camera.  Also, shooting in Low Key would have created a very interesting effect. 

Once the image has been shot, now it's time for post processing.  I'm guessing you were looking for a darker, more ominous sky.  I did a quick run through Photoshop and came up with the image I uploaded as an idea.  I'm not sure if it's what you were looking for or now, but worth a shot.  For this image I cropped out the distracting trees at the bottom of the frame.  Then duplicating the background layers twice, I used the blend mode of Multiply on one layer, and Soft Light on the other layer.  Using Hue and Saturation I selected the Blues channel and moved the slider towards desaturated, and also decreased lightness.   

I disagree with the increase in saturation.  I like it just how it is.  Vibrant, but not over-powering.  I might add a little brightness to the photo.  As well as a subtle vignetting to help the bird stand out just a little more.  The background is a nice neutral shade, compliments the bird well.  I don't much care for the variance in bokeh between the right and left sides though.  It's a little distracting.

This post processing was done in CS4 utilizing blend and screen layer blending modes to create a darker, more contrasty sky; and slightly lighten the foreground.  Not sure if this is the idea you were going for, but I thought I would give it a shot.  If it is, email me and I can send you a great link for step by step instructions on how to achieve this look.

Lacey

Graduated ND filters are fantastic for shooting scenes where you need more light attenuation on part of the frame.  Unfortunately if you buy just the treaded type that screw onto the end of your lens, you're stuck with the graduation line in center frame.  Polarizers can help create more contrast in sky scenes.  Otherwise you have the option to post process photos.  There are many things that can be done; from exposure blends, HDR, or simply making small adjustments to just one photo.  I know you say you feel the green field is under-exposed.  I happen to like it just the way you shot it.  For the available light I feel you did quite well.

For next time I might suggest to set up on a tripod and experiment with longer exposures.  This image was shot at 1/320 shutter speed, more than fast enough for this scene.  Happy shooting!!    

Lacey  

Because of the harsh shadows, I think this shot might have done better as either an exposure blend or HDR. 

I'm struggling to find a subject in this photo.  My eyes dart around the image trying to find something to focus on.  There is a red tree, or maybe the purple flowers, reflection, or the tall grass on the far bank?  I just don't find anything specific to hold my attention onto for long.  Unfortunately I don't have any good suggestions for a crop.  Overall it has a really snapshot sort of feel. 

Lacey 

Your horizon dips down on the left.  Unfortunately the borders you've applied really accentuates the un-level horizon.  I suggest a rotate. 

You have nice, vibrant colors that compliment each other well.  Perhaps a bit over saturated for my taste, but to each their own.  I really like the splash you captured on the left.  It makes it almost appear as though water is falling down, even though I know it was actually splashing up. 

Lacey

Lovely image.  I don't care the dark rock formation on the right.  Too much attention is drawn to the black nothingness.  I might also take a little out of the sky.  There is great definition in the clouds.  But after the brighter spot in the clouds, there really isn't a lot of detail adding anything.  Just a possible idea for cropping. 

I really like your more subdued colors.  The color you've rendered in the sand is very pleasant. 

-Lacey

Ooooh, fun with Photoshop.  Very, um, creative.  I'm curious what was your inspiration for this?  :)

It's a Dragonfly - possibly the Emerald Dragonfly. 

I would have used a fill flash on this.  The shadows are too harsh on her face.  A lot of attention is drawn to her nose. 

Personally I like the way you shot this.  I really don't see anything that screams fill flash.  It does almost have a more studio feel to it, as opposed to an outdoor shot, because of the lack of shadows.  I think maybe a little more soft shadowing might be nice, but it would all depend on the sun at the time.  As far as lighting, I have no complaints.