i love the black rocks and the water, i even like the sky but somethings tearing at me visually. hope you dont mind me saying so.

the headland is too tight over to the right and with the addition of the heavy black band top and bottom i feel its all compressed up and not in its true ratio as taken. as if it needs extending to the right side somehow , and then the 3 masts niggle at me.

as presented i wonder if the sky is required and if the bottom of the image up to the water line level is enough and is strong enough without any sky at all no matter how lovely a colour it actually is.
i think the true beauty and focus of interest is on those fabulous wet black rocks and water.

this way you could get a second image by cropping some off the bottom and having the sky and less of the rocks

theres a lot of special qualities here but maybe a little adjustment would bring out the best it has too offer.
best regards,
Phil

the problem you have here is just as you say, it was a dull day and not the most interesting of lighting situations . these shots come alive with dramatic light. image what it would look like with a storm with sunlight or a sun rise/set.
the composition is split a little with the central element and a little side move to make it spring slightly off on a diagonal would have been better and i would have clipped the odd bricks off the base. minor points really.
its a fact that the few minor mods above by Brian have made a significant difference. i am assuming that he has chosen a colour, made a duplicate layer and applied a blue grad over the sky adjusted the opacity to suit and flattened the layers. the brightness can also be brought up by selecting levels and bringing the right hand pointer in a left direction until it touches the histogram or by making a shallow S shape in curves. this will give the highlights in the waves a little sparkle.
its a good attempt, and a few tweaks in photoshop is all it needs to make it look better. more dramatic conditions would give better still results.
hope this helps.
Phil

an intersting shot bursting with action and drama,
i think exposure wise you have exposed pretty much on the nail because any more and you run the risk of blowing highlights and less and they go muddy and dull.
there is a way around this, you could increase brightness locally with dodging in photoshop. i would try doing this with the reflection in the water, the waterspray droplets and the areas around the head and neck that could perhaps do with lifting slightly, take care to use around 2% opacity and do it gradually.
you did well to catch the action and it makes much more interesting with all the water spray, its a good shot this and pretty well taken in camera.
minor niggle for me would be the text on the image which is pretty much always distracting.
lovely and sharp where it needs to be and a good choice of shuter speed.
all the best,
Phil

another very interesting high contrast shot, i like the way the legs are lit against the background black though i feel to be 100% sucessful you would have needed light thrown back over the complete length of the trailing leg and in particular the shoe which would have made all the difference. i like the suggestion of the arm rh side but would have liked to see the form of the hand more complete. the angles of the legs could have been tweaked a little to make the arrangement more visually balanced.
if you had that extra light on the leg, it would have made the black backround which you have bled into the surrounding border work to its full advantage, as presented its a little lost with an overwhelming black surround.
there is a lot going for the image but with a few tiny tweaks and a bit of reflected light it could have been a real strong image.
i read above that you process in lightroom, thats fine for conversion but its no match for photoshop after you turn it tiff. if i were you, i would use both, convert and minor adjust in lightroom and then get serious in ps.
regards,
Phil

the length of exposure is excellent, the colours and sharpness and foreground detail are lovely, i do have to agree however that i would have been tempted to move left and reframe without the black featureless lump and this would also have cut out the direct line to the sun. there would have been enough with the interesting foreground in my opinion,
it has a lot of super elements though.
phil

its an interesting shot full of vibrancy and life but all this for me comes at the expence of being a little overcomplicated. its a case of what to include so we will include everything and as a result, the whole thing is a little busy.
the overall colours are really very nice and the pier running away to the horizon well placed.
the items im not overkeen on are the red neon bottom left and the flagpole on the bottom third. i think i would have been tempted to close in on a slightly smaller area which eliminated left side of the flagpole and the strip at the bottom under the wild mouse ride. this would hacve been less complicated and with fewer eye distractions.
i bet you took loads of shots anyway and i bet you have the one to which i refer. "if in doubt cut it out"
best regards
Phil

i see where you are going, its rather creative, super use of differential focus and high contrast mono and i think you very nearly pulled off a stunner,

