Coming Home
by jrtodd

Comment:
Isn't it dangerous firing a flash on the freeway? Didja get a ticket?
TC

Daughter #2
by Man_Called_Horse

Comment:
This is IMHO quite simply, the most stunning candid (but it goes way beyond a simple candid shot) type portrait (even though it tells way more of a story than a portrait possibly could) that I've ever seen of any subject of any age. It's made all the more powerful because you've managed to capture in one image the innocence, the delicacy, the simplicity and the ovewelming urge to protect, love, and cherish a child.

I can almost hear her waking whisper... Good morning Daddy, I love you...

9 ct Gold Bracelet
by kirtiebu

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This is a very nicely composed shot using a great piece of jewelry as a subject. The subject has great textures that with the help of good imaginative lighting would really pop out of the image. That said...

I think what hurts this image the most are two things. The focus and the lighting.

In a shot that is intended to highlight an object like this, you have to be very careful with the focus. You want the highlight of the subject to be in as sharp a focus as possible. In this piece, the highlight of the subject is the heart shaped pendant. This area of the shot is not very crisp. The loop of chain to the front (in relation to the pendant in this composition) of the shot is also important to the piece. It helps set this piece of jewelry apart from other not so nice pieces. This loop of chain is even softer than the pendant. This is a bit distracting. By moving your focal point to just in front of the pendant itself and using enough DOF (smaller f/stop setting in the camera) your main parts of the subject would be in better focus and bring the viewers eye to where you want it to fall. Did you sharpen the shot after resizing? This is a very important step in post processing photos for challenges. The act of resizing the shot tends to soften the focus and you need to fine tune the actual submission after making it presentation size.

You have the right idea in your lighting scheme as presented here. You have the primary light falling from the front and side of the subject. Lighting a subject like this is a tricky thing to do. You want to have enough light to make the subject look nice, but not so much light as to create blown out highlights. A good way to achieve this is through the use of some kind of light diffuser. An easy way to diffuse light is to hang a white sheet between your light source and the subject. Just remember that the diffuse light will be not as bright as direct light and will tend to make the colors duller. Another lighting technique that would help out here would be to have another light on the other side of your subject. This would help to soften the shadows on the cloth under the subject. It would also even out the lighting making your camera expose the shot better and helping to smooth out the highlites. I am not a lighting expert, but what I would try here would be to place the other light on the shadow side of your subject and either use a smaller wattage than your main light or move the light farther away from the subject. This will create fill light and leave the highlites where they are. It will also help to put more overall light on the subject giving you much more vivid colors. Don't forget though that anyway that you light the subject you still will probably have to play around with the levels in post processing to bring out the most color that is there.

Overall a very nice shot with a couple of minor technical problems. With a jewelery type shot though, these minor things are what will prevent a nice shot from becoming a great one. I hope you take my suggestions and play around with reshooting this. If you decide to do so, please post your results so we can see!
TC

Skiff at Sunset — Stage Harbor
by Bear_Music

Comment:
Most excellent in the words of Bill and Ted! You definately deserve it! Didn't get to see this in voting, but if I did I would say:
Perfection in lighting, superbly subtle in composition! Love the way the boats tones are blending into the tones of the reflected trees and contrasted against the blues of the water. Looks like a great place to take a nap!
Yours TC

Break the darkness
by BMacD

Comment:
Very elegent in it's subtlety!
TC

Burning
by soup

Comment:
Don't ask my why, but I kinda like this one. You break too many rules but in an odd kinda way it works at least for this viewer!
TC

Ladybird on the Top
by mannjudit

Comment:
Great composition. You appear to be oversharpened a tad though. It almosts hurts my eyes. Too bad you have so much reflection too. I have a shot of one of these from the On the Edge challenge that had the same area of the bug blown out... Damn things are very reflective!
TC

Up Up and Away
by autool

Comment:
If you cropped the ground out and included more sky above the plane (so it looks like it is flying up into the frame) you would have all your viewers going 'how the hell did he get that shot!' Great use of color against an almost monotone background to make the subject really jump out of the shot. This is a good example of what (to me) the challenge was all about. Now just get rid of the ground and this would be a super wow shot!
TC

Gear for Time
by bcoble

Comment:
Not a bad idea, but I don't like jamming the subject as far into the corner as you have here. Also you have something in the black background that draws attention. (I thought my monitor was dirty at first :-P)
TC

American Flag
by sabphoto

Comment:
I'm assuming that you are in the military yourself if you have access to the raising/lowering of the flag ceremony. Thank you and all your fellow sailors for your service. We as Americans owe you a huge debt of gratitude! As to the shot. Your colors seem very flat. What time of day was this shot? It looks underexposed. It's also very soft. Either the sailor or the flag seem like they should be in sharp focus. Witht the challenge subject and the title of your shot I would prefer the flag to be in focus. The colors may be fixable with photoshop. The sharpness issue requires a reshoot.
TC