ray2 (Small) copy.jpg
by RayEthier

Comment by MikeO:
Yeh, looking good Ray !

ray2 (Small) copy.jpg
by RayEthier

Comment by snaffles:
OMG what a mean-lookin dude! Wouldn't let him sit at the computer next to mine, that's for sure ;-)

Nature's Palette
by RayEthier

Comment by Kronus:
just georgous

Nature's Palette
by RayEthier

Comment by bcenu:
Terrific capture and such warming colors. This should definitely be hanging on your wall at home. Great work!

Barn@Chelsea.jpg
by RayEthier

Comment by DrAchoo:
Ooh. Wonderful sky. In some of your pictures you should goof with duplicating the layer (assuming you use photoshop) and then selecting "multiply" and masking it off to the sky either with a gradient or trying to follow the edges. It will darken the sky, provide contrast, and saturation. This image may work well with that. You choosing to allow the snow to blow out in the foreground is a good one. No needed detail is lost and it provides a nice luminance to the photo rather than having gray (but detailed) snow.

Barn@Rte 40 (Small).jpg
by RayEthier

Comment by DrAchoo:
Sometimes a blown area works. I think this may be a good example. Clearly you have found a topic you like to shoot (barns) and your skill from repeatedly shooting the same subject is showing through. The horizon is tilted, which is easily fixed. Sometimes the shot is on a hill so the image is level, but the horizon is tilted anyway. I will usually look to see if a falsely levelled horizon works. In this case I would have keyed on one of the edges of the building and made it vertical. Anyway, the centered nature of the highlight works because it's balanced on both sides by the structures. Centering the area of interest (or at least where the eye is drawn since the blown area isn't necessarily "interesting") works well when you can provide symmetry. This picture was custom made for a creche to be placed in the middle. I bet that's exactly what you were thinking too... ;)

Portland Headlight
by RayEthier

Comment by DrAchoo:
A wonderful scene. This is, of course, made for HDR which was probably only in someone's imagination in 2005. It would allow the sky to not dominate the eye's attention with that bright area. A longer aspect ratio would also be helpful in this one and I'd consider cropping to almost remove the entire pebble beach. Finally, I personally clone things out like the boat on the right as distracting elements. I tend to favor a clean canvas. Still, you picked an iconic location to photograph.

Rooms With a View
by RayEthier

Comment by DrAchoo:
Here's another shot with some promise. A seaside shot with lines of bungalos (or whatever you want to call them) is classic. I think one of the things that let the picture down was the choice of aperture. f/3.5 caused the most focus (probably by camera's choice) to be on the roof of the closest cabin. We then lose focus on other potential subjects in the shot. The nicely contrasted blue bathing suit. The red chairs. The sunbather on the beach. My eye would like it all in focus so I can explore the scene. Finally I'd like a wider aspect ratio to help emphasize the line of cabins.

Circle of Friends
by RayEthier

Comment by DrAchoo:
I like starting around the 5.5 range because those are usually pictures that have promise, but lacked something to put them over the top. The scene here is obviously interesting as well as colorful. Overall I think the picture lacks some contrast (probably mainly in the sky). I tend to like to burn the edges of shots like this to really zero in on the subject, although here you have two comepting subjects. Although I wasn't there and so don't know what's outside the picture, I would have thought about swinging around to the left for two purposes: 1) remove the background people who detract from the ambiance and 2) get more of the subject's faces. I can see why you chose it for Best of the Year. The scene definitely had promise.

Bellevue Skyline
by RayEthier

Comment by DrAchoo:
Bellevue?! When were you in Bellevue? This building was one of the first I took pictures of way back when I had a EOS Rebel. I went to Bellevue Christian from 7th to 9th grade. This comment is free. ;) The reflection is nice, but you need to, of course, lose the building at the bottom.