Critique chain - post one comment two

[mythlady]

Okay, I'll go, and this is doubly scary for me because I do not take pictures of people, except my daughter, who this is. I won't say any more about the picture than that, though I myself have a few opinions on it --

[mythlady]

I don't know how to include the little picture in the quote, but I'm sure that Rob can help with that . . .

All done, mam!

Ok here is mine. I took this waiting on friends to arrive for a football game.

This is about Sam's rose photo. I'm with Chris in thinking that maybe your intention was to highlight the lovely drop on the rose -- if so, it needs to be more of the focal point. My attention is naturally drawn to the rose itself, but because it's not in focus, I keep searching for what is, and like Chris, finally hit on the drop. Also, having the background be the brightest thing in the picture draws my attention to that -- I think you could have brightened the flower up in PP so that it could hold its own against the background. Lovely flower, and I am very interested in seeing more of that droplet --

[mythlady]

And here's a pic from me...

"Crooked Old Amsterdam"

This shot was done 4 years ago on vacation with a Canon S30 P&S (fairly low res by today's standards). Slightly cropped to remove extraneous space on the left. Touched up just a bit in Lightroom.
Exposure-0.41
Aperture3.2
Exposure Time1/1000 Focal Length8.6 mm
Flash- Auto, Did not fire

Click then click again to magnify.

Duh. You hit "Reply with quote."

I think this is a great idea. I like the perspective, although the off-kilter-ness of it kind of gives me vertigo (intended?). You got a lot of cool detail and texture in the building, and the sky's good too, even with the white clouds. What is that little -- cat? -- doing climbing up the side of the building?

That said, it's a little busy -- I would have been tempted to clone out some of the stuff on either side, the wire and the little bits of building. And the window at the bottom presents a bit of a problem, to me -- I wish the bottom corner of the window were included, and the shininess of it and the curtains are distracting -- as a woman , I immediately get stuck on thinking, did they really hang two different color curtains, no, that's got to be a trick of the light, and so on, which I don't think you really want me thinking. I don't think there's anything to be done about the window, other than to start the picture much higher, which would be a very different picture.

But it's neat, and very nicely captured in its details and so on.

[carregwen]

Elise

You also need to (I'm standing here, hands on hips, tut-tutting) comment on Chris' building shot.

I'm sure she's doing it... probably come back and tell me to shut up...

[mythlady]

Shut up, Rob. Give me a second, would ya?

[MiniChris]

You are kind.

Chris

That was good, but you need to keep the shot you submit separate from your comments of the previous two because the next commentator needs to do a 'reply with quote'. I split it for you. How kind I am.

Wendy - good comments!

Next please. People shot perhaps?

[wilgk]

And here's a pic from me...

"Crooked Old Amsterdam"

This shot was done 4 years ago on vacation with a Canon S30 P&S (fairly low res by today's standards). Slightly cropped to remove extraneous space on the left. Touched up just a bit in Lightroom.
Exposure-0.41
Aperture3.2
Exposure Time1/1000 Focal Length8.6 mm
Flash- Auto, Did not fire

Click then click again to magnify.

Okay here goes - doing my comment 2, before my post 1 if that's ok.
I do hope no-one else is posting at the same time from somewhere else in the world - so we end up with 4 instead of 2.

Chris
I like shots of buildings and street scenes where my attention is held and I am looking into the details of the scene.
I feel yours does this for me very well and technically exposure wise you seem to have it all under control.
A couple of points in the composition seem to however get my attention for maybe the wrong reasons.
The crop at the bottom, I would have included the whole window frame or cropped higher to not see either window completely, the wee bit we cannot see of the one is distracting.
Similarly with the curtains and the building on the left, perhaps with these slightly different colours a monochrome or B&W conversion, would have worked well, particularly as the sky is interesting with contrast in the clouds vs sky.

That said, it holds my interest and has me wondering what is behind the curtains?, who is there and what are they up to in the upstairs round windows?
So an interesting perspective and an enjoyable image to view.

