Rockyview.jpg
by cujee

Comment by rinac:
Sometimes, all you need is a p&s. The soft, pretty sky is a great contradiction to the harshness of the water and rocks. Nicely done.

PurpleHill.jpg
by cujee

Comment by pixelpig:
Picked this one for the purple sky & the distant sheep. I don't know how to comment on landscape photography, though.

Living_on_a_Praire.jpg
by cujee

Comment by rinac:
Try hitting this one with the Shadow/Highlight tool in photoshop (if you have it), and play with the sliders a bit. The clouds will come to life.

PurpleHill.jpg
by cujee

Comment by rinac:
Still Waiheke? Looks like the glorious hillside on the way to Stony Batter. Yeah, ummmm... not sure about the purple. You may want to rethink that one ;)

BeachNight.jpg
by cujee

Comment by rinac:
Amazing drama. The composition could do with a little something though. Maybe try cropping out either sand or sky, and see what you get?

If only I'd known you were around, could've hooked you up with a free trip over there on the Seacat.

TheShire.jpg
by cujee

Comment by NstiG8tr:
This one is nice. I like the huge tree. Nice landscape

TheShire.jpg
by cujee

Comment by rinac:
Fantastic colours Jon, you've done NZ scenery justice. Lucky you got some blue sky!

Rockyview.jpg
by cujee

Comment by photokariangel:
very nice, love the use of sky, foreground, background, and how everything works together so nicely. well done!

Soul Gazer
by cujee

Comment by yanko:
Before I get to this photo, it's important to realize that when it comes to the challenges, voters expect a high degree of technical prowess to be seen upon first impression. They require that your lens produces great sharpness, your light is directional/raking and that there is good detail throughout the tonal range (highlights, midtones and shadows) and it also doesn't hurt to show a unique POV/composition. If you are weak in those areas then it is very hard to receive a very good score even if your content/story or idea is fantastic.

In light of that lets look at this photo.

Composition - The first thing that I notice is the subject is a bit too centered. That POV is too common to win you points more likely it will subtract points. The cropped head is ok at the top but on the left side it's a little too close to the edge of his head which is not where you want to crop. If you crop a head make it a good size crop. So in this case you would crop more from the left or don't crop his head at all.

Lighting - I like that it produces a mood which you recognized given the title you chose. Where it fails is in it's intensity. It's too bright in the area around from his cheek to the back of his head/ear. That being the case my eyes want to go to his ear first rather than his eye which is where you want the focus. So if this was my photo I would tone down the light intensity/fall off area so that his ear would start to fade into shadow rather than be as bright as it is. If that makes sense.

PP - I like the look. You executed the grunge well without going over board.

Overall, a good photo. It's got a mood and vibe to it but just needs a little more wow for the challenges.

Soul Gazer
by cujee

Comment by photokariangel:
only thing i would have liked seen is his eye in a little more light, just so we could tell his mood better. love the half cast in shadow, and the otehr half grunge like, very good detail in his face.