andrew_huth

Great use of Photoshop to work the sky. adjusting the colors (perhaps saturation) you have given two nice points of interest to the photo (sky drama and the strong silhouette).

I love the wonderful balance of exposure between the sky and the earth. It can be rare to find such balance without the use of a graduated neutral density filter so nice timing in catching this moment of balance. The perspective is what makes this picture so compelling for me, but I am not sure what to make of the mysteriously beautiful tree in the middle ground of the photo. I love the strange and eerie sense of mood the tree imposes and yet I have a difficult time resolving the fact that it seems to compete with the other interesting focus of this picture---the crosses. I am not sure how else I would have shot this picture, but I think it would be equally powerful if not more if there weren't two different points of interest fighting for my attention. Thoughtful and compelling nonetheless.

I looked at this one and the sepia toned version and I like this one much better. The cooler blue light falling on the plant in the cold snow somehow seems more fitting and better expresses a sense of loneliness or a lonely battle for survival. Thanks for sharing.

The light piercing between the tress shadows reflected in the water makes this a great image. Wonderful sense of mystery.

Glad to see you are on here as well Doug. Unfortunately, it was too late to get out of this one. ;-)

I too like the candid photography of people very much, but there is also some things you can't say with candid portraits (or not as well) that you could by having the person be fully aware of the camera. A good example of this is our man Steve McCurry. A lot of the power in his imges are there, because people were aware of his lens and agreed to share their image with us. That is why his images speak not only of the photographer's intent, but of the intent of the ones his photographs.

Wow those two are really good looking! ;-)

nice little shot Al. Even though this breaks the so called compositional rules of "good" photography by having a person face and leave the frame I still like it very much. I think having that thick black tree in the back right helps balance this photo. The real strength is in her expression---very natural and thoughtful.

Dude, I gotta send this to Gord. He will get a kick out of this.

I really like the composition of this image the best of the current 8 you have posted. A natural moment. It would have been nice if Paul had tilted his head slightly backwards and to his left and looked up with his eyes, but you get what is in there. Depth of field is right on for this shot.

Looks like something out of a spy film. Strange, because I remember Doug making that call not Eli.

Al, like the pix. I sure look funny in the photo. I am wondering about the tinting. Did you tint the image after a B/W conversion or just desaturate the colors a lot?

Discussions (involving to digital or not) on photo.net in my opinion is often misguided as they often target an artist's credibility rather than the merit of his or her work. I have followed photo.net for over a year now and this is very very very very common discussion on the site. I think so many people on photo.net are wound up too tight. I think it really does not matter if a photograph has been altered in a digital OR traditional darkroom except in the case of Journalism and other forums where authenticity is important (like in a court case or an evidence photo). The process of Photography has always (even before the computer) been a multi step process of shooting, developing, and printing. With the advent of the digital darkroom tools (photoshop, computers, and photographic printers) artist have merely taken the process of manipulating light, which is at the core of photography, and enhanced and expanded the former limitations or inconvenience that the traditional darkroom posed. I am not a believer of the mantra that one MUST always "toil" with a piece of work in order for that work to be considered good and of value (although the digital darkroom process can, much like a traditional darkroom, offer many challenges). As cliche as it sounds, I truly believe the choice of how we carry out our photographic vision is wholly dependent on our own tastes unless, as I have mentioned above, we happened to be producing work for the field of Journalism and or other authentic sensitive / necessary fields. I don't believe the arena of Art falls into those categories. As far as I can tell, the artist has made no claims that this photo was shot under either of those conditions. The Artist has said it is unaltered (great), but even if he had said it was altered I still would not have any problems with it. Truly, what Art isn't a manipulation of something, some place, or some idea?

 

So beyond my ranting, I liked the photo, but I didn't find it particularly interesting beyond my admiration for the artist's technical abilities and the wonderful sense of light and mood created by the image. It makes me feel like putting on a raincoat and taking a walk down a city street during a rainstorm for some reason.

 

Andrew Huth

I really like the image (the light is very moody), but the large yellow boarder really takes a lot away from the image. I think the image is stronge enough without it. I also don't mind the dark eyes--it adds to the mystery of the image.

I actually like the crop you have. I think the mysterious blue sky helps to make this photo work. I love the color contrast betweent the blue sky and the yellow barn lights. They both need each other. I do not think you should lighten it either, because making it lighter would reverse the mood of the image. The mood is dark yet warming somehow. I like it a great deal.

I don't think the sky is too much. IMHO, I do not believe that a photo has to follow the traditional rules of composition in order for it to be considered beautiful. I don't think the sky takes all that much away from the fence. If I took this photo, yeah I might have fixed the color cast, but the cast actually adds a moodiness to the image that might have been lost if you made the photo to look "perfect." Just my 2 cents worth.

This is a great photo. I really like how you used the fog in the background to create a nature shallow depth of field. A shallow depth of field could have been done by shooting at a low F stop, but the fog does it much better. This is a great "mood" shot. Sometimes photos tell us information and sometimes they make us feel. This makes me feel nostalgic. Great photo