[wilgk]

Okay, I'll go, and this is doubly scary for me because I do not take pictures of people, except my daughter, who this is. I won't say any more about the picture than that, though I myself have a few opinions on it --

Elise - I have just started dipping my toe into the waters of portraiture thanks to Colin's lessons, so I have empathy with you here.

I like the pose you have captured your daughter in, it has me wondering what she is thinking. The black and white conversion also works well, people in B&W always appeal to me.
On the crop, I like the close to the eyes at the top, but wonder how more chin at the bottom would look, sort of maybe equal amount of chin below the mouth as you have forehead above the eyes?
The eye that is closest to us, seems to be the point of focus and looks sharpest, but it is partially obscured by the hair, perhaps the other eye more sharply focused would be another option and by virtue of that not being the 'expected' technique, maybe it would add further interest & challenge the viewer more?
The small focal plane does however give a real dreamy feel to the whole shot for me, which I think really suits the pose very well and I know another daughter who would have been very happy with this result if she were the subject.

[wilgk]

and now for my 1 contribution..
This shot was taken of my daughter and her best friend before their Graduation from school Dinner.
There was a group of 12 girls who asked would I take photos of them. They were all thinking they wanted the waterfront and bay area as the background, which even though it was evening at the time still had them in bright sunlight.
I managed to get this 1 with them in the shade, although the reflector and grey card were not in use, which is a shame.

[MiniChris]

and now for my 1 contribution..
This shot was taken of my daughter and her best friend before their Graduation from school Dinner.
There was a group of 12 girls who asked would I take photos of them. They were all thinking they wanted the waterfront and bay area as the background, which even though it was evening at the time still had them in bright sunlight.
I managed to get this 1 with them in the shade, although the reflector and grey card were not in use, which is a shame.

Kays shot - It's hard not to like young ladies all dressed up for a special occasion. It is one of the reason's I've chaperoned Prom for the last umpteen million years and why I like this phot. Your lighting is simple with few distractive hot spots or overly dark shadows. This had to be relatively difficult to accomplish because of the black on white and especially because the girl in the black dress has a lighter skin tone. Tough to meter. The only thing I do not like about the compostion is that both the girls seem to be looking at different focus points to whomever is saying, "cheese." This puts the girl on the left slightly off balance. If you moved both a tad more to the left, I think you could overcome this balance issue...but, it issuch a striking photo, I doubt few would notice any discrepency at all. I like it!

Elise's daughter shot - is one of those fun shots which allow for any number of different compositional shifts. I think, like some of the other comments, I would move her a bit more to the right side of the frame..but not too mcuh. I want to see her hand just slightly nudging her and I think I want to see her eyes raised just a little to give the viewer a sense of having some involvement in her pensive moment. Good tonal range, and the soft focus really makes the shot work.

[MiniChris]

Went down to the big end of the bayou I live on this evening to see if I could get a nice moonrise, but alas, more clouds, so that idea had tobe put to rest for another day. I was about to leave when out of the corner of my eye, this boat slips silently into the frame. Darkness was closing in fast and I had to make a number of different aperture and shutter speed changes in a very short period of time. Love my camera, but it has way too many things to remember. I would have preferred a darker background and lighter foreground, but through the clouds, the sun was setting and the boat, man and dog were close to being sillouetted.

[mythlady]

Are we allowed to respond? Delete if not part of the game. The pic of my daughter was taken 1) the day I got my 100mm lens, and I couldn't get my camera out of my hand, and 2) in a very dimly lit restaurant -- she thought I was just messing with my camera and didn't know I was going to take the picture (which led to the good candid quality of it, I think). So really it was just a snap, nothing posed. I don't like the messiness of her hair (does she ever brush her hair??), and tried cloning the part high on her forehead out, but that really didn't work because it messed up the skin tones. Maybe clone some of the hair over it? I duplicated the picture and blended them together with Soft Light to give it that kind of softness. Also a little healing brush here and there.

[carregwen]

Chris

Elise - it's ok to come back with a short response. I just don't want a long dialogue to start as it will confuse the flow of things. The important thing here is the comments that people make on the shots.

