hi,
lovely shot. less is more and thats particulary so when the conditions are good. here you couldnt have a more satisfactory image of winter, pleasing to the eye and yet obviously cold and wintery without the pigeon chested grey skies that for often typify winter. days like this lift spirits and help us through the darker days until the spring arrives.

i like the central composition even if its not on a conventional third, here it looks best however i think there is a little too much base and id be tempted to crop just a little from the bottom.

the exposure is nice and cool, not at all overcooked and you have done well to retain the detail in the whites. im wondering if it may be possible to locally lift the contrast in the frosty branches of the tree to make more of the whites. and i think for effect despite the fact its rising from mist, id be tempted to burn in the trunk just a little together with the shadow type line at its base and lightly at 2% say burn the details of the shadows in the snow for a slight lift in texture of the base (but not too much).

lovely symathetic study of stunning winter conditions
Phil

well its a cracking portrait, dosnt look reinactment stuff, quite ethnic really and im not going to say much negative about it,

just compositionally the flap of his hat over his ear makes that side of the composition a bit heavy and it would have looked better over on the left side of frame but i guess he would have been tetchy if you had flapped his hat about his head.

the background is nice and out of focus and there are some nice textures here with his whiskers and hat fabric. his eyes are nice and sharp and i dont think i could have done anything really different. nice head shot.

Phil

great information and i wish all were uploaded with as much data,

well this ones interesting to me because in 30 years its the first time i saw one photographed, i thought it was a good / bad look thing or something.

secondly its interesting to see the rear anatomy rather than the more usual 3/4 front on view.

maybe from a natural historians point of view there are some questions. if it were being judged as such (say as part of a panel for lrps, or for a salon where natuaral history is defined in specific requirements) the following points may be raised,

the background is not totally symathetic to the subject although the bird is nicely composed within it, the background shows signs of decorative flowers taking the subject away from natural conditions.

the head of the bird is not fully in view, and the rear on view is not normally considered suitable (although i like it)

the exposure is a little over (difficult with black and white in any direct light to retain white and yet have detail in black) but to be fair i cant see detail in the whites, may be flash may have helped the balance some if it couldnt be recovered in raw.

my view is similar to one above, the speeds and iso need adjusting to either give more depth of field or pan with the subject to create some blur or better still try for a more uncluttered background,
but well done Phil

hi,

i could take it over easy but im sure you wouldnt really want sugar coating, i will just give my honest opinion, if you dont agree, tell me so and we can chat it through, its better that way.

interesting model, lovely eyes, expression, added interest with the tattoo which IMHO you have not really capitalised on. the neck is pushed downwards a little and its usually better to try and gain a little extension to the neck to add elegance.

the lighting is quite flat, would have liked to see more info here, it looks unusually flat and judging from the catchlights looks semi frontal and low rather than the 45 degree downward approach. some modeling in the lighting would have given more impact particularly with the edgy appeal of the tattoo (Which is a real work of art)

compositionally im comfortable with the negative space and the use whites, but see below .

The way the arms are cupping the boobs is a little awkward and im finding the hand on view is looking out of place and not as graceful as it could be. the crop on the bottom across the underside of the folded arms is too tight and its bunching up the torso and by cropping the top of the head (which isnt always an issue) it compacts the whole body shape a little too much.

with an image like this, its best to ask what is the main subject or why is it being taken and what will it say or convey to a viewer. for me here its the tattoo and its this that makes a statement about the models character. for me the torso is too full on, the head direct on / eye contact is great but a more angular position with the arm taking a more dominant position in frame would have said much more.

clearly you wanted a high key sort of look with the strength of the whites but to balance that the models probably too saturated and may benefit from losing some of the magenta shade castes and desaturating the skin tones.
although im sure the whites were intentinal and may even have been pushed harder into purity, i think the left side is probably too bright and almost looks as if the canvas has been extended without colour fill.

thanks for an interesting image to critique, id be interested to hear your feelings on the feedback so far.

