Have I Got a Surprise for You!
by StevePax

Comment by Neuferland:
Oh, what could it be? I think I understand what you are going for here but it doesn't really convey surprise or anticipation to me. It's a light in a wood man's hands and it's really kind of boring overall. The focus is really wanting in this shot, the noise is a bit much also. A 5

Have I Got a Surprise for You!
by StevePax

Comment by jaymeekae:
Nice idea using the wooden poser man, what did you use for the light?

Have I Got a Surprise for You!
by StevePax

Comment by justine:
Sinister little wooden man!!!!! lol Cool how you did the light. Focus is a bit soft.

Have I Got a Surprise for You!
by StevePax

Comment by Miah:
cool.. but i am getting sick of these wooden guys..

Time to Pay the Piper
by StevePax

Comment by Quadrajet:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

I like this idea for the challenge. My thought on the subject isâ€Â¦it doesn’t necessarily convey the idea of actually “paying” the piper. Maybe for this, a “tip jar” in front of him or maybe him looking at the camera, holding his hand out would help convey “paying” a bit better. Then again maybe I'm just being one of those "rule mongers" :). Of course either of these ideas would entail you interrupting his playing and possibly the whole event, so I suppose they aren’t viable options. I think you did well with what you had to work with.

Your exposure looks very good, considering the sky looks pretty overcast, unfortunately this results in fairly flat lighting (as was mentioned below). About the only thing that I can think of that could help in this situation would be a polarizing filter or an off camera flash illuminating him a bit from the left.

As far as composition goes, I like that you included the microphone stand in the shot. I have to say that the camera angle (height) is rather ordinary and doesn’t help give the subject an “interesting” look. Getting a bit lower (possibly just below eye level) might help make this shot more dynamic and the subject more interesting.

I feel I should mention the background. The background is almost an image in itself, and although that isn’t a bad thing, the subject is the piper. To my eye, the pier, sand and buildings detract from the shot. Not only do they add more for us to look at, they visually intersect his head. A different take on this shot may have been to shoot the piper from the same angle, but from the other side, with the water/sky as a backdrop. This could help keep him as the focus of the image as well as making him stand out even more than he does here.

I hope this helps,
Quadrajet

Have I Got a Surprise for You!
by StevePax

Comment by Natator:
I have no idea how you got the glow on the hands but it is very effective indeed. Nice shot.

Time to Pay the Piper
by StevePax

Comment by Neil:
Clever. Where do I drop the money... Good composition here. Lighting seems a bit flat, or at least it is in the foreground where he is.

Gull3.JPG
by StevePax

Comment by Imagineer:
Brilliant capture so close up. I'd just straighten the pic up and crop a little if you have to.

One Last Grape
by StevePax

Comment by ellamay:
Greetings from one of the new members to the critique club.
While your subjects are somewhat ordinary you have managed with good lighting and and composition to create a photo that is enjoyable,emotional and thought provoking. I find myself asking, "Why would this (non-eating) figure be interested to hold a grape so carefully and feel remorse that there are no more. You have created a balance with not only the grape between the hands but enduced an emotion between 2 inanimate objects, with the composition(and a little help from the title). The black background helps to pull your shot together and serves to leave out any distracting elements.
Hope this helps, I am new at this.

Cemetery
by StevePax

Comment by JC_Homola:
Greetings from the Critique Club,
I was just reviewing what I mentioned during the challenge in my commnet to you.

Looking at this image again, I would say possibley a little lower angle to capture the light rays, but keep it out of the viewers eyes, which is how it feels now.

Can you set the iso on the cd400? If so try going down to 50 to remove some of the grain.

Backlit shots can be very tricky and if you have a camera that does not allow manual adjustments it's going to be a challenge for sure.

You may want to try using a polarizing filter of some sort also. Even if you can't actually attach it to the camera you can hold it in front of the lense, polarized sunglasses work too.

As I said in my previouse comments, this could be a really good image.

I hope this helps.

JC



I would also try different Brightness and Contrast settings if you have the software to do this with.