Speak no evil
by amandalore

Comment:
This is amazing! What a sport he is. Don't get a turtle, keep shooting people! OK, go ahead and get a turtle...but keep shooting people, too. The red is a great choice and the eyes are incredible. I really appreciate the fact that they are not bloodshot (my pet peeve:).

The shadow doesn't really bother me. It sort of creates a sinister feeling; even though he looks pretty non-sinister under that paint. Nice work, Amanda!

Momentary Glance
by Nald

Comment:
Loved this one, Steve. I gave it an 8. Everything is so good that I thought it was a set-up shot. Even more impressive, considering it's a candid. Great eye!

The Swirly Kind
by amandalore

Comment:
You just keep getting better and better! Take advice from an old lady. Get as many nekkid' pix of yourself as you can while you're young and thin;)

Very creative shot with nice tones and great lines.

Stargazers
by qbicle

Comment:
I think this is quite an improvement over the first two you posted. Flowers, like this, are challenging because it takes a long focal length to get everything into focus. The Stamens are OOF, but other areas look pretty good, to me. You might try closing down the aperture a bit more to get a bigger focal length. I think you should be able to do this and still have the blurred BG.

Good lighting is a huge part of image quality. Direct light can cause a loss of detail that exacerbates focusing issues. I'd love to see what you could get shooting this flower with softer light and perhaps a reflector. I'm not much help because I use natural light, exclusively and don't have much experience.

Edit to add: I think a less centered composition might give it a boost, too.

Message edited by author 2006-07-24 16:22:55.

The Zen Fool
by riolobo

Comment:
Dang! I wish I could think of ideas like this. Right on the 1/3s! What I really like about this image is the statement it makes. It's one of those photographs where the title is essential for the image to make sense.

I love this setup and think that with a few improvements you'd have a top-notch shot and should even consider a series of these. The square crop works very well, here. (Of course I'm a rare fan of square crops). Here are my thoughts; take them for what they're worth:

I can see a couple of spots where the base material is showing. I think that this could have been avoided by putting the sand in a pan or somehow getting a thicker layer. That might have also given you deeper grooves which would have given the image more depth. I think the "gold" is the key element of the image and has not quite been done justice. I'd be in favor of some softer light, sharper focus, a lower angle and possibly a tighter crop. You might also get some good results with different DOF. Regardless of my nitpicks, it's quite interesting and gets high marks for creative thinking!

Jello Meets Fan
by Ken

Comment:
Great colors and very interesting. 9 from me.

swans1.jpg
by kevrobertson

Comment:
Great family portrait. They seem very proud.

hanabi4419
by Pug-H

Comment:
This is my favorite of your fireworks shots. I'm typically bored by fireworks, but yours are great. They look like sea anenomes or succulents. Very nice.

IMG_4306_edit.jpg
by eschelar

Comment:
Wow Keiran!

You really spent a lot of time and effort on this. I'm going to follow your steps and see if I can get results as good as yours. Quite impressive.

Thanks for your help!
Roxanne

A Kiss for 10 Toes
by SandyP

Comment:
Sandy,
This is absolutely incredible! The symmetrical composition and blur around the edges work perfectly for this shot. It is soft and sweet without loss of detail. Beautiful lighting. Love it.

Congratulations on the well deserved ribbon!