Start Spreadin' the News
by magnetic9999

Comment:
It's about time! Congratulations on a great photo, it was one of my favorites this week.
Dick

Un-Forbidden Fruit
by autool

Comment:
Thanks for the extra time you spent with my critique. You have pointed out some interesting points. I wasn't completely satisfied with the picture but I was getting tired and impatient. I am still working with making my files the right size and am not comfortable with PS, I hope time and practice will get me past this. The junk in the background, I didn't even notice it until after I submitted it to DPC, and I decided it was too late to do over because my model had left, so I went with it. I appreciate you and others for bringing these improvements to my attention, I will only hope I remember to take them into consideration on my future photographs. I sure will try.
Thanks again,
Dick

Drew's Stop Sign Revisited
by autool

Comment:
It looks as though Tracy's surrounding countryside has helped me out again. Since participating on DPC I have learned to always be on the lookout for material to use for better photographs. Thanks DPC for opening my eyes to what is around me, for many years I took the environment for granted and now I use the hell out of it.
I had a great deal of difficulty finding a title for this subject and I appologize if anyone might have thought it was not appropriate. Thanks Drew for making such a wonderful shot of a most pristine stop sign a year ago. Mine seemed to be an exact opposite so hence, the comparison. My feelings about my sign were that even though it was yelling STOP!, the shooter who had the word stop engraved in his sights, went ahead and shot anyway. It is kind of a reflection of our current society.
To all of you that enjoyed this shot and made such wonderful comments I sincerely thank you, your comments mean so much to me. Okay lets all go out and have some more fun.
Dick

Message edited by author 2003-01-28 17:38:59.

The Ridge
by autool

Comment:
Gordon,
You don't know how bad I wanted to hop the fence and get next to something to compliment the foreground. All I had was a barbed wire fence which kind of took the atmosphere away from the serene landscape. Yes I want to get a polarizing filter, but just haven't done it yet.
Thanks for the nice comments and I always look forward to see what your latest entry is. Keep up the good work on the CC and keep shootin'.
Dick

The Ridge
by autool

Comment:
For those of you that may be interested we had pretty poor weather in central CA during this challenge week. It was very foggy in the valley where I live so I headed for some higher elevation. The hills of the coast range are always so dry in the summer and fall months I decided to go there to capture some of the green from recent rain. This picture was taken just south of the entrance to the Morgan Territory Regional Reserve, just east of the Oakland bay area. I waited quite awhile for the haze to lift but It only started getting thicker so this was the best I could get on this trip.
Thanks to all of you that enjoyed this picture, it has been a pleasure to share some of the west coast landscape with you.
Dick

Message edited by author 2003-01-20 16:30:26.

Reflections Under Ice
by gminish

Comment:
Congratulations on your win, it is a wonderful shot of an extraordinary place. Thanks for sharing a part of your beautiful state.

OW! I HATE It When That Happens!!!
by albright1

Comment:
Congratulations on the third place win. Keep up the good work.

When was the last time you watered the plants, dear?
by jjbeguin

Comment:
Congratulations on second place. Great idea and good composition.

Un-Forbidden Fruit
by autool

Comment:
WOW!
Like I always say "let's have fun". I truly think that "fun" is what it is all about. This picture is the result of one of those times when you wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning and have a great idea and you can't wait till morning to do it, so you just lay there knowing that if you go back to sleep you won't remember in the morning what the great idea was.

I first tried to recruit my wife to do a "nude" for the humor challenge and for some reason she wouldn't talk to me for qutie a while. After we started communicating again I explained what I had in mind and we tried it, but both her and my fingers were too old! My 19 year old grandaughter stopped by and caught us, and volunteered to allow me to use her younger hands. It was her idea to add the boots which really made the picture, at least in my opinion. Another of her concerns were that her "thighs" would look too fat. It was really quite strange how we immediately started referring to parts of her hand as those other parts of the body that we were trying to represent.

It was a whole lot of fun to make this picture, and I thank all of you that voted and gave me such wonderful comments. Most of all I thank John and Kim for giving me the inspiration and such a great picture to spoof. Last but not least I thank the person that gave me the "1" for taking time to evaluate "Un-Forbidden Fruit" and to keep me humble.

Keep Shootin' and have fun.
Dick

The Rose
by autool

Comment:
shohn,
You have given "The Rose" a very thorough and fair critique, and I am fully satisfied. You pointed out two items that you feel could have been improved, and I can't agree more. I never noticed the lone white pixel until I was finished with the post prosessing. That is my bad as I have a tendency to be very impatient when it comes to using Photoshop. This picture was a blessing as all that I felt was necessary to do was a crop and unsharpen mask. I was actually quite taken with the picture as it came from the camera. My E-10 has three settings on the sharpness of the focus and contrast. I used the setting that Olympus recommended for internet use. I have had a hard time determining the difference in the three settings. It probably requires a more trained eye to see. That may be why the petals are soft against the background. I feel the picture has a kind of eirie look to it anyway.
I think that all of the CC embers do an outstanding job volunteering for this assignment and you can't be praised enough. Thanks for a wonderful critique, now go out and have some fun getting some more great pictures.
Dick Pattee