best regards
Phil

this is crazy - crazy good, it leaps off the thumbs and catches the eye from the get go.

i think the colours and the background are stunning, the downward head angle with the direct stare . however, for all that i like, there are some little niggles along the way,

the hair falling over the eye is distracting and a hair blower, blowing it back would have added to the look here. a minor niggle is the necklace, needed pulling back a little to separate from the bodice.

overall the corset isnt punchy enough and there is an overall sharpness, both of which are easy to address and has been well covered by willie above, the black on the lips, and the whites of the eyes would also benefit from the increase in contrast.

sounds picky but its not, these shots depend on detail perfection and this, well its really so close to being premier division.

Phil

there isnt anything wrong with the shadows at all, they are quite interesting and the light on the face is even and the skin tones well exposed.

i think that the composition is a little cramped and some space could have been useful and left the face looking less compressed.

using the lens wide open was a good choice because this is the best way to throw the background out of focus, but it also difficut to control the limited depth of field that a wide aperature provides. here i think the focusing is slightly behind the face and more on the knitted hat. maybe the camera was a little too close to the subject for the lens to manage focus on the eyes

compositionally id be looking to place the subject in a position with less clutter in the background but given that wasnt possible, a slight move up and to the right may have lost those bright highlights at the back of the head.

regards
Phil

ok, there are things i like about this and things that dont work so well, but the real image is still in there.

after an initial look im brought back visually to the column behind the womens heads and the bright strip of sky below the roofline.

and then i realise that what attracts me is non of that, its the little boys juxtaposition and the fabulous shadows on the floor. its often like this with street photography, the whole scene distracts from the real point of focus and i think by paring down the elements by cropping just above the boys head it tightens the composition and becomes far more Bresson in its style.

i did a mod to show what i mean, maybe you totally dissagree but id love to hear what you think.

regards
Phil

hello.
i love this too , i like minimal photography in general so stripping this down to simple tones and composition works for me.

if you like this sort of cpomposition you may like to google michael Kenna, he pioneered this type of minimal mono long exposure type of work, many years before big stoppers and to be truthful has many disciples.

the conversion to mono that you have used though has been pushed a little far in the centre of the water and the sky could do with a little crop or an overlaid grad to tone down the top a little to hold the eye down in the frame.

compositionally it may break rules but who says things should conform to thirds. full on central subjects often work well and it does so here.

this would look nice printed on textured art paperlike ilford fine art

Phil

hi, its a lovely scene and a nice sunset but it lacks the sparkle that a well balanced exposure gives.

it seems that the left side is overall a bit dark and underexposed and lacking the sparkle that a correctly balanced exposure would give. im sure it could be quick fix doctored with a layer, curve adjustment and a graduated layer mask right to left but i dont have photoshop on my pc here in the office to do a mod. probably grads would have helped at the taking stage.

regards
Phil

hello,

only tips i can give you is patience, great light and consequently the fastest speed possible, or even fill in flash if you can get close enough to have an effect.

i have managed to get ok in flight shots at 1/2000 sec but its barely enough with really nifty birds and i personally find that at those types of shutter speeds, camera shake is less of a problem than retaining focus. from that perspective monopods and tripods may be a bit restrictive unless really heavy construction and fitted with top quality gimble heads.

looking at you example here, the branch in front of the bird is quite sharp and i think your problem lay here. your focus point has picked up that branch and the bird is just behind the focus zone. with long lenses the depth of field is going to be quite shallow in any case so getting everything in this shot sharp , especially with the bird moving towards you was always going to be difficult.

if you were spot metering on the bird and your camera was set to predictive focusing you may have achieved an exposure based on the bird and had focus on that too. if the bird has been sharp and not the branch, the small amount of movement would have been quite nice as its pretty much restricted to the wings. you could also try shooting in bursts of exposures and one may be sharper than the others.

