Home is where Harley is
by boyte1

Comment by shadow:
and i thought Harley was a motorbike with 2 wheels!

Home is where Harley is
by boyte1

Comment by zeuszen:
Nice back of a rose, Harley looks like a sensitive guy (depite the name), the trailer and vehicles add nothing to rosy and Harley, the sparse foreground grass is not the prettiest sight, the sky, being washed, bears no interest. A shallow depth of field would remedy most of these shortcomings and make for a better picture, IMO.

Home is where Harley is
by boyte1

Comment by clues56:
I'd have gone for the dog or the roses, but not both. The dog would have won out with me. Pretty colors though, and good and sharp, even though the house is secondary to the roses and dog.

Mr. Swineys life in a bowl
by boyte1

Comment by FranziskaLang:
A Comment From The Critique Club

Hi Anona,

a little late, but I finally finished the CC comment on your photo. Sorry about that. Sometimes, work just gets in the way when I've just requested an image ;-P

Anyhow. Let me start by telling you that I'm impressed as to how many challenges you've participated in, more than twice as much as me and you joined later. Wow.

CHALLENGE - This entry fits the challenge - there's a glass bowl in the photo - but it's really the fish that grabs the attention, not the bowl.

COMPOSITION / CONTENT - I like how you positioned the goldfish in the upper right corner so that he has room to "swim into the picture". The background/water/bowl also create some interesting patterns which I like.

CAMERA WORK / TECHNICAL - The biggest challenge about glass photography are reflections, I know I struggled with them for hours for my entry for the secondary color challenge. You did well here, because there are very few light reflections, nothing that's distracting. The goldfish seems overall a little dark to me, I think you used backlighting to illuminate this photo? Plus, I know this is normal for an aquarium, but the "stuff" in the water is a little distracting, too. Replacing the water before taking the photo probably would've done the trick.

POST-PROCESSING - I just opened your photo in MS Photo Editor and played around with the brightness, contrast and gamma a bit, and it's possible to make the whole image a bit brighter and the color of the fish pop a bit more without really blowing out the light background. I think that's the biggest change that would've increased your score a bit.

Overall, this picture definitely has several things going for it (the abstract background, the lack of reflections), and with a bit more care before and after taking the photo (clean water, post-processing) would've done better in the challenge. I personally don't think it's one of your best, but you have some great stuff in your portfolio and your submissions to the challenges. I especially like "Red One" from your recent portfolio additions. Good luck in the future challenges :)

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about this review.

Franziska.

The Old Mill
by boyte1

Comment by jmsetzler:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi Boyte...

I love the composition you chose on this photo... the flowers in the lower left seem to create a nice lead into the scene. I also believe that the lighting for this shot worked out nicely... the exposure is good with no over/under areas... The only issue I see that bugs me a little in the composition is the top of the mill is a bit close to the edge of the frame... It looks like it could use just a little breathing room maybe...

The text was a tough situation on this card... there isn't really a great place to put it....

Excellent work :)

John Setzler

Mr. Swineys life in a bowl
by boyte1

Comment by Amiee:
Nice image, but the glass is not very clear. I think that the lighting needs to be better.

The Old Mill
by boyte1

Comment by mcmurma:
Hey Boyte! Lovely shot of the Old Mill here. I really expected it to do better. Once again, since I had no photo entered I didn't vote, but I do like the photo.

Mr. Swineys life in a bowl
by boyte1

Comment by inspzil:
Given a little more exposure to the fish with additional lighting would've brought more of his vibrant colors out and really helped this photo. Photos of fish are pretty tough to do though, especially in larger tanks where its much more difficult to manipulate a substantial amount of light in to the tank.

Mr. Swineys life in a bowl
by boyte1

Comment by sagestudio:
Hey, cool name for a fish, and it's a beautiful fish too. I like the swirling lines on the glass. I wish it were a bit lighter, but that's just my taste.

The Old Mill
by boyte1

Comment by draney4:
postcard perfect