24/01/2007
by talj

Comment:
In doing my photo a week project, I posted a few shots that were puzzles... guess the photo. This shot is perfect for something like that! It's got great textures and lines. Very simple, yet very cool! Goes really well with the entire series!

Sheena - African Leopard
by talj

Comment:
This is stunning! The color, composition, dof, and sharpness are all right on target. This is going right into my favorites list!

Playful
by talj

Comment:
If THIS is playful, I'd really hate to see what attack mode is like! Great shot! :)

A Pigs Life
by talj

Comment:
I never thought I'd say "awwww" to a picture of some pigs, but... "awwww!" They look so peaceful, and I love the crinkled up little nose of the one on the left. Wonderful capture! :)

Charlotte
by Tranquil

Comment:
Adorable!!! Love what you've done compared to the original here. My two suggestions would be to maybe tone down the highlights on the nose a little, and maybe to brighten the eyes up with more of their natural color. It looks like they're brown in the original? Might help them to stand out more from the black fur. But wow, that's one cute pup! :)

Winter's Foliage
by CapeSail

Comment:
Wow, you're really lacking on comments on this one! :P Well, I like this one. I love all the fuzzy little plants you can find in the winter. They're a nice diversion from sticks and branches. The shallow dof is great here.

So, since I like this one, here are a few ideas... just food for thought.

You probably shot this at the 135mm end of the lens, which is why you were at f/5.6, but if you could have gotten closer and shot more towards the 18mm end, you could have pulled the aperture down to f/3.5 giving you an even shallower dof and a more blurred background. Would have isolated the plant even more. As far as composition, it's still pretty centered (seems like that is the way you're comfortable shooting or cropping) but moving it slightly off to the side might help?

In processing, adjusting the levels of just the red and blue channels would have given the shot a warmer brownish hue, and maybe just adjusting the hue/saturation could have done the same. Also, a slight USM might have brought out the individual fuzzies a little more (sorry I don't have a more technical term for them!)

Dawns Early Life
by CapeSail

Comment:
What a creative idea... this is just cool! :)

Old Money
by CapeSail

Comment:
Me again, back for more comments! :)

First off, I'm jealous.... I'm saving up for this lens! I've been completely amazed by the shots I've seen from it! If you want some examples of some great macro shots, click on the lens and check out ursula's portfolio... I think dax also has this lens, and she has some very nice work too with it.

I don't know what the setup was here, but it looks like you were aiming for a diffused light, which didn't leave a lot of harsh shadows and glare, which is good, but I think it's still a bit overexposed. Compositionally, I wish some of the pennies were turned over, maybe to see the dates? Also, I'm not sure what the background is, but you have little dimples of it showing through in the lower left corner.

I don't know how much of a crop this is out of the original, but it seems a bit soft. Were you using a tripod or was this hand held? You'll get much better results on a tripod, and also by using the self timer, or a remote to remove any chance of you jostling the camera while you push the button.

I did a few edits to boost the contrast and color, to sharpen it up, and to get rid of the distracting background in the corner, and listed the steps in the comments:


Message edited by author 2007-02-12 19:22:05.

Ft. Tabor Pier - Black & White
by CapeSail

Comment:
This looks nice... you might have even been able to push the contrast even a bit more with the levels and adjustment layers. The nice thing about those layers is that you aren't damaging any of the info in the photo... you can always just delete the layer, or adjust how much of it is there. I try to push it as far as I can, and then back off until the details in the black/white areas are back. Just my personal preference though for the way I process photos.

Smiley
by CapeSail

Comment:
Hey Jeff-- I know you're looking for comments, so I figured I'd leave a few.. Well, I already left you a comment during voting, though, it wasn't very helpful, just something I'd noticed.

I think what this photo needed was either a bit more dramatic lighting (this was probably taken mid day?), maybe a bit more contrast (play with those levels or curves), and the composition itself is pretty static. Almost dead center and taking up a good majority of the frame. I'd probably either put it off to the side more, or else give more negative space around the "face". Either of those ideas would put the focal point more in line with the rule of thirds.

As others mentioned, the horizon is very tilted, which you'll usually get negative comments about. Granted, if you had fixed that, your face would have been crooked then, which would have caused even more problems! So, probably either cropping further up, or cloning out the horizon would have been your best solutions to that.

Hope this helps! :)