Illume
by joynim

Comment by FocusPoint:
Very cool. Nice colors DOF and lightings :) Good macro here ;)

Illume
by joynim

Comment by jeger:
Nice depth of field.

Illume
by joynim

Comment by DistantColours:
Nice colours but I think they are a bit too saturated - especially in the background - I'd try a partial de-saturation of the greens and yellows.

Joy
by joynim

Comment by ryand:
Really great shot, think this would have scored much better if you had added some contrast and maybe put her on the right third of the image, nonetheless it is a really neat shot, great texture in the sand, very nicely done

Day-23-slice-of-life.jpg
by joynim

Comment by bvlindalou:
I love the effect you created here. very creepy....love it

Dance
by joynim

Comment by Brad:
I'll add to this.
In Photoshop, take this image as it is here, and try this:
Image, Adjustments, Match Color, then in the settings box, check Neutralize, then slide the Luminescence slider on the top to about 130.
A one-step quick color correction while maintaining the soft pastel feel here.

Ataahua
by joynim

Comment by levyj413:
About all I can offer here is to study your camera's manual. If you want to shoot in JPG for now instead of RAW, that's fine. Just figure out how to set the sharpness to how you like it. Usually, SLRs are set by default to produce pretty soft JPGs, on the assumption that people who own SLRs will want to do their own processing.

I think you have more than softness, though. The shutter speed of 1/30s is quite slow. I like to shoot portraits at least at 1/60s, and preferably faster. The wide aperture of F/3.6 also gives you relatively little depth of field to work with. Both of those could be solved by pushing your ISO higher than 100. For every doubling of ISO, you can double the shutter speed or close down the aperture a stop. For example, at ISO 200 you could've shot at 1/60s. At ISO 400 you could've shot at 1/60s and a stop smaller aperture (about F/5).

Aide from that, I suggest either having her face the light or hold up a piece of posterboard in front of her to put some light back into her eyes.

Dance
by joynim

Comment by levyj413:
How's the layer practice coming? Aside from using a soft light layer (see idnic's excellent tutorial), try using a reflector to bounce light back onto her face from below. I use a piece of white posterboard - it doesn't have to be expensive. Her eyes are so beautiful, you want them to shine. :)

From pillar to post
by joynim

Comment by levyj413:
I like the subject, but I'd like it better if I could see more detail in the birds and the far end of the pier. The shot kind of feels caught between being about the perspective and being about the birds.

Joy
by joynim

Comment by levyj413:
I like this shot! :) The girl's play is obvious and her little bit of color is a nice touch. I find myself wishing she were a little further into the frame and a little more active - running, jumping or something.