a resolution waiting to be broken
by shedonist

Comment:
Good reminder. :-)
2 years ago I was 78kg, now 90.......... At that time I also spend some money to get the motorcycle lighter to enhance performance (10kg off), doesn't help when the rider goes in the other direction.

Nice composition.

Akemashite Omeditou Gozaimasu
by Antithesis

Comment:
Interesting subject.

Like the composition. Good DOF & focus.
Could perhaps use a more diffused light from the left and an extra, less powerful light from the right to fill the shadows. But as it is a good pic.

Seattle Space Needle - AKA The New Years Biggest Roman Candle.
by dltruex

Comment:
Nice scene.
The horizon isn't level and the empty space on top is not really necessary.

Portrait of the past
by Onie

Comment:
I like the contrast of this image.
The attributes tell the background of the person, very good.
Good exposure.
One negative remark: The photographer is visible at the end of the trumpet, a minor flaw. Don't know how to get that out, but something to watch out for in the future.

Revealing
by Natasha

Comment:
Camera/digital processing techwise a good image. Nice balance of colors, exposure is ok and good whitebalance..

It could probably be improved composition wise. It is like you already said in the forum that people wonder what this is supposed to mean. However it is pretty obvious that this is a Geisha and the strange paint profile on the neck area is a good enough hint. Things should not be to obvious, not giving away too much makes you look longer and think more about a picture in my opinion.

Perhaps that it would give the image a more personal touch when the model would look over her shoulder or something like that. Turn the shoulders a bit and look sideways and perhaps include the whole head in the frame. That would also mean that you have to make-up the whole face too. :-)
It might already give a more personal touch in this frame when the model would look a bit more to the right. I am not sure about this of course, I'd need to see the whole serie of proposals to tell you what I personally like.

The challenge is body parts and making a kind of portrait might cause lower scores. The face might also distract from the story of the neck you are trying to tell us (this paragraph is about the possible new situation). Difficult decision for the challenge, but maybe it is something to try for your "personal" (please do share! ;-) ) collection of images you make.

What I like about this composition is the relation between the dress and the things in the hair. Same color theme, it seem to be the same flowers. The crop is ok, keeps the neck the center of attention.

It is an interesting fact that Japanese see the neck as an erotic part of the body. Fortunately I can understand why. For certain, if not all, women it seems to be a very sensitive area. :-)

White Knuckle Express
by inspzil

Comment:
Nice composition and subject (kids having fun, well captured expressions). Don't like the color cast. It makes it look like a picture from the early eighties that is now showing color degradation.

Christmas Smile
by HBunch

Comment:
Watch the compression level! Jpeg artifacts ruined the detail around the left eye abd in the hair. :-(

Harsh lands
by Natasha

Comment:
~~~~Critique Club Comment~~~~

Composition (content)
Good silhouette. The dreary sky, the tree without leafs and the choice for B&W do a good job in communicating the message. In a way the tree and sky seem to tell the story about live in this place?
The placement of the tree and buildings is excellent and it is great how the bright parts of te sky are behind the tree and enhance the contrast.
The building at the lower left is a distraction. The picture would be better without it being there. You could opt to take it out for purposes other than this site (where the rules don't allow spot editing). This could also be applied to the branches in the lower right part of the image.
The tones in the sky are great.

Background
No real background, see above.

Camera Work (Technical)
The exposure is excellent for a silhouette. No detail in the foreground subjects, dramatic/erie dark grey tones in the sky. I don't know how much of this was done with the camera and how much in post processing, either way it is a good job.
Focus is good, depth ok, sharpness ok.

Digital Processing (technical)
Concerning quality vs compression I again have to say: save at the highest quality possible. See the comment on "Motion" picture.
A little bit of unsharp mask (30% 0,4 1) doesn't hurt, but isn't really necessary.

My opinion
Nice, but it does not really appeal to me personally.

Message edited by author 2002-12-23 11:36:58.

Starlight Express
by Natasha

Comment:
~~~~Critique Club Comment~~~~

Composition (content)
A great idea to include the two different wheels. The big (famous) one in the back and this smaller one at a different angle in the foreground.
The composition is not optimal in my personal opinion, I'd have liked to see the heart of the rear wheel a bit lower and a bit more to the left, also to fill the black gap in the lower left corner. I don't know if that was possible and to still get a good shooting angle for the foreground wheel.
The angle at which you have shot the foreground wheel is quite interesting. The eye is fooled though. Because you used a relative fast shutterspeed the wheel's lights in the upper part of your picture makes you feel that the wheel moves at very high speed (the light trails look like a Le Mans 24h race car cornering a tight bumpy lefthander at 140 mph). By using the flash, you have also frozen the wheel, I like that. Crack crack goes the brain. So that is a nice contrast in motion you portray there.
However, the way the lights are captured in the upper part of your image doesn't look so nice (on the other hand it does show the motion and gives the high-speed car in a bumpy corner feel). A 1 second shutterspeed would probably have made the lines of the lights connect, taking away the black streaks in between. On the other hand, the 1/2 second was already enough to almost blow out the clock on the big wheel.
I would have to see both the 1s and 1/2 second to determine what I would prefer.
Color is nice, but a bit monotone in the foreground/background relation. Ask the guys who run the wheels to use another color for the background one, blue or green. ;-)))

You could also try a tighter crop. Take off a piece of the bottom to just under the first or the second outer rim light on the background wheel.

Background
Big wheel in the background is slightly underexposed (except for the clock) and slightly blurred by the small aperture. This has the advantage that the viewer's focus quicly transfers to the foreground wheel. The clock is a bit distracting.
Now that I am thinking about it, how would this picture look just after sundown, when there is more light in the sky to give an extra touch to the background and better exposure for the background wheel.

From what side is this shot? Are we looking at the office buildings / mount Fuji side or at the bay rollercoaster side?

Camera Work (Technical)
No further comments. Focus and sharpness look good.

Digital Processing (technical)
For images with many sharp edges and small details it is important to save the image at the highest quality allowed on this site: 150kb
A higher jpeg quality saves edge sharpness, gives better color rendition and avoids jpeg cluttering of details.
Yours is only 80kb......
Not further comments.

My opinion
I like it, but I think the background could be better. It was a great idea to have both motion blur and to freeze it. I gives that extra touch that makes this picture different from normal motion blurred wheels.

One other note:
You are building up quite a collection of portrayal of Japanese (Tokio Bay area) live, country and culture here at dpc. Nice work!

Message edited by author 2002-12-23 10:04:27.

"21"
by autool

Comment:
Good, got me thinking.
Nice 'four' without a four. :-)