the shoe, head and background are excellent, the trace or suggestion of the arm good but the whole thing falls down because the trouser leg is lost in the foreground blacks, despite the fact that the leg is black, i would liked to have seen some detail there even if it were just texture with minimum lighting and a minimum degree of separation between the leg and the foreground. just a bit of reflected light or something that would have made this a winner in my eyes.
i commend the originality and think you were on to a great subject there. done well this would make a great exhibition print.
Phil

its a nice lively and colourful portrait, a lovely looking model and i like the slightly off the wall positioning of the face. the pout is super.
it seems though, that there a few resolution problems which may have occured when you uploaded, im not sure, as a result there are no areas that are properly sharp. i find it best to part sharpen at full resolution and then resharpen at 72 dpi prior to using the save for web feature on photoshop which enables compression to be at the optimum.

the background although dark seems to display a lot of artifacts that are often apparent after several mods are applied post sharpening. looking a bit closer, i am fairly sure your original is sharp and the problem is down to compression or resolution.

the only real issue i have with the image itself is the cluster of 5 highlights in the eyes, i think they are best with just one as syou would get with natural light, thats just a personal thing.

the picture as a whole is still rather nice.
Phil

excellent composition, and the heavy side lighting reflects well the fact that its a stage performance. there is an element of burning out but in this instance its one of the few occasions i think you can get away with it.

the guitarist is well caught with a good expression and conveys the moment in his performance well.

limited depth, gritty grainy effect are all hallmarks of the film days when you would have pushed 400 asa film and for me it works better by far than any form of flash which would have taken away any element of mood.
the framing is consise, lacking distractions and i think you have done a real good job.
Phil

lighting is extremely good on this portrait, brings the detail out in the shirt and face well.

stands out as a portrait, i suppose the friend is quite pleased with the result. the fact that he is busy with the roll up adds a lot of character, and the black background suits the subject.

if anything, the crops an unusual choice with space above the head and a 3/4 length cropped at the fly, i think it would be even better cropped just below the belt buckle and just above the head, thats not a critisism though just a personal choice.

its one of the best portraits ive clicked on in a while.
Phil

I thought it was Cloony too,
you are on to a great image here and all the ingredients are there.

the composition is great and the texture of the iron gate is spot on,the lighting is contrasty and interesting and creates a great almost theatrical mood which to my mind is quite sucessfull. a little sharpening after reducing to 72 dpi may help presentation.

there are couple of minor niggles which just catch my eye and they are the choice of background colour black which merges with the image and leaves one searching for the break between the image and the border, this may have been a cunning plan on your behalf to disguise the fact that both hands are cropped so close to the edge of frame and may even be slightly clipped. in my opinion you would have been better slipping in a colourmatching border about 6mm wide to give the illusion of a little space around the hands and then mounting the shot on a contrasting background such as white or grey. i also wonder if there is a little too much base on the shot without detail and therefore adding nothing to the image.

this is a great image, and i really like it, but the very best presentation is just a few tiny mods to the existing capture.
regards,
Phil

i think i see what you are trying to achieve with the symmety and the flood of light in through the roof aperature. the choice of mono was probably the best choice as the detail would have gone from the bright areas anyway.
there are however a few problems which have stopped this from being totally sucessful in my opinion as follows.

the composition needs to be totally symmetrical to be sucessful or if not, spun more diagonal away from the idea of being symmetrical and the lack of any dusty atmosphere inside the structure or smoke has prevented the light from forming attractive shafts of light that can be subjects in themselves.
it wouldnt be the first time i have thrown handfuls of dust up to acheve that effect, the mono conversion is a little lacking in any kind of serious contrast and the whole thing looks a little washed out, i have to ask the question what are we really looking at and is it interesting enough to hold attention and im not sure you pulled it off,
true my eye is drawn directly to the central white area, but with converging viewpoints you always need something in the point of focus to hold attention. if say a bird was somehow pasted into that central area flying overhead think how different the image would look and how stronger it would be.
i am sorry, i would like to have given you more to take out of this but as presented i think you could have made a stronger image with the elements that presented themselves. the idea is worth persuing, consider the use of HDR it may help retain more detail throughout.
hope this helps,
Phil

its a good idea and more effective than it would have been taken in daylight.