put it down to a near miss, look into the focusing side of your camera better and stick with it,

regards
Phil

hello,
its a fine image indeed, undoubtably one to be proud of.

however in answer to your question the following was put to me recently in connection with a proposed panel for arps nat hist.

in years gone by and certainly prior to the digital age, shots like this were difficult to achieve. consequently you could build a panel around images of this type. limitations of focal length, image stabilisation, iso, all limited the use and of available aperature / shutter speed combinations.

with high iso, x1.5 focal length on cropped sensor, better optics than ever with VR. high speeds become available. so now we need more activity, pulling out fish or food, in flight, mating, interaction with other birds or surroundings, --in short doing something other than pose.

just check how many kingfisher shots of stunning quality turn up on epz and then compare that to the number in flight or emerging from water, preening, hovering, or in any form of activity that come up.

so it seems international exhibitions and salons now tend to mark down non active shots no matter how splendid they are.

on top of that, consider how they are scored. 3 judges with an option to press a 2,3,4,or 5 buttons with instruction that 5 is only for an insistance that its accepted, 3 if its near but boarderline, and 4 if its a definate acceptance. (not all are exactly like this but you get the drift) then they will compare with similar shots and choose the better one.

given the rps standards im really not surprised at the difference. this in most salons is is 3/4 if you look at it objectively from that point of view so 12/15 would be really good, and acceptance in many salons, higher would be looking at an award or certificate of merit and 9 means all 3 judges thought it boarder-line and no one spoke out for it. happens to me all the time, you can read the scores after a while.

this dosnt mean that there isnt a place for lovely shots like this, id love it in my collection. but maybe its not the stuff of dreams it was 6 years ago. my only niggle is id have liked a little more space in front and water drips off the beak. but then hey, i havnt got one like it on my pf so what can i say.

hope this helps

regards
Phil

great subject matter and basic composition. you would achieve great results with a dslr.

the crop at the back of the neck is a little tight and results in a bright highlight that is distracting . you could either include all the head but im not sure i would have either, or crop a little more off to lose the bright bit.

the face is a little too dark for me and you could have improved that at the taking stage by getting some one to hold a white card to bouce somne light back on the face. it seems to be falling nice on the hand.

i agree that with some more light pushed back on the face and a mono conversuion, this would be a great shot. (and also the type that sells )

regards
Phil

subjects like this are beautiful and i take them myself but im old fashioned and think phones are for phone calls and cameras are for photography.

many will not agree with me, but to me, a subject like this deserves time and consideration, choice of speed aperature, lens, use of a tripod enjoyment and appreciation of a wonderful moment. sopmehow, point a phone at it and walking away sort of de-skills photography and just has no appeal to me at all other than snapping something i have to clip to a text.

taking a shot like this is still rather difficult on expensive dslrs but with a huge amount of consideration, top quality can be acheived. but careful use of iso settings to reduce noise, balance with neutral density filters , quality lenses to control contrast and sharpness, small aperatures and long shutter speeds steadied by a heavy tripod will achieve stunning results.

the scene is lovely and so is the sky with great tones and rising mist and to be fair the exposure provided by the phone cam is a damn good compromise but overall its taken at the expense of quality. the foreground is just a mush of noise and the image quality deteriates into the trees and its a real real shame because the conditions look wow.

sorry i cant be more positive on this potentially lovely scene

regards
Phil

i like the composition and it works quite well in mono which provides an old fashioned reportage feel. often, quite normal pictures are transformed into serious work simply by a mono conversion.

the leaping child works really well and i dont mind at all the croping at the base which has been done in an acceptable position. has it been halfway down the legs, it may not have worked as well.

as its taken on a phone its never going to be an image in which you have any control over its exposure and focus so its hard to pass comment in that way and in that sense its not one that should be up for critique, however an image is an image and the way its taken reflects its finished qualities so i shall continue as if it were taken on a dslr.

