elexis2.jpg
by DrJOnes

Comment:
Elexis - 6
Bianca - 10

No comparison.

Actually, the only thing Elexis has on Bianca is the glowing crystal...

The Swirly Kind
by amandalore

Comment:
Very nicely done! You sure are coming along girl!

Great visuals with the S curls and the W in the fan to really complement your title.

I like that little question mark.

Message edited by author 2006-07-26 09:51:49.

If caterpillars were meant to fly, God would have given them wings...
by tapeworm_jimmy

Comment:
Honestly, I think you might even have had some difficulty with taking a better picture than this even if you had the Rebel.

The small sensor cameras can really do quite well with DOF for slightly larger subjects.

This one is pretty much perfect.

The whole butterfly is in focus, and enough of the background is also in focus to give the rest of the scene some context (also justifying the broad crop). This context really helps to work with the butterflying facing away, also spreading its wings which helps to build an anticipation of flight into a world dimly perceived, but active and waiting.

Very nice stuff.

A tiny bump to contrast and saturation might be suitable here.

Dredge Ship
by rox_rox

Comment:
another take on this one from the original without full editing.



In response to PM.

I just noticed that there are a few things that were done differently in this pic.

I think I'm going to have another stab at this after I get back from work.

Message edited by author 2006-07-20 00:52:01.

Quiet Progression
by Melethia

Comment:
Barbed wire fencing is such an awesome subject for photography. Well conceived and well executed!

Towards Maturity
by Konador

Comment:
Hrm. Am I the only one that sees the weird edges? Looks like there's a fairly strong case of oversharpening here. Was this intentional Ben?

10
by Loweese

Comment:
Good to see you back in action!

This shot seems to have a few major obstacles.

#1 is the light. It's almost good. It suffers a bit from not having left your hand in one spot long enough... For that purpose it's possible that you could have benefited from actually stopping down a bit (to keep the highlights in the flame controlled), but increasing the exposure a little to weight the light towards your hand... This would have brought a lot more sharpness to the hand (if you could keep it still for a few seconds) as well as possibly picking up a few interesting flarelights in the candle.

#2 is the composition. The other candles are really more of a distraction here... Without the other candles, this picture would come up a lot.

If it were me, I would have maybe added a bit of drama by bringing the crop right up, removing the candles, darkening the arm just a bit, shifting some of the reds out and adding a knife on the floor... I would have maybe called it something like "10 seconds left" or something... I wish I had the PS skillz to add the knife... :)

A Clean Well Lighted Place
by thomaspeople

Comment:
Dude! Looks fantastic!

Frozen
by Lorene

Comment:
Here we go!

It's pretty rare to find a challenge entry with 0 comments, so I'll give this my best.

I don't really care much for this pic myself. Here's why.

#1 - No major point of interest. There's nowhere for my eye to go to start, nowhere for it to go afterwards and nowhere interesting for me to think about afterwards.

#2 - That aside, I start looking for secondary points of interest. Rhythm is a major one that is common in shots like this, but the rhythm doesn't seem to be very strong here. The bubbles really took away from that.

That's about what it's lacking. The next bit is about what it has.

#3 - Hard edges. The picture has a look of being oversharpened and overprocessed. The edges are very hard and very sharp without adding anything (kinda like one of my own pics... my first submission). It looks like the pic is soft and has been sharpened too much. There's also a bit too much noise in it, but this is a minor issue.

So what can you do about it?

Suggestions:

#1 Stick your camera in f/5.6 or higher for better results in sharpness. I find that many small P&S cams get better results from f/4 to f/5.6. It's best to start with good results.

#2 Watch your lines... think about how your lines are going to appear in the picture and give a little consideration to flow.

#3 try to find some element that contrasts in your picture. Be it a color, an edge, the overal luminance of one part over another....

Try to use the dynamics of the composition to highlight that contrast.

This means that a light area could be opposite a dark area.

Further, you might choose to use the contrast of the two areas to create a line... diagonal lines flow better...

You've done something right in this pic because you have two different areas in the pic and they are separated into thirds... This is a good proportion for your contrast, although for this type of thing, thirds are not really essential.

A useful goal might be to use this contrast to try to bring some depth to the picture. Curved lines are fantastic for this purpose.

One interesting contrast that could be exploited in this one might be the smoothness of the ice cubes against the sharp edges of the salt crystals.

Probably would have to change the composition a fair bit to accentuate that though... currently, the ice cubes are something of a minor, background element...

These are just some ideas and are not rules carved in stone. Keep working at it!

Smile!
by Yorina

Comment:
Perfect for the WHAT? challenge...

very well modulated as well... in basic editing I guess there was no way to clean up that bit of caulk that is a little distracting.

This one is also really cool in negative.