Coming of Age
by Seanranney

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I do like the furtive nature of this shot...even if he is holding the cigarette backwards :-) The lighting is basic but very effective, and the bike in the background helps emphasize his youth. I like the stark shadow behind him, the comp, the use of b/w and your settings show that you know what you're doing.

This reminds me of the book covers of SE Hinton, who wrote gritty teen novels, often about kids growing up in hard circumstances. Google her name and you will see what I mean. There is definitely a flicker of defiance there in his eyes and the way he's looking up at you helps convey the 'So whaddaya gonna do about it, Dad?' rebelliousness. Maybe not quite James Dean, but not a bad start!

Unfortunately, in terms of an Emotive Landscape, this isn't quite what was expected. I do think that this could have made a very emotive portrait though.

Hope this helps, please continue to shoot and enter!

Susan

Oh no!!
by Seanranney

Comment by Seanranney:
Thanks guys!! The ribbon really surprised me, sure wasn't expecting it. This turned out to be a lucky shot, I practiced with a tennis ball for a bit to get the timing down, and went through one cup and one ceramic angel before this one. This was the one and only cut that we filled with water, although we had a few more in reserve if needed (which my son subsequently smashed anyway - gotta love the dollar store). Shot outside with a flash on the left and a reflector on the right, with a black piece of paper for the background. Teh water inside the cup had red food coloring.

Enjoying being a part of the community, and love seeing everybody's work.

California State Capitol
by Seanranney

Comment by Seanranney:
Thanks for the feedback and votes everybody. I agree with the comments, when I first processed this there was a bit of detail in the building, enough to make out some texture in the trees and the pillars of the building. Unfortunately my shots seem to show up quite a bit darker on other peoples devices so it got a bit heavier (great description, BTW), going to have to do some more adjusting to my monitor to get consistency. The hot spot of the sun was intentional, figured the light would balance with the dark, although I would have preferred it to be slightly more to the right. Still trying to figure out sharpening and noise reduction, so will work on those halos.

California State Capitol
by Seanranney

Comment by nam:
I wish there was a way to get a little more definition in the trees and dome - more windows and spaced branches or something. The silhouette is nice but a little heavy feeling.

Oh no!!
by Seanranney

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Excellent interpretation of the challenge, especially as it ribboned, and thus is just that much harder to critique! Great classic studio shot, I admire how well you controlled the whites here and the sense of timing to capture it at just that critical moment of breakage before everything went all over the place is fantastic!

Very simple and effective in lighting and composition, and I too am curious as to how many mugs you and your son dropped :-)

Look forward to seeing more entries from you in the future, keep up the good work.

Susan

California State Capitol
by Seanranney

Comment by EstimatedEyes:
nice shot but more about the sky then the mark, and not striking enough as a silhouette. Would like more detail in the building, perhaps an HDR. YMMV, but to me it misses the mark.

California State Capitol
by Seanranney

Comment by riot:
Bit of a sharpening halo visible around the top of the dome.

California State Capitol
by Seanranney

Comment by Pangurban:
One of my favourites although one (small) niggle is the very hot spot. I wonder if it might have benefited from some of this being cropped out along the top?

California State Capitol
by Seanranney

Comment by mariuca:
Nice shot - so un-californian though

Oh no!!
by Seanranney

Comment by grahamgator:
Congrats on the ribbon; looks like a fun photo shoot!