it was taken in flat light which is a bad start to most pictures and the inherent lack of contrast has been compensated for in postprocessing creating blown highlights and overall a lack of sharpness in areas that aught to be sharp.

the very white triangular shape top left is quite distracting and i wonder if it may be possible to clone it away.

i like the shot but it would have been better taken on a camera with some control over some photographic decisions and with some better light.

stick with the mono and i think you will get some good results from this type of shot

regards
Phil

i love this idea, nothing wrong to speak of,

i like all the lovely sky acting as negative space to balance the yellow duck. in truth it is a bold composition.

after the initial viewing i then start to ask what are you wishing to convey as a message with the image and perhaps on that level it needs another centre of interest, perhaps an aeroplane with contrails passing high above for the duck to gaze at or possibly a flight of geese way up in the sky passing left to right. (could be composited into the picture ) any thing that adds a little story.

as a graphic exersize i love the tones and shapes and whats more its fun and thats what photography needs

Phil

hi,
its a nice scene indeed but i agree above the overall scene as presented is too complex.
as i see view on screen, im guessing that its probably taken with the wide setting on your lens from eye height and that makes it an average position. less is often more and i think a little more consideration to what you consider to be the most pictorial aspects within the scene wuld enable you to strip down the image to a more direct and striking composition.

the far bank and reflections are lovely and the jetty adds foreground lead in but the area on the left side is pretty heavy in comparison to the rest of the scene and that creates an inbalance that makes viewing difficult.

i can see many smaller scenes within the picture and i would suggest that you stand in front of any scene and strip it down to more graphic shapes, zoom in or out, move lower or higher. perhaps a lower view point would make the foreground link to the distance by moving the jetting front higher in the frame, this with a move to the left side to eliminate the dark area. doing so would also take you away from the white clouds that are struggling to hold detail without the use of graduated filters.

still quite nice
Phil

hi,
Compositionally all there but in the wrong proportions, waterline horizon too central and dividing, land mass of the fell too heavy to balance the foreground detail, the foreground detail there but not providing a clear bold lead in to the view.

id suggest, wellies on, switch to 12 mm lens to push the background away, wade in and slightly rotate the camera to the right, this would make the mass less and use the slope of the hill better,
get behind those reeds and make those rocks count as a lead in with more dominance.

exposure wise its taken at a bad time after golden light and without any real directional light which in true landscape is usually but not always critical. a litle flat and dull overall it needs quality light to make it work.

never a good idea to use a lens beyond f16 or so as the lens resolution starts to fall away in the same way it would used wide open. for landscape i usually settle between f11 / f16 as a preferred setting. this will still allow a good depth of field if local focusing is considered when using wide angle. the 2Omm used is getting on for 30mm in old money and thats a bit long for conventional fg /mid distance/ distance shots and pulls the horizon a little too close. the wider angle pushes the background hills away giving more strength to the foreground.

hope this helps
Phil

the image and quality of processing says it all,
well composed, excellent bright exposure, limited but just the right amount of depth of field, pin sharp where it needs to be and the 2nd figure to add additional interest. its what it is, stock photography that tells the story, (but not too specifically) and sells time and time again. nothing wrong at all and i even wonder if you deliberately uploaded to the critique gallery as its clear that you are 100% in control.

i even like the jaunty angle and deliberate diagonal across the eye line

that said, its a pleasure to review classy well taken shots and this is such.
best regards
Phil

good dramatic viewpoint and lots of negative space in the sky which i love. i think some post processing could add more contrast into the car to boost thye imact and a bit of doging the sky to bring out the lighter tones. also a white stroke about 2 pix would hold the frame out of the dark black background.

its a shame about the few distractions either side the car but they are not too obrusive.

greta viewpoint and i like the head on view.
Phil

hi, nice image and some good detail brought out in the shrine carving. im sure mono was the best choice.

i think backing off a little to include the whole of the carved detail top and bottom of the shrine would have given a stronger image with the inclusion of the additional space.

best regards
Phil