i like the way you have framed the figure within the structure of the bench,

not sure about the sign above the figure, may be better cloned out or cropped down.

i think its worth playing with this idea, you could be on to a winner, it looks as if you have also caught a train zooming through and maybe on a different occasion you could adjust the position of the camera to make more of this in the frame
Phil

well its a subject problem really,
with so much to photograph im puzzled at why you would concentrate on just a bright bit of sky with no dominant or typical cloud pattern, it just do,s not say anything, im sure you could come up with a more inspiring sky or in fact any subject,

technically you could not have picked a worst subject, you have shot direct into the sun and additionally overexposed which has rendered the bright areas as bald areas without detail.

i d like to be kind and give you something positive to take out of this but its hard to find any attributes to hang positives on,

get your boots on , march down the street and shoot the first thing that catches your eye, pick something and set yourself a project there must be something of interest nearby, and im sure we can give you a more positive critique.

regards,
Phil

i like this, it makes a great abstract, but for me it would be even stronger for removing a strip down each side to remove the slightly distracting background, removing these strips of green background places the sculpture purely as an abstract and removes reference to reality which adds to the impact, a slight boost to the amber colour and a sharpen would also add,
its a well seen detail.
Phil

you are not sounding sour at all and what you say is true, it is a shame mono does not catch as much attention because when the subject is good and the sky is bold often a high contrast mono looks much better than the original almost making a standard shot into a work of art.
i like this composition and the mono conversion is done with thought and consideration to produce the nice bright tones in the foreground grasses whilst introducing maximum impact into the dramatic sky. it works very well and its a definate V1 for me,

if there is a tiny niggle its the one large hummock of grass which is on the base line which pulls my eye down and it may be better clipped down a little.
like it a lot.
regards
Phil

its grinding not welding,-- but it is a superb shot well composed and even better exposure and its just hit my shortlist. did you use any other lights?
Phil

i read your forum post too,
firstly i think the key problem here is the point of focus, the expression and face is fine but the focus and principle sharp area is the hair centred behind the eyes. a portrait in many peoples opinion should be sharp in the eyes to the exclusion of all else.

the lighting is pretty flat although credit to getting catchlights in the eyes, the flat light is not particularly bothering me, but i think it has a blue caste which is not helping the skin tones. this can be corrected in PS or any software package either by using the eye dropper or colour balance tools

with digital it is often necessary to make post camera adjustments and to be honest this took me a long time to accept having many years using transparancy film where i expected immediate results. you need to adjust colour balance, increase saturation a little and have an attempy at sharpening. the best way would be high pass erasing all but the sharpening to the eyes. tricky to pick up though.

it may be, im not a Canon user, but many things can be adjusted on the settings of your camera. ie extra sharpness, extra saturation etc and it may pay you to investigate this if you want results straight from the camera.

i notice you shoot Jpegs, please learn to use raw. its the first lesson in pulling in changes after taking and will give you a lot more options without losing quality of the file.

the eye contact and expression are rather nice and its altogether quite a nice portrait with a few minor niggles.

hope this helps,
Phil

had to rub my eyes and look again, Ade colour popping!!!
having said that the combination of the composition and lensybabe thing seem to work fine, i like the group of pigeons too.

i dont know what you think, but i may have been tempted to crop that bright bit off the top, about 20mm to the top of the third window in the centre frame. also and it could be my works screen, the red splash could be a tiny bit oversaturated and on this i would have gone for subtlety rather than overstating the case.

IMO the V1 has more impact that the mono version and is the best use of that gismo lens i have seen so far,
regards,
Phil

hope you dont mind me saying so but you made him look like the Edge from U2.

Its interesting in composition being on the third but with the subject facing out of frame and not inwards into the larger space as one might expect, this positioning leaves a large fairly dark area behind creating both space and tension that against rules of the establishment works well
The rim lighting makes the difference and in fact my only suggestion would be that a lttle more rim lighting to seperate the bob cap from the background may have made a tiny improvement.

The graphiti background looks more natural than most of this type of shot, i think they look naf when done brightly in a studio, and the temptation to light it was well avoided. focus is bang on.

good stuff again,
Phil