Great Egrets Circling
by flip89

Comment by bormic:
Nice colors. Great originality. As a bird photographer, I really love it.

Great Egrets Circling
by flip89

Comment by olddj:
nicely captured, wish the birds looked closer to the lens is the only complaint I can find

The Legend of the Floating Mountain
by flip89

Comment by Gunnsi:
I do not know that legend. This picture is to gray and no clear focus. The mountain is not visible enough. No special details. The placement of the mountain in the picture is good though.

The Legend of the Floating Mountain
by flip89

Comment by MayaM:
This has the posibility of being a really nice image. It is a creative fit to the challenge, but the sky seems flat and all of the green grass in front draws the eye away from what your true subject is. I would suggest cropping out a bit of the grass and then upping the contrast and blue saturation in the sky.

Great Egrets Circling
by flip89

Comment by BakerBug:
Shallower DOF would help. Maybe crop out the person.

Ati-atihan, Philippines
by flip89

Comment by theSaj:
::: Critique Club ::: [The Saj]

First Impressions: At first I noticed the wonderful textures and white and then a mere moment later I was drawn to the boys face.

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Composition: The composition is well done and works well in the positioning of the head covering & leaves and the chest piece. However I almost feel a touch cut-off on the right hand side. I'd have to see the original scene to really determine if it was the best position to crop.

Subject: Excellent choice of subject. Solemn expression on the boy combined with excellent surrounding textures. Very good contrast between the light and the dark tones.

Technical (Colour, focus, and light): I feel the lighting and color is spot on. The focus is good, with the background strongly blurred but all of the foreground remaining well reasonably well focused. However, even with the background nicely blurred there background elements are still a bit distracting.

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Summary: Overall, a very nice take with just a few minor distractive elements. It does fall a bit to the "poster child feel" thanks to the main subject's expression. And that might create a "we've been here many times feel". However, I feel the wonderful textures of woven reeds and leaves greatly diffuse such concern.

To improve?: I am wondering if this is the best expression to have captured? It looks like a ceremony or celebration, in which I'd expect a bit more expression. But I am ignorant and for all I know this may be a funeral procession and thus a very applicable expression.

The only other two items I would point to is the right side edge, I just keep feeling as if I want a little bit more. And the background elements. There is obviously a similar leaf type structure in the background. Though it is nicely blurred there is not enough contract between the foreground leaf elements and the background leaf elements to distinguish them from one another clearly.

As this was an entry in the singled out challenge, it might have been better to have zoomed out a bit to show more of the scene.

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It is my hope that these insights are helpful, and constructive. If you have any questions regarding this critique, please feel free to PM me.

- Jason "The Saj"

The Legend of the Floating Mountain
by flip89

Comment by Cutter:
makes me feel enchanted things are going on in this world. i just wish the processing highlighted this idea better

Great Egrets Circling
by flip89

Comment by melismatica:
I don't think the human element is needed here. Or if he is to add to the visual interest he should be placed in a less central position in the frame. My eye keeps being drawn to him yet he isn't really that interesting. What's worse is that there is an area around his middle that makes it look to me as if his pants are falling down (the second thing I noticed about this photo after the birds). It is probably just some kind of belt or something but once an idea has formed it hard to shake it when you can't make out enough detail to make sense of something). The problem is the person is just too small to really make a strong visual impact on the image but his white clothes against the green background make him stand out and grab the viewer's attention away from the birds. I think the intent was to show the birds circling around the person and add some human interest to a wildlife shot. Ultimately, it looks like the photographer was too far away from the subject. The birds just aren't quite sharp enough and there isn't quite the sense of drama to really evoke an emotional response in me. Nice effort though.

The Legend of the Floating Mountain
by flip89

Comment by sherpet:
This is a goos image, and I love the floating mountain, with the cloud cover effect.....

The Legend of the Floating Mountain
by flip89

Comment by LindaLee:
Though a bit "mystical" looking, this doesn't really say "fantasy" to me; the foreground is just too everyday-looking to carry it off.