tommiller

Ross,

I completely agree with Alf.

Regards, Tom

I've been busy and not doing much photography or posting lately, but I'm always glad to see your work. I hope you're in good health these days.

Comparing this image to a couple of others of the same scene in this folder, this seems to have a warmer tone, and perhaps a little more saturation. Often, that's an effect that i like, but for this particular scene, I think the cooler tone and lower saturation carry the mood a bit better.

Wishing you and yours a merry Christmas and happy new year.

Regards, Tom

Bob,

Welcome to PN. I know it's harder to catch a cat in this kind of pose than it looks. If they hear a footstep, they usually revert to a more "normal" position. The composition and sharpness are great, but for my taste, I think it could be lighter. If you do lighten it, you need to keep enough contrast to retain some deep black, and if possible avoid revealing unwanted background detail.

Regards, Tom

It makes me want to bathe in the colors (the water itself is probably still too cold.)

Regards, Tom

I've been trying for more than a month now to try to put in words why I like this so much, but somehow it reaches me emotionally as well as visually.  Nice work.

Regards, Tom

I like this very much.  It has a beautiful simplicity, and also has some mystery and other-worldliness to it.  I'm left to wonder what the background really is, whether it was taken in-situ, or in a studio, or assembled in post processing, whether the colors are the original ones or manipulated, etc.  Nice work!

Regards, Tom

A lovely heartwarming image!  The difference between the soft colors in the background, pleasing as they are, and the contrasty black and white of the clothing helps emphasize that it's really about the people, not the scene.

Regards,

Tom

Very amusing. Great composition, background just sharp enough to show a third great face.  I don't do much B&W myself any more, but this one reminds me that color isn't always better.

Regards, Tom

Great composition, perfect depth of field.  Are these the same critters I know as "gray jays" or "camp robbers" from Canada and northern US?

Ross,

I like it as it is. With the millions of pretty outdoor scenics on PN, it takes something unusual to catch a viewer's attention.

Regards, Tom

Amazing shot!

Regards, Tom

I think the architecture and the photo both work.  I can't escape the feeling that the angular parts have just recently fallen out of the sky and landed there.

Regards, Tom

It's dramatic, and it's sharp where it needs to be sharp.  I think it might benefit from some lightening of the shadows.  It's too late for fill-in flash, but a little lightening in post-processing might help.

Regards, Tom

Ross,

I was also struck by the composition, as well as the combination of colors.  You've reminded us that green can still be found in winter.

I hope you've been able to get outdoors and out into the wild some more these past several months.

I was just browsing through Cory Sine's portfolio, and I noticed that he has only one image in his "favorites" collection, and it's one of yours.

Regards, Tom

Thank you, Patsy.  I'm always pleased to get a favorable comment from somebody who does such fine work herself.

Regards, Tom

I love the casual elbow-on-the-table pose!

Regards, Tom

I looked on the internet about eggs being laid on leafhoppers, and all I

found was a wasp that lays its eggs on leafhopper eggs (to the benefit

of the California grape crop) but nothing about grown leafhoppers. How

do you get them to stand still long enough? I doubt that the grass bug

below it had anything to do with it. For one thing, it looks much too

small to have laid eggs that big.

All comments and information welcome.

Regards, Tom

Great image!

Here in upstate NY, there's a species of ambush bush that's very effectively camouflaged on goldenrod blossoms.  You don't want to handle them, because they do have venom.  They can bring down wasps and bees more than twice their size.

My attempt to attach an image didn't seem to work. I have some in a folder named "On Goldenrod - Life, Death, and Sex."

Regards, Tom/photodb/photo?photo_id=14987961

I first started trying to photograph live insects in 1964, and I'd be thrilled to get something this good a few times a season even now.  I strongly agree with your decision not to crop closer to the grasshopper.  The brown tips on the leaves mirroring the dark grasshopper wings make for a great composition.

I look forward to seeing more of your work!

Regards, Tom

Such a graceful, nicely balanced composition.  I've tried to catch swallows in flight myself, and I know how hard it is.  They fly so very fast and shift direction so suddenly. Excellent work!

Regards, Tom

Thank you for your comments.  I maybe could have been able to get a better composition by selecting a better spot along the shoreline to shoot from.  I was hiking with a group, though, and couldn't afford to take too much time to fine-tune the photos.

Thanks again,  Tom 

I'm troubled by the tree in the farthest left foreground. Should I have

included more of it, tried harder to get it in better focus, or simply cropped

it out? All comments welcome.

Lots of plants have eye-catching flowers, but I don't know of any other

plant where the emergence of leaves in the spring is so dramatic.

All comments welcome.

I love the colors, the detail, and the composition.

Regards, Tom