Up, up and away
by ericwoo

Comment by chalice:
"Critique Trading Post Comment"

This is superb! The angle, light, detail, and dramatic upsweep of the building all work so well together. Use of light is especially notable. I have absolutely nothing negative to say, or even suggestions for improvement. Your top ten finish is clearly warranted!

Up, up and away
by ericwoo

Comment by loseme:
*Critique Club*

Top ten, extremely well deserved. Congratulations on your new excellent work in "Up, up and away" this is an amazing piece in the Rhythm II challenge.

The overall image just grabs your attention. The pattern is obviously are very interesting, especially from this angle. At first glance I thought Jenja (that game where you stack the wooden blocks) but upon closer look realized it was a very intricate building. The composition is just wonderful, placing this subject just off of center works for me.

It must have been a sunny day to capture the much sun from the left side. The sunlight really brings out the pattern, great job! I look forward to your future entries.

No place to lie his weary head, but $5 richer this day.
by ericwoo

Comment by tngrndream:
hello again,

this one i just did not think fit on the front page. maybe in the social sections or whatever.

other than that it is a nice candid. he seems a bit soft. and i would have liked his expression better ifn he had a cigarette in his hand. lol.

Up, up and away
by ericwoo

Comment by TheRebelPr0:
Looks nice, but it has the effect that it looks like its about to fall over on us. As good as it can get w/o a tiltshift lens though. Good job.

No place to lie his weary head, but $5 richer this day.
by ericwoo

Comment by kirsty_mcn:
~trading post~
I do think this should have done better. You've captured a great expression, in an appropriate environment. I guess had he looked more dishevelled it may have suited the theme better.
I like the format and composition - wall cutting image in half, but focus on face and feet at either end. The focus is spot-on, with good dof to give a recogniseable but not distracting background. The monochrome suits it well, but I think it could have done with slightly less saturation in the tone you chose. Mayeb it could have used a touch more contrast - the white point seems a bit 'dirty' rather than white.

Definitely a candid to keep - nice little story to accompany it too.

Up, up and away
by ericwoo

Comment by san62910:
Looks like a gigantic wooden puzzle. Interseting picture.

No place to lie his weary head, but $5 richer this day.
by ericwoo

Comment by Louis:
My first impression is that this is more of a candid or portrait, rather than a photojournalism image, and its score may have suffered because of this. On its own though, it's a fine image. Composition is good, and we can see this individual in his setting well. I like the sepia tone, and feel it adds much to the image. It was a nice sunny day, and we can see harsh shadows, that perhaps detract, but only slightly. (The shadows also add a rich set of contrasts that I like.)

In terms of the challenge, perhaps a full-face portrait would have been best, especially if you could have captured the eyes.

Up, up and away
by ericwoo

Comment by nlghttrain:
excellent job, the only think i could improve on would be ever so slightly have a bit more contrast

No place to lie his weary head, but $5 richer this day.
by ericwoo

Comment by DrAchoo:
Leroy was going to do the PJ shots, but my quick impression is it is too posed. Even if it isn't, it looks too posed. Perhaps a horizontal crop would have made the subject more a part of his surroundings and let us see more of his world. The B&W conversion is quite nice though.

Naturallly Complemented
by ericwoo

Comment by elru21:
Hello from the critique club,

You have already received many very helpful commments. I considered this for awhile before going on to read what others had to say, so I hope that I can add something to the discussion.

My favorite part about this image is the composition. I love all of the diagonal lines and the shape of the red leaves. I like how the red flower cuts into the frame from one direction and the green leaves form lines in the opposite direction. I like how the longest red flower/leaf comes all the way across the very bottom of the image. It keeps my eye from trailing out the bottom of the frame and sends me looking back upwards. The weakest part of the composition, as you know, is the blank space of the window.

It feels like there is a bit of an upward camera angle, which I like here. Kind of like the greenery is towering above the viewer. Maybe this could have been exagerrated with an even steeper angle? Could you have gotten even closer to the base and really shot up at it?

As you mention in your comments there is some significant loss of detail in both the reds and the greens. THis may be from your exposure or your processing, I am not sure. More detail and contrast in the leaves and flowers would give the image more texture and depth. I like the highly saturated colors, though. I think it works for this image (although it probably contributed a bit to the detiail loss).

For the challenge, the mix of red and green is bang on. I didn't vote in the challenge, but I would have given this a 6. I think it can be very hard at a place like a botanical gardens to separate all of the intense visuals of flowers and plants and find the photograph lurking within. This is a very well seen shot that meets the challenge well, but with some technical limitations.

Please feel free to pm me if you have any questions about any of my commets.

Cheers,
Liza