duncanwallis

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my photograph. Any advice or observations are most welcome.

Thank you for taking the time to look at this image. This is my first attempt at such an image so any feedback or advice would be great. To capture this image, I used a Nikon Df, Sigma 105mm macro lens and a Nikon 2x teleconverter. It was an awkward shot to take because it is of my own eye. I set the camera up on a tripod, sat in front of the lens and manually adjusted the focus whilst looking at a computer monitor (the camera was tethered to it) to ensure I had the right focus. Then I prayed a little that I did not move more than a millimetre backwards or forth before I took the shot whilst holding the flash in the other hand and ensuring I was looking directly into the lens. Thanks again for your time and kind regards, Duncan

Thank you everyone for your observations, opinions and critiques. I actually had no idea that this photo had been selected for POW until today. I went back to the RAW of this image as a comparison and in hindsight I completely agree with Michael and Robin that I absolutely blew the highlights on centre bar, something I should have picked up on and addressed accordingly during the post-processing phase. As for seeing either none or all of the hand as suggested by Nicolas, she had just grasped the bars slightly higher in the frame which created a 'v' frame under her face which was the shot I wanted; unfortunately she her hand dropped unexpectedly just before I took the shot. Moments after, and before I could re-compose another shot to include all of the hand again (and not fully obscure one or both eyes by the bars), a pair of fighting males crashed into her and she moved away looking for shelter. I won't take any sides on the social commentaries regarding who is the real prisoner etc, I watched her for quite some time and to me it was truly depressing. That in itself is something I do not take lightly as I've been a soldier for over half my life and there isn't many situations that gets such an emotional response out of me anymore. I totally agree with the comments that the photograph has been over processed. I think I may have gone too far in my efforts to present a clear delineation between prisoner and prison. Photography is a constant learning curve for me, your comments and observations help me progress and improve both photography and post-processing. Once again, a warm thank you to everyone for their input. Kind regards, Duncan

I am a huge fan of this shot. The simplicity combined with great use of available light makes it intriguing beautiful. Italy provides so many opportunities for photographers, I can't wait to go back again. Thank you for sharing this photograph Peter. Kind regards, Duncan

Thank you for taking to the time to critique the photograph Chris. I really wanted to get the shot from down stream slightly but couldn't get to it due to the erosion of the bank from the recent typhoon that had hit Japan making it too dangerous to justify for the shot. I was able to get the detail and colours out of the rocks whilst maintaining the soft water flow by taking five longer exposures and creating a HDR composite of the scene. Kind regards, Duncan

There's a funny story to this photograph. Imagine you walk past the front sitting room of your father and mother in-laws house one night and you see this. Well I did and it scared the crap out of me, I'm guessing that my daughter was playing with one of her great grandfather's stuffed animals and left it in front of the window casting this silhouette. Once I got over the initial WTF moment, I walked upstairs and got the camera. Any observations or advice is always appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to look at this image. Kind regards, Duncan