Oldtimer
by kiwiness

Comment by jmsetzler:
This is one of the most phenomenal portrait photos I have seen in a while... - best of show = 10

Oldtimer
by kiwiness

Comment by progersct:
I love this photo. One of my favorites of this challenge. The light is lovely and soft and thoughtful and I love the DOF. Really well done. 10

Oldtimer
by kiwiness

Comment by aurora:
i think this is a very striking image, i am not sure why i like it but at the moment iam going to give it a 9, maybe a ten later

Oldtimer
by kiwiness

Comment by ChrisW123:
Darker! Wow this could have been a great shot with the white beard. The hat/shirts need to be much darker. Midtones darker also.

Primary Roses
by kiwiness

Comment by ursula:
From the Critique Club

Hi Gary,

Bear with me. It should not make a difference whose picture you're commenting on, but it does ... and you're successful at this site, which makes your work harder to comment on. Oh well. Here it goes.

I am going to be blunt. When I first saw this photo I didn't like it all that much (ouch, please don't hate me!). Technically very good, but emotionally it didn't work with me. The photo seemed "harsh" and the border bothered me. I gave it a 7 because it is a good photo. As I look at it more, I like it better, especially for the detailed, crisp edges on the yellow rose.

The composition is good, even though the photo showcases the three flowers without telling a story. A bit disquieting to me is that my eyes don't know where to look here, they tend to jump from one flower to the other, without a place to rest. Also, even though the picture looks square, it's not a perfect square - I wonder if that would make a difference?

Technically very good. One could argue that the lighting is a bit harsh, especially on the blue rose. I'm wondering, would it have made a difference if the blue and red roses exchanged places?

The border, well, I can see where this border works here. It adds to the high impact quality of the picture.

The photo meets the challenge head on, no problems here.

I guess you can tell I have mixed feelings about this picture, and I read the comments below and see your score and seem to be way off track. But to me, even though it is a good photo and your score reflects that, this one doesn't do it. I love the yellow rose, the other two not so much.

I guess this is where I get to say, "Keep up the good work!" (Duh!). I very much like your positive attitude at this site. Reminds me of a good friend of mine, she's highly competitive but always kind.

Take care,

Ursula

Primary Roses
by kiwiness

Comment by adriannayusof:
Kiwi, how do u make the black back ground. Care to share it with me?
Anna

Primary Roses
by kiwiness

Comment by kiwiness:
Thanx for all the comments. The textures in the blue rose come from the dying process at the florists. This was originally a white rose and which was placed in water with blue dye in it and slowly turned blue. It isn’t possible to get a perfect blue though and this is the best which could be achieved. I also sprayed water on the roses to bring out the colors more. The effect seems a little oversaturated as some have said, however other than cropping and resizing I didn’t post process them at all.

Primary Roses
by kiwiness

Comment by GeneralE:
I also came across some Blue Roses a couple of weeks ago, but was too chicken to submit to the Flora challenge. The ones I saw have crystals on the edges of the petals as if they'd used a sugar solution to dye them...your's look a little blown-out on the edges of the blue petals -- maybe a light diffuser would help there (my flower photo has a similar problem...sigh).

Primary Roses
by kiwiness

Comment by Gracious:
Wow...this has a lot going for it....different.

Primary Roses
by kiwiness

Comment by Anastasia:
Wonderful effect of the blue rose! Good one. kiwi :-)