Recent Comments
light is uneven and focus is soft.
jonesntn, rating an image 2 and not leaving a comment is not cool. Please state your reasons for the rating.
may want to make your watermark smaller and away from the bottom, if you use an online printing company, they make cut your watermark off because they have their own crop guidelines. Other than that, this picture is very nicely taken. I love the contrast between the subject and the background. :)
Love this photo, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. I don't know if you were going for "gangster," or you saw how it turned out and dubbed it "gangster," but it's fitting for the look and expression you've captured. Your choice of B&W with a little color added reinforces this theme. I like the composition and deliberate choice to cut the top of the hat out of the frame. About the only negative thing I'll say is perhaps the background is a bit too bright and detracts a little from the face in my eyes, but it's far from bad. Nicely done.
What does it say. . . what does it SAY! I'm going nuts trying to figure out what it says!!! :-). The tattoo seems the obvious focus (hence your title), but it's not big enough to read. Even if there was a larger image, there's a lot of extra picture to work through. I like the bright green she's wearing, but perhaps scoping the frame down to, say, her right half from neck to hip would keep the cool color and leave enough of her to be intriguing while bringing out the tat more. I'm guessing you don't know her and got this somewhat by happenstance--from that perspective, you did well with what you had to work with. . . I just want to know what it says. . .
I like this photo. I'm intrigued and drawn to it and want to know more of the story. I like how you've framed it because it makes the man the subject with just enough of the other elements to give it context--I especially like how the bike is partially cropped out of the frame. I never would have done that, and that's why my pictures of people stink and I like this one. Your use of black-and-white also helps to emphasize the man instead of drawing the eye immediately to the bright blue Maxwell House can or Chips Ahoy wrapper. When I look at it, I find my eye checking out all the little details of the bike, but I always come back to the man's face which I take as a clear sign you've done something right here. I was a little disappointed there's not a larger version when I click on it because I'd like to check out more of the detail. At this size, I can't tell if he's shaking a maraca or grabbing a turkey leg. The only real negative I can think of is it took me a minute to figure out what he was doing (without your title, I probably wouldn't have), so perhaps capturing his right arm mid movement instead of down would have told the story more clearly. Well done!
Very unusual subject and worthy of a photo! What makes it unique is the large number of birds clustered in just a few branches, but because there are so many, it's tough to figure out where my eye should end up. Also, because there are so many dead branches, the deadness of the trees fights the birds for attention. Perhaps zooming in on one cluster such as the one at the top center would still get the feeling of lots of birds across but give more detail to the subject. I like the top-center group because the tree branches have a pleasing shape and are thinner leaving more of the birds unobscured, and if you wait long enough, perhaps one of the birds would do something cool like spread its wings or take off making it a good focus point for the eye. Because the birds are black and the trees are gray-brown (very little color), have you thought about doing this in black and white? If the birds cooperate, perhaps an early morning or late evening shot would add some color. Again, neat subject--lots to play with here!
I feel like between the two shots (this one and the closeup of the ridges), there's a good shot to be had. All the nooks and crannies here add interest as well as contrast, but I'm not seeing the focus of the photo. If it's the little peninsula jutting out into the sea, perhaps a little less foreground would help. In the other photo, the nooks and crannies ARE the focus, but they lack the context of the ocean that's clearly seen here. On this particular day, the lack of waves, gray seas and gray sky are working against you, and they don't make a very appealing subject. However, perhaps there's a spot where you could capture some of those interesting ridges at a low angle as your subject with a bit of the sea and sky in the background for context, especially on a day where a blue sky and blue sea would complement the gold-orange land.
Dan
I love the intentional tilt here and where you've placed the dog (Lulu, is it?) in the frame. The colors of things add a lot of warmth as well. I don't mind the bone in the frame because it gives her a little more personality, but between the paw and bone blocking the face, I don't feel I'm getting to know her through the photo as well as I could.
Dan
I like your composition and where you've put the flower and the butterfly in the frame--it has a very pleasing balance to it. Nice depth of field as well, and the soft pink background flowers add a lot to it. The only thing that keeps me from loving this photo is the color of the butterfly. It looks rusty and brown compared to the bright pink and green--not too much you can do there, though maybe if the butterfly opened its wings at some point the sun shining through would brighten its colors up. Unfortunately, I don't speak enough butterfly to tell him to do that for you. . .
Dan
I really like the contrast between the dark blue sky and the stark white memorial. It looks as though it's not quite level and tilted a smidge to the right, and I find myself wanting to see more of the reflection even if it costs a bit of that blue sky.
Dan
This is a neat partial, and the black-and-white really works for me. I like the DOF because it makes the plants almost look like mud that the boots are slogging through, and the way you've covered the statue's base with the foreground plants helps this effect. The background isn't bad, but it does tend to break the effect and make the scene look elevated and in a city instead of on the ground. There's also one little twig covering up the first boot that my eye keeps wishing wasn't there. Still, I find myself really liking this photo and the feeling it invokes.
Dan
DanB rated this image a 4
I love the little look you've captured here--she's focused on something and going after it. I also like your choice of DOF as the background is recognizable but soft. It's slightly off-level which would normally bother me, but in this case I think it works because it leans the girl forward which matches the determination on her face. The only negative thing I'll say is I find myself REALLY wanting to read the rest of that sign! There's enough to read and be interested ("only animals". . . what comes next?) but not enough to satisfy, and it doesn't seem to go with the image leaving it a distracter.
Dan
I love how you've captured the hummingbird--crisp body, both wings visible, wings slightly blurry from motion. I agree with the previous comment that a tighter zoom around the hummingbird would help, but I like the blurry background as it really makes the hummingbird stand out. The red in the flowers adds a lot of pop, especially against the green background, but there are so many little blooms and buds that it distracts a bit from the bird (especially the unattached blooms at the bottom). I recommend you try cropping down to about half the original dimensions with the bird's eye in the center (bird's body slightly left and down in the frame) and about 1/2 of the flower on the right and see what you think of the composition.
Dan
This is a beautiful picture. I think what really makes it so eye catching is the color of the sky behind the statue. The clouds look airbrushed...almost like a painting. The only thing I'm not sure how I feel about is how it looks like the top of the statue is cut off. If you're not familiar with the statue it might look incomplete because you can't see what the men (firefighters, I think) are raising (a flag pole?). Congrats on the photo.
Stephanie
The image of the hummingbird is beautiful. You caught it at a great moment. When I first looked at the picture, however, the blurred background made it difficult for my eyes to figure out what the focal point was. Maybe if the hummingbird took up more of the photo it would be easier to see up against the blurred background. I like the color of the plant...the vibrant reds really pop in the photo. The few plant stems at the bottom of the picture might be a little distracting since they are not totally in focus and not completely blurred either. Congrats on the photo. :-)
Stephanie
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