A beautiful presentation of this wonderful flower , only tip I would offer here is always watch the bg as the flower oof in the bg here detracts a little from the main image but that is truly a minor point Colin

A nicely captured moment and they all look as if there having fun

Have uploaded a mod, mainly increased the highlights and darks , reduced saturation and noise and sharpened a bit (25%), hope you like it Colin

A beautiful tone to the rose .... well captured and displayed, a small amount of noise within the frame , I have uploaded a mod simply put through noiseware. This is a free programme found easily by googling... Hope you don't mind the mod Colin

Well captured in good light, would have been grand to get all the reflection in the frame too, but nonetheless a grand image Colin

A lovely depth and tone subtle colouring and a grand fg detail , might have been tempted to clone the white spots lhs out as they draw the eye but a (very) minor point ... this is a beauty for me Colin

The composition I am sorry to say does not work here ( for me ) too much empty space on the right and the light is not great so a lack of contrast in the water and the lads playing. Sorry to sound so harsh. Colin

The angle of the image certainly does make it stand out and of course the sunlight helps emphasise it, I think a high contrast mono would also work very well , hence the mod. Altered the red and green channels after converting and slightly upped the contrast, reduced a tad of noise and uploaded Colin

Good shot from the hip image, have you tried "playing" with the red green and blue levels after converting to mono . This may allow a greater control over the look that your after Colin

As a non bird expert ( of the feathered kind ) I think this is captured well in a natural surorunding the exposure grand for the white of the snow, and a good detail and colour captured. I may have been tempted however to crop a bit of the top and rhs, as per the mod

I pm your other half earlier ! How strange Colin

Hi Bill, likewise as Neil welcome to epz a great site and one to learn and enjoy from. I agree also the grasses are off putting I have done a very quick mod cloning the grasses out. Just to let you see what it could look like regards Colin

Like the idea and think if you used a black bg or changed it in PS this would be far more effective.... however as I said above I like the idea of the mask and portraiture Colin

I like the overall composition here , horizon a tweak and maybe one for next time wait till no vehicles in the shot but overall a great shot indeed thanks for sharing Colin

I know it is outwith the choices the bunting aling the route and folks so close to the action , however a wee edit taking those factors out would add to the composition. You have timed this very well and I hope the mod I have done is ok... I realise i missed a bit sorry Colin

As above the three images are grand v1 however just has the edge with the presentation, I also wondered about the rope, so forgive me but I cloned it out ! Thanks for sharing Colin

The opposite effect tonight you have used the thumbnail programme to resize by the looks of it. The technique for resizing is below and is also available via the help here on epz

This is mostly dependent on what software you use to do your resizing.

First, you need to understand the current file limits on ePHOTOzine.
Your image MUST be no longer than 600 pixels on the longest side (1000 pixels for e2 members).
The image MUST be in JPEG format - this means it must be saved with .jpg extension
at the end.
The image MUST be less than 100k in size (400K for e2 Members). This is the bit most new members get
wrong.
The image must be RGB, not CMYK.
Note that if you use Adobe RGB (1998) colour space rather than sRGB it will result in a loss in density and contrast.

Here's the easiest way to do it in Photoshop (PS) (7, CS & Elements):
In your application go to Image - Image size (PS)/ This will bring up a box
showing some dodgy numbers (Screenshot 1 - PS Version as I don't have Elements!)

Screenshot 1

1 = Pixel Dimensions
2 = Resolution

The first thing to do in this box is to change the resolution. Mine at the
moment says "600" pixels/inch (aka ppi/dpi). For viewing on the web,
72 dpi is plenty. DON'T CLICK OK!!!! When you change the resolution, you will
notice that the Pixel Dimensions have changed too. These may have changed to
less than 600 pixels. You can now change the highest number to 600 pixels (on
a landscape for example, this will be the width). The other number will look
after itself (Screenshot 2)

Screenshot 2

Now you can click ok! Your image will get much smaller on the screen.
With the zoom tool selected right click on the image and select "Actual
Size". This will bring the image back to a viewable size.

If you want to apply any sharpening (lots of people do, I don't!) you
should do it now.

Here's the "tricky" bit: Go to "File - Save For Web".

There'll be a new screen popup titled "Save for Web, Powered by Image
Ready" (or similar).

The bit on the right is what you are interested in. Ignore all the boxes
for a moment. Beside Preset theres a circle with a triangle in it. Press
it. This will bring up "Optimize to File Size":

Screenshot 3

Screenshot 4

Where you see "Desired File Size", set that to 100 or below (I normally
use 99 just to be on the safe side), and then hit OK. That will disappear and
bring you back to the Save for web dialogue.

Hit the Save button, choose a place to save

Hope this helps for future uploads Colin

Good overall composition and capture like the effect you have given it and my only small niggle is the crop as my eye keeps getting drawn to the extreme left hand side hence my mod ... thanks for sharing Colin

Well captured with the fine detail showing ... it is not as easy as some would think and this is the best time to capture the moon ( for me ) rather than when full. Colin

I do like this image and for a first attempt it is grand, but it appears oversaturated in places and if this is the intent then my apologies , but a tweak of the levels may help tone it down a wee bit, as I say though a grand 1st attempt and certainly a vibrant image thanks for sharing it Colin

The lighting is a tad harsh on your daughters that few inches further forward from their mum certainly makes a massive difference which I found myself on the first paid portrait I was fortunate to do.

Bounced light via a reflector would have lessened this a great deal and spread the light source a lot more evenly.

The BG is as imprtant as any other aspect ( for me ) ..... the full curtains and the family in front would make a big difference to the overall image.

Finally as per above, the focus on the eye will ensure a crisp image and draw the viewer into the main subject nicely.

Having said all that, it is a grand first attempt at portraiture, and look forward to seeing other attempts.
Thanks for sharing Colin

Hi a grand image caught well and the timing spot on, I cropped the image and highlights were upped a fair bit then reduced the levels of the shadows finally through noiseware to reduce that . The crop was to try and put more emphasis on the wave rather than the wall and the wave ..... thanks for sharing Colin