In the meantime the next commentator can go with posts #30 and #32

[Jack Hogan]

I'll take #30 and #32. Here is my shot, 'warming up before the exam'. Flash not allowed, they had just asked me to move, and the camera was set up all wrong but I liked the relaxed yet tense atmosphere and so I took it. The image was severely underexposed, but in PP I actually liked the noise, so I turned off all noise reduction and went to B&W.

[Jack Hogan]

and now for my 1 contribution..
This shot was taken of my daughter and her best friend before their Graduation from school Dinner.
There was a group of 12 girls who asked would I take photos of them. They were all thinking they wanted the waterfront and bay area as the background, which even though it was evening at the time still had them in bright sunlight.
I managed to get this 1 with them in the shade, although the reflector and grey card were not in use, which is a shame.

I don't know what to say. Beautiful shot, beautiful subjects, beautiful color - difficult exposure done right (good detail in the white AND the dark dress). I like the perspective. The black dress of the girl on the left does seem to tip the balance of the picture more to her side. What if they had switched places? Or if you had taken the picture from further up? The background is a nice neutral color but not necessarily pretty. Would it help if it were a little blurrier? Nice sharpening on the hair, the eyes and the skin. Perhaps a little whitening of the molars on the left? Looking back at the picture, it does seem very tightly cropped and centered. Perhaps it could benefit from some overhang on one side or the other?

Overall a very nice picture as it is. I especially like its tones.

[Jack Hogan]

Went down to the big end of the bayou I live on this evening to see if I could get a nice moonrise, but alas, more clouds, so that idea had tobe put to rest for another day. I was about to leave when out of the corner of my eye, this boat slips silently into the frame. Darkness was closing in fast and I had to make a number of different aperture and shutter speed changes in a very short period of time. Love my camera, but it has way too many things to remember. I would have preferred a darker background and lighter foreground, but through the clouds, the sun was setting and the boat, man and dog were close to being sillouetted.

Very nice mood, the way the dog looks at us as if we were intruding in their private space and moment. Colorful marshes in the background and dark woods and lake in the foreground. Where are they going? Miles to go before they sleep.

The more I look at it the more I feel the need to know and see a bit more. Where are they coming from? Could you have zoomed out a bit? Shown a bit more of the lake up close, perhaps an eddy from the paddle, putting the boat a little further up in the picture? Would the point of arrival gain by being darker, and more mysterious? Other than the dog, man, and marshes this almost has the feel of a B&W picture. As you say, you feel the need to push the contrast, make the trees in the background darker and make the colors of the orange marshes, the dog, the man and the upper lake stand out more from them: vivid splashes of muted orange and blue color in the dark green lake against a dark background. Hard to see at this small size, but could it use a bubble of additional sharpening around the boat?

I really like the feel of this picture, well done.

[carregwen]

OK

Next one goes with post #32 image and post #35 image. Then post your own image after.

[Jack Hogan]

Gatcha, apologies for the missing magna opera: given my lack of photographic skill I feel quite humble critiquing such nice works. I put my picture first to act as a bookmark and to give others that may be critiquing almost simultaneously something to work on. Feel free as you see fit, Rob.

Jack

[carregwen]

Gatcha, apologies for the missing magna opera: given my lack of photographic skill I feel quite humble critiquing such nice works. I put my picture first to act as a bookmark and to give others that may be critiquing almost simultaneously something to work on. Feel free as you see fit, Rob.

Jack

It doesn't matter too much, as long as people comment on the last two images that are not their own. We have rules around here. But I'm a known anarchist

[ScoutR]

Hi Chris, me again

Initially this seems to be a nice peaceful image. If you are anything like me though, your mind will start to wander and wonder why is he out there? Is he fishing? Is he dropping off a body, Is he just taking that ever so watchful dog for a boatride? Maybe his drugs are stashed back there. Or maybe it is just a nice peaceful scene. I like it because it is mysterious.

I think it could use a slight counterclockwise rotation, and I'm not sure, but I might crop a bit off the bottom. I would say you did a good job of capturing the moment in the conditions you had. Oh how I would love a bit of fog in this one.

Wendy