A most beautiful floral image, the delicate colour of the Honeysuckle is beautifully enhanced against the dark backdrop Harriet. Just one little note Harriet, your choice of aperture f/5.6 with it's greater depth of field has not allowed you to capture the whole of your subject in focus. If you had chosen a smaller aperture of say f/11 then the DoF (Depth of Field) would have been narrower enabling your to capture more of your subject in focus.

An informative and user friendly guide referring to depth of field (DoF) can be found under the ePz Banner, Inspiration-Techniques

Regards Nathan

A most impressine Highland Vista wonderfully observed and captured from a great point of view Robert. You have captured interest, and charm in depth with your chosen aperture of f/16, however IMHO I feel that you have added a rather unnatural warmth to the sky using an Orange Graduated Filter, this in turn has knocked the image somewhat out of kilter. May I suggest a more neutral filter for the sky and then use the graduated filter to add a warmth to the slopes.

Regards Nathan

A beautiful image which works so very well in monochrome. However Zoran IMHO I think that the bud appearing between the petals of the main flower is somewhat distracting and furthermore it knocks the composition out of kilter. We all like to think that odd numbers work best when composing such images as this provides uniformity and balance.

Odd numbers are better than Even ones in photography.”

I heard about this ‘odd rule’ years ago in a magazine and laughed it off as the author having some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder – but ever since I heard it I’ve noticed that in the shots I take it is true.
I’m not exactly sure why it works – but it does. Perhaps it’s about the balance that odd numbers create (there’s always one thing in the centre to give balance)?
I find that three objects in a shot are particularly good. Five, Seven or more can work but you run the risk of clutter.


Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/the-odd-rule-of-composition#ixzz2SaYEuqgV

Regards Nathan

A wonderful collection of beautiful shells, which IMHO Herman after conversing with a fellow ePz member regarding the matter of photographing such subjects, would have looked great from varying points of view. I particularly think that a really low point of view would have worked well with a large Aperture allowing you to be creative with your Depth of Field and allowing you at the same time to pick up on the colour and details quite wonderfully, especially in the multi colour granulated surface.

Regards Nathan

Three delightful variants Kate, each worthy of a vote in their own tight. For me image three is the stronger with its strong square crop, as I feel the somewhat noisy border in image number one detracts from the beauty of the tulip, whilst the elongated landscape format somehow feels stretched and over worked. Just one point of note regarding all of the images, I do feel that the background is to harsh both in texture and colour. I one were to reduce the opacity this i feel would allow one to focus fully on this beautiful bloom.

Regards Nathan

When HDR is done correctly it can produce images of the highest order, when it is done badly the images can represent a Jackson Pollock Nightmare, for me personally I feel that this image falls somewhere in the middle and dipping into the bottom of that band John. Although one can sit back and admire the beauty and the detail of this quaint and very understated little Church, one is also face with two main distractions that being the intense light coming from the windows. A very difficult thing to put right in the Digital Darkroom, however with a lot of patience and time one could work away in Lightroom to alter the exposure in those areas before converting to HDR. I fully appreciated that not everyone has the appropriate Software and the time, but it is a matter for consideration.

I hope that I have not come over too bombastic, its just a little point that IMHO needed pointing out.

Regards Nathan

A most beautiful capture Bob, and so very well composed. Superb focus control and use of Depth of Field. Both the colours and detail are crisp and fresh throughout. My only point who be that you may like to clone out the blade of grass which is infringing into the body of the Goose whilst at the same time cause slight distraction. "Just a thought mate"

Regards Nathan

A beautiful image of this rather handsome looking Reed Bunting. Just a little point to consider when capturing images from a distance using your Sigma 150-500 mm Lens. I find that when the lens is at its full focal length the images are not so crisp and sharp as they could be. I noted that this was a regular occurrence. In order to rectify this lack of sharpness I decided to knock the focal length back to around 480mm, and the results have been 100% better. Try it mate, you never know it might just be a Sigma thing, but it has continued to work for me. Furthermore because of its weight I would inevitably get some movement even on my sturdiest of Tripods. I would therefore consider increasing your ISO which will as you know allow you to increase your Shutter Speed, which if the mathematics is correct then your Shutter Speed will compensate for any slight movement in your lens, and remember to turn of the Stabilising mode on your lens.

I may be teaching you to suck eggs Ed, but I hope that you found this useful...

Regards Nathan

I have always tried to remain open and honest when giving feedback or simple comments to fellow members Ronnie. Firstly I admire you willingness to try something new rather than becoming what I refer to as 'Stuckists' www.stuckism.com/stuckistmanifesto.html and to look beyond ones own comfort zone in the exploration of new ideas. However Ronnie IMHO I feel that initial idea i.e. the concept is very good, the outcome is somewhat of a let down. The image appears to be a rather slap dash cut and paste exercise without any really thought about colour balance, matching the light or trying to achieve the right amount of milieu. If one had cropped the backdrop and removed the silhouetted trees, and then toned down the luminance in each image before overlaying, then converting to monochrome I feel that the outcome would be more pleasing on the eye.

