Critiques

  BobTrips (1853) 2009-03-26 5:22

As others have said, it's a great job of framing and capturing the moment.

Two suggestions, and the first one be not valid as I'm looking from an uncalibrated monitor.

Try lightening (dodging) the man's forehead area just a bit.

Then think about cloning away the blown out spot top of frame/left of center.

One of the things that works for me in this shot is how the focus starts with your main subject on the extreme left and then the eye is drawn to the woman standing further back.

Finally ones vision wanders back along the path into the darkness of the alley. But that light patch can cause one to leave the natural route of the image and spoil the overall effect.

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-05-01 0:41

It is nicely done. Good framing, exposure, and all that. Seems to me like it might benefit from some more sharpening to bring out some of the detail.

Great place, Biltmore, isn't it? And did you pick up on the fact that the forest around it is second growth, replanted about the time the mansion was built?

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-04-09 18:18

Interesting idea but IMO has a couple of problems.

First the backlighting on the cross obscures most of the detail. You might want to do some tweaking and see if you can bring out a bit more.

Second, the church is so much in focus that it intrudes.

Try a version where you crop off some of the bottom of the frame, "fill flash" the cross, slightly blur the building, and clone away that little bit in the upper left.

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-03-30 22:59

Great angle, interesting framing. Lots of fun stuff to look at - many stories that could be told about the various players.

I suspect some sharpening could bring out more detail. Crop/clone out the tiny bits of white along the bottom edge.

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-03-30 22:56

I think this one is worth a revisit. Lots of potential IMO.

Straighten the roofline. Clone out the telephone pole (?). Sharpen.

You could even eliminate the motion blur in the stars.

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-03-30 14:32

This shot has so much going for it. It's well framed (and well timed). Lots of interesting faces to explore.

The color just doesn't look right to me. Skin tones look blue, rather dead. I posted a workshop in which I tweaked the color balance a bit. Not sure I got it right, but it might give you something to think about.

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-03-29 18:57

It is a nice shot. It would have been better (IMO) had the boat been closer. I'm not sure that there was much you could have done about that without loosing the nice patch of sunlight on the left side of the frame.

Wanted to share a shot that I happened to luck into....

Yours makes me want to go back and blend out the horizon.

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/156/tri_snow.jpg

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-03-24 23:48

You caught a good sky but I think the best shot would have been to get yourself up with the water heater and with a wide lens.

While I agree that including the water heater, etc. adds depth, it also takes away the potential timeless nature of the shot.

Probably makes a good photo documentary about how modern technology is intruding on our history.

I posted a workshop in which I selected and lightened the dark foreground area. I think it makes it less obvious.

  BobTrips (1853) 2007-03-24 23:37

Very nice shot - interesting angle. As others have said, nice rich colors. And lots of things to see as one moves their eye around the frame.

The roof in the lower right is a bit dark for my taste. And it seems to me that the bit of gray roof in the lower right corner intrudes.

I posted a workshop.

  BobTrips (1853) 2006-12-07 23:42

Lots of good stuff here but I think the framing could be better.

The object (footbridge?) at the bottom right isn't really in the shot and might be better left out. The other option would have been to shoot from a lower angle so that the distance between it and the cabin was diminished.

And there needs to be a bit more room above the chimney top. That area feels a bit cramped to me.