jeffrey_cessna

Thank you for including the latin name for the flower. Perhaps I will find my Gentiana pictures - andrewsii (closed gentian) and linearis (narrow-leaf gentian). I like the colors here. I also find that fall is a good time to photograph these flowers. Perhaps a vertical shot would better suit the shape of this flower and the background.

 

[(S'il vous plait pardonnez mon francais) Merci pour y compris le nom latin de la fleur. Peut etre je trouverai mes photographies de gentiana. J'aime des colours ici. Je trouve aussi que l'automne est un bon temp pour photographier cette fleur. Peut etre une photo vertical a mieux soi-convenant le forme de cette fleur est le milieu.]

Reminds me a little of William Morris. Good job with the patterns. A slight suggestion - if your camera will accept filters, a polarizer could remove the glare and reflections. You might like the results. You will see more of the true colors. Cheers.

Ok, Here is one that has been up for a while, but I think it was

overshadowed by the first, quite different, crop I made from the same

image. For this crop I wanted to have the road look both appropriate

and out of place. I also liked the imperfect natural symmetry. I wish

I had the resolution to print this large. Thoughts?

I took a little break to avoid packing for my trip. I spent a lot of time trying to not lose texture and put the grass in a good place. I really never found something I liked.

And now for something completely different... I was inspired by some

uninspiring prints as I looked at the doubles. See technical details.

I lost a lot of detail in the scanning and the shading wasn't so

harsh, but you can see what I was going for. Comments?

I agree with removing the right, but only becasue it is dark. I'd also actually like to see the whole image a little brighter. Using the original orientation retains the ability to recognize the subject, but I also like Rhett's crop for a more abstract version. I'm sure you'd like to be chosen in the competition more for your merits than for having a patriotic judge.

If it changes again perhaps the bright spot between the hands will go away.

 

I think it would still be best in the direction everyone else has been saying to go.

The color does seem a bit bright, especially for horsetail, but it doesn't bother me. I really get an "under water" sense from this series, especially this shot. You did a great job of preserving the depth in this picture. I'd have to see a version with sharper detail to decide whether I liked it better, but I think it would actually detract from the image by putting to much emphasis on the front reeds. I doubt they are interesting enough to hold it. It would also break the photo into a foreground and background creating a barrier with the reeds. As it is there is a nice smooth inviting flow and mystery to draw you in.

 

I was on the fence until I went to the large version and now have to say the flare bothers me. The blue light does not.

 

That said, I think you really hit it with not only this perspective, but taking the shot at night. You have the shades of the warm orange glow, but you also have the pitch black sky to trap the eye once it has moved up the photo.

Thanks. I can see clearly now. I went back and forth on saturation when I was playing with this. I left it dull because I remember that motel as dull. Perhaps I'll revisit the photo some day in photoshop.

The only "altering" I did was perspective. The vine is hanging down from a tree. So real life would be seen in portrait format. The sharpness was lost from standing on my toes in the wind. I mainly took the shot to work with the backgrounds and I liked these colors. Thanks for the comment.

Wow, the light in this picture is just great. The whole color scheme comes together also. The bird looks painted into this scene. Like the rest of this folder, the image has a good feel.

Well, I didn't have my tilt-shift lens with me, because I don't own

one, but I thought the pattern and dull colors were interesting. The

bottom balcony was the lowest and I could not have gotten up higher

without entering a building. Comments?

I'm with everybody else on this one. The sliver needed to go and the sky could use contrast, but I wouldn't have centered the tower. The strong graphics create a flow from left to right. A centered tower might have been too static. Where it is (or just slightly left) it adds to the flow

Ok, I am somewhere in between the original and the reworked crop. The only part of the bright white that takes away from the composition is the yellow line. The overall picture could be a little darker and still retain the arm, hip, and face highlights. I would not go as dark as the cropped version or blur the sweater and hip as much. Even though the body parts don't quite flow the curve of the hip adds to the "comfort" of the picture and the jeans and belt add to the character of the person.

I'll finally throw my hat in. When I took this I had the plants

centered, but I cropped the bottom and right sides to give a horizon

and maybe movement. Comments? Thanks.

Great job with the composition, framing, focus, and background. The repeated circles work well. You got the all important center of the flower in focus and the fall off on the needles adds a litle depth. I like this one the most of the folder. The scan could perhaps be a little better.

Nice use of the complex crossed angles aligning with the heron. The smaller roots in midair even seem to frame the bird. The smooth water with the colors associated with the bird is nice also. I often see these guys in this type of cover, so it is a good representation of their behaviour.

 

My only suggestion might be to have been a little closer or crop the bottom and right a little with a little less off of the left to bring the focus more to the Heron. I think it would still provide a good sense of the birds environment.

 

Great stuff in the rest of the folder, too.

Ok, I was reading the 24-hr forum one day and saw a discussion about when, how, and why one could or would use an angled view as a composition element. That same evening I ran up to the roof to try to catch a particularly interesting sunset. I took a lot of the standard pictures and was pleased, but saw this incongruous exhaust stack. A straight horizon didn't seem to seperate it enough from the background. I Chose this angle because I liked the swath of blue sky from corner to corner. It is meant to be a little jarring.

Comments?

PS. Here is another experiment to change composition from the same night.

Thanks.

I was wondering if the street lights here add any interest to yet another sunset? They seem to converge with the clouds, but don't converge to anything of interest. From my position on the roof I couldn't move the convergence anymore to the left without including unattractive buildings on the right.

The folder also includes the same sunset without the lights and two other attempts to provide a little interest.

Thanks for any (if any) comments.

Looks like Periwinkle (Vinca minor) to me. Nice shot. It could be a little brighter, but that could be my monitor. Also, pay attention to the pattern the background will create.

I think black and white cows always hold their own when converted to black and white. They've naturally got the full range of contrast to stand out from the background. Somehow the tilt seems to work for me also, possibly the upright righthand side of the cow. You might also trim down the upload, it's a little big to view easily.

For your entertainment here is another B&W cow shot on this site (not my photo).

Cheers.

Tom, I think this works well. The modification might be slightly overdone leading to too much uniform (read - computer generated) texture for the effect, but that depends on the viewing size. Which leads me to the next comment. The upload is much too big. The medium size runs off the side of my 21 inch screen. I generally try to keep mine below 800 on a side, although some would say that is too big. Anyway, I also like the composition.

I also like the picture this way, but some of the sense that it is unreal may come from the blown out parts of the sky that are more subtle, or even blue, in the reflection. What does it look like without the correction to the whites?

See technical details. Did it work? There was nothing interesting to include on the horizon. Thanks.

BTW the colors are real if not a little subdued. Great evening. See a little later.