Please forgive me if I seem to be somewhat harsh, and the fact that you had not asked for a critique, but I just felt that I need to express my feelings over this composite image

Regards as always Nathan

A beautifully observed and composed photograph Gavin. An image which one feels like one could step straight into. The foreground immediately draws one into the scene working along the edge of the timber fence onto the paved pathway. Then it is a matter of holding ones breath before looking out over the precipice into the wonderfully atmospheric patchwork Hope Valley below and onto the misty covered Derbyshire slopes in yonder. IMHO the exposure and choice of aperture is spot on allowing the beautiful muted colours and the detail in depth to be retained. In summary a beautiful composition captured from a great point of view, with great colour and both clarity and quality in depth.

Regards Nathan

Two very nice images each very well observed and captured Jeff, However IMHO I felt that the noise levels caused by the large ISO Setting were somewhat distracting and in need of softening so I reduced the noise in Adobe Lightroom to a manageable level. I then cropped the image slightly in order to remove the excess space to the left of the Reship.

I hope that you approve mate.

Regards Nathan

I love the initial concept however IMHO Alda, although a composite it simply does not look right. The silhouetted figures seem to be somewhat out of kilter with the bridge. I there decided to do give your image a little makeover. Nothing drastic are mind boggling, I simply used the Artistic Pull Down Menu in CS5 and opted for the Water Colour Tool, whereupon I opted for a rather large brush which would provide me with a rather stylised impression and which in turn produced a more balanced image.

I hope that you approve

Regards Nathan

Quote: A bit more contrast would help some Barbara and get rid of the yellow border it degrades the colour of the Flower.

Dougie

A wonderfully bright and cheerful floral composition Barbara, however for me the colour seem to be somewhat over saturated, below is a little snippet which I gleaned from some past notes which I hope you will find useful.

Photographing Yellow

'Yellow & white flowers can be tricky to photograph (especially on bright sunny days). These colours tend to overexpose easily. For better results try to photograph them in the shade.'

The truth is that bright yellow reflects more light than an averaged tone 18% gray card, green grass or matt green leaves – although not so much as white. This means that using an uncorrected TTL in-camera reading will result in dingy looking yellows that are underexposed. Essentially, you need to open up on the metered reading. This can be done either by manually metering a matt green leaf lit in the same way as the yellow flower or by using exposure compensation (need to use a + value to increase the exposure to compensate for bright yellow). Depending on how much of the frame is filled with yellow and whether there are other tones in the shot, the exposure increase can be as much as a stop or more.

Regards Nathan

Hi Eric, Although I admire your creative intentions IMHO I rather feel that the outcome is somewhat messy. Your saturation levels seem to be somewhat overcooked resulting in a pixellated gravy in areas such as the trees. A very difficult image to attempt a modification on as the playing surface is relatively uneven. My thoughts were to make the image into a stylised Watercolour using a relatively small brush and lots of free movement which was your original intention. I hope you approve...

Regards Nathan

A couple of modifications for your perusal my good fellow...

Nothing too drastic. Firstly I removed the curtain from the right hand side simply by using the Spot Healing Brush in CS5 from the Tool Box, then I cropped the image removing a slice from the top of the image. I then converted the image to Monochrome in Adobe Lightroom, before increasing the luminance and adjusting the exposure. A different exposure setting was used in mods 1 and 2.

Regards Nathan

Good After Sir

Just uploaded a quick modification, nothing much really I simply used the Magic Wand Tool from the Tool Bar and traced around the outer edges of the cake. Then I selected Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur from the Pull Down Menu and adjusted the strength accordingly. I then selected the Blur Tool from the Tool Bar and softened the rather harsh edges to provide a softer more appealing feel to the piece.

I hope that you approve.

Regards Nathan

An aviation enthusiasts dream Alistair. Beautifully sharp and so very well captured. My only point would be to allow a little more space to the right of the aeroplane in which to move into, it does look rather crammed...

Regards Nathan

Although your use of post production techniques and applications were carried just as you wanted. I feel that the vignetting has been rather overcooked, so much so that it has destroyed much of the detail surrounding the seated figure. If you wanted to distort the back ground you could have used a wide range of alternatives ranging from Gaussian blur to texturing the back ground. IMHO a great image worked too much resulting in a rather disappointing outcome.

Regards Nathan

I just thought I would add my two pennies to the pot. As the top of the bottle was missing I thought the image lacked both balance and symmetry so I took out the middle section. The curvature of the section of bottle instantly reminded me of waves with I rather liked. I hope you approve.

Your image is certainly getting good healthy feedback which is always helpful. "We are never too old to learn"

Regards Nathan

Hope you like the mod, unfortunately when you try to sort out both horizontal and vertical axis you lose a lot of your original image. It is therefore a good idea when shooting such buildings is to keep a good distance around the edge in which to carry out such post production work.

Regards Nathan