Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by tnun:
First off, an astonishing capture of pose and position on shallows, including both shadow and reflection. Processing brings this totally to the fore. But it also puts you in a tricky position of having to coordinate these 3 features, which compete for my attention and focus. I don't know if different framing or colour adjustment (black and white) would help. And oh, those wingtips!

Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
I think the extreme brightness in the upper half of the frame is what held this back a little. I woudl have also cropped it a bit differently, placing the bird a bit more to the right. I do like the reflection of the bird in the wet sand and darkening the image would also bring that out a little more.

Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by zxaar:
Well you did not go to extremes , here is the extreme processing.
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I liked your version though since that is simple and good. But this is its problem simple and good do not sell well at DPC. Here perfect and extraordinary with lots of WOW works well.

Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by MaryO:
Like the high key processing and the shadow, and particularly like the wing position and the reflection. It's really cool that the wing, shadow and reflection all converge at the wingtips. Really extraordinarily good angle and timing on your part. I might dodge the face a bit to get more detail there and maybe crop a little tighter on the right and bottom so he's not so centered, but the shot is certainly better than the score it got.

Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by JuliBoc:
This is so cool with the bird, shadow, and reflection all grouped so beautifully. The position of the bird is excellent, with the wing tips in the water. And I like the high key effect. Really nice image!

Afternoon Light
by Alicia

Comment by BAMartin:
I love the softness of this portrait and how it make this woman look so very feminine. I do agree with some of your other commenters that the bright spots are a little distracting, but that would be very easy to fix.

Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by cpanaioti:
I think you have a good idea here and high key can work. A couple of things that I think let it down though.

1) The water at the top of the shot - to me doesn't add anything. You could safely crop it out.
2) The head of the bird is too dark. Bring out the shadows on the head and I think you'd have a killer shot in conjunction with 1).

Message edited by author 2008-02-08 17:42:41.

Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by krnodil:
Dang! A little too early for Reflections without Mirrors. :) This has a certain grace, a little loss of detail in the brighter spots, but overall an impressive capture.

Water Dancer
by Alicia

Comment by colorcarnival:
lol you know you should have called this "doing pushups - birdie style". That is what it looks like he is doing! It's so cool how the wing-tips are just grazing the water and the feet are sticking up behind him. What great timing for this catch!

Afternoon Light
by Alicia

Comment by Ken:
That Hava Java is becoming quite the spot for you! I like the high contrast, but would like to see a little less of the blown out spots on her hair. The blur certainly works here, especially on the hair. I find the overall style of this compelling, and want to try it myself. How did you create the border?