I like the shot but I think the scummelled effect you have added is detracting from it. The scratches make it more difficult to see what he is doing with his hands and really are not necessary, the sepia tone gives the aged effect you obviously wanted.

Ian

I like the tones in this. Unfortunately the focus point has landed on the closest feathers rather than the eye, which would have been the perfect point. I know how difficult it is to photograph birds though so well done on this.

Ian

Thanks for the info.

There probably aren't too many viewpoints for this bridge, so you've done well to get a decent shot. It could have been improved by waiting about 3 seconds longer for the people to move. I also think it would be worth increasing contrast and maybe even trying a b&w conversion.

Ian

I like the fact you have left the cottage small in the frame, really emphasises the remoteness. Would the shot benefit from dropping the exposure about 1/3 or 1/2 a stop?

Ian

Could possibly do with the levels bringing down a tad on the lighthouse and wall, but nice composition. May be worth lowering the saturation a touch too, though that could just be my rubbish work monitor.

Ian

I had this pegged as an HDR from the thumbnail. It's always a good idea to check thumbnails of your HDR shots to see if they stand out.

There is a nice amount of detail in the foreground grass and the colours on the hills are good. In my opinion though you have over-cooked the sky. It is far to heavy and contrasty for the rest of the scene. My advice would be to either reduce the HDR strength, ramp up the smoothing or select the sky and reduce the contrast in final edit.

Ian

It's a good idea but I don't think it is quite there. The bit of bridge top left is a distraction, might have been better to find a position where you could either include more or exclude it altogether. Also the stepping stones don't really have a start point. Cropping the bottom and left of the photo to make the first one in the water your foreground focal point would perhaps work better. Finally I probably would have placed the focus on the foreground, making sure at least the first 2 stones were sharp.

Hope this helps.

Ian

It's a nice sharp shot of the Kite but unfortunately the lack of any definition in the sky makes it look like it has been cut out and stuck on. This could be one of those occasions where it is worth cloning some clouds from another shot.

Ian

I spotted this as an HDR from the thumbnail, which means you haven't got the processing quite right. It looks as if you need to increase the light smoothing and reduce the saturation a little.

The light smoothing is basically what controls how much of a cartoon effect you get, the higher the smoothing the less obvious the halos and the less startling the change from shadow to highlight.

You'll get the hang of it and it is worth persevering.

Ian

Hi, followed you here from the forums. This actually isn't the critique gallery. When you upload your photo there is a box you can tick to put the photo into the critique section, you must have missed that.

Anyway, while I am here.

The depth of field is well controlled, with the focus point exactly where it should be. However there are areas of the shot which are not adding anything and the composition would be better without them. The 2 bright points lower left are a distraction and I believe the shot works better if you crop just above them. That focuses more attention on the droplets and also places them on the intersecting thirds (do a search on rule of thirds for more information). That also places the edge of the leaf at the bottom left and provides a natural lead in line.

It would be worth playing with the curves to add a little more contrast. Also experiment with different crops, for example a vertical crop with the bright dots in the bottom two corners.

Hope this helps.

Ian

Works very well. If Meyrick is talking about the eyeballs, on my (calibrated) screen there is a definite tonal difference. My one small crit is that I think the highlight on her lower lip is a little strong.

Ian

Nice looking lobby and a title which fits the shot well. Could do with a little rotation to straighten the verticals and also a lift in the levels to remove the slight muddiness.

Ian

Good strong composition. The background is nicely out of focus but I wonder if the depth of field is a little too small. It's difficult to say without seeing a larger version, but there seems to be no obvious focus point. I would have expected either some of the 'feathers' or the brown area in the centre to be pin sharp and it doesn't appear to be, although the feathers bottom left look like they could be the sharpest point. This may be because the breeze caught it or you were not using a tripod (pretty much essential for shots like this).

The area at the right is blown out, maybe from backlighting. That (for me) doesn't spoil the shot but it is something you may want to look at in future shots. You could use some exposure compensation to reduce the brightness - about -0.3 or -0.7 would be plenty, then bring it back selectively in software.

It isn't far off being a very good shot, just a couple of minor tweaks.

HTH

Ian

Plenty of detail in this and good colours + comp. There appear to be slight halos around the hairs, that could be due to the resizing or an indication that you have just slightly over sharpened it.

Ian

Great composition Conrad, though it doesn't seem to have the clarity your shots normally achieve. I can't quite tell whether it is soft focus or just in need of a little sharpening. Lovely Autumn colours though.

Ian

I really like this, it's unusual to have a frosty web silhouette and it works well. The only thing I can see which may improve it is to play with some alternate crops at the bottom. Try reducing the depth of the buildings by about half.

Ian

Well caught. I think you could get more out of this by tweaking the contrast (do you know how to use curves) to bring out more of the texture. I would also do some work on the background to white it out, there appears to be some pixellation towards the bottom for some reason.

Ian

Quote: One thing though; I have no idea, what you are meaning by that S-curve tweak??

Image -> Adjustments -> Curves

The box is divided into 9 segments. The diagonal line can be dragged at any point to adjust the levels at that specific area of the dynamic range. Looking at the intersections of the lines, the lower left relates to shadows, middle is midpoint and upper right is highlights.

Click the mouse on each of the intersections, this locks the line at those points. Then gently drag the bottom left lock down and the top right one up. You will see the effect immediately, just keep playing with all three until you are happy with the result. Keep turning the preview off and back on to see the effect compared to the original.

HTH

Ian

Well done, you have managed to avoid the cartoon effect of getting the light smoothing wrong, this is an effective image. I think it could perhaps benefit from a little extra contrast, an S curve would work well if you know how to use the curves tool.

Ian

It is a well composed image but the colours look really washed out. The sky is very burned out so I suspect you were pointing pretty much into the sun, which would explain that.

There are really only 2 ways to stop your skies being burned out. One is to get yourself some ND graduated filters and the other is to take 2 or more shots, 1 exposed for sky and another for foreground, then blend them in software. HDR is an extension of this blending process. I would recommend some ND grads, do a search on the forums here there is loads of advice.

Ian