The PhotoForum member's gallery/exhibit now on display at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html At the thumbnail stage there are only three that truly ask me to look further: Elisha, Elson and Tom. But thumbnails are only the invitation - no guarantee of a good shot, nor of a bad one. > Shyrell Melara - "Never More" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/melara.html OK. A tree in shadow. At the resolution shown (very small main image BTW - give us 50K) the tyre just looks like a black blob with no "visible means of support". It is a backlit tree - almost silhouette - centrally placed in the frame. The background is uninteresting. To find a hidden meaning I have to read the supporting text - the link to what it meant to the author "It was my neighbor's tire swing, but my kids used it". As a photo, on it's own merits, it holds no interest for me > Jeff McSweeney - "BedSprings" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/mcsweeney.html A REAL nude - definately not a covert "glamour" shot. The picture is well lit and exposed. Compositionally it's a "photographer's picture": good use of diagonals and space. What is shown is easy - gravity What is hidden is also obvious - her face!!! What is the the hidden meaning though? It does not look very comfortable - bare skin against a wire bedsprings. The title maybe gives it away - "BedSprings" are the subject matter than the modelc is the prop. A well taken shot but it leaves me wondering why ... > Dan Mitchell - "Horses" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/mitchell.html Yup, traditional scene from Rural England. Representative of small farms across the country. Two horses gather at the gate while a blackbird looks on from the opposite field. The colour balance looks awry though: the grass is way too yellow (?). The verticals appear to me to be off - but I suspect that is an illusion from the lean of the tree and central gate post. There is too one distracting element - out of harmony with the scene - the bare branch coming in from the right hslf way down. > Elisha Page - > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/page.html The title for this should be "Biggles"! Damned if I cound ever get my hands inverted into a pair of flying goggles like that ;o( The subject of the shot looks a bit old to be pretending to be a WW2 fighter pilot so where did the pose come from - what is the hidden meaning in him striking it or in the photographer submitting it? Just to be different? To be eye-catching? I like the sepia tone, for once I don't mind the film numbering (usually it seems naff). The vignetting (or is it a spot light) sort of works but is let down on the right where we see the hard edge of the backdrop/wall. Is it lens distrotion? Real brick walls are a great test for lenses. This one wibbles and curls - but I'm thinking it's a backddrop not a real one. The bonding pattern of the brickwork: mostly stretcher bond with alternate header's and stretchers every 6 courses. Not seen that before. Hope they are using wall ties as well ... Conclusion: an interesting picture, thanks for showing it. > Gregory david Stempel - "Fog in Ollala" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/stempel.html OK, a long-lens shot (I'm guessing at 300mm on the zoom) of a bridge in fog. Almost monochrome. Ah, Velvia, low light, hence the blue tone ... I'm happy with the bridge but the water is a tad too busy for my taste. The addition of the gull in flight does add postively but I wish - in my quest for the perfect "generic image" - the bird was flying the other way (into the picture space). Can't even start lo look for hidden meanings - this is just a mood shot for me > Bob Talbot - "Crab Spider" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/talbot.html Only just noticed a pattern in the pixels. I wonder, I downscaled this one 50% using IrfanView instead of PhotoShop ... in fact I don't think I've ever submitted an image downscaled that way before. I can only apologise: the origional scan did not have the banding. Oh, hidden meaning, well, not in the picture but in my decision to submit it the week after Elson's is a clue ... > Antonio J. Cid - "Taberna" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/cid.html I like the shot but wish we could see ito the shadows. There are a lot of men there whose faces we woulf have seen had we been stood in the bar. Its a wide-angle lens for sure. The vanishing point is some chap's face on the middle line of right third yet the centre of attention is the bar owner's face. Verticals really are vertical - the camera back was upright or the author corrected the perspective in PS. The chap on the left (who may not have realised he was in the shot) shows wide angle distrotion - charactersticly a wide head ... and totally correct perspecively. This fight between the two centres of the image really does have my interest ... Waht is that on the bar? The photographer's last set of prints from the D&P outlet? > Jim Davis - "unusual duo" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/davis.html Damn I say. Two great birds . Well taken. Yes, it's interesting to see both together (from an ecological record viewpoint) but as a photo 1 + 1 has made for me less than 1. The problem for me is that the long lens has flattened the perspective and I'm guessing the aperture was less than maximum so the depth clues are lost. Haing two birds so far apart which one is in focus? Both are a little soft (hand held) - oh, maybe not ... the stump the egret (?) stands on is sharp. The distant bird would have made a great nature pic in its own right: love that pose. I also wish the composition had given them more horizontal separation. Maybe it is the disharmony of them facing opposite directions? Hidden meaning: mmmm ... maybe in respose to "Hey asshole--I disagree--I actually waded through your self-indulgent crap!" This is not the work of an asshole (sic) - it shows quality and vision - it definately is not crap. If you wan't the achieve the standards demonstrated by the critic above - turn off the IS and use auto-levels in PS!!! > Elson T. Elizaga - "Lifeform" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/elizaga.html Love the form - love the composition - bewildered as to what the life-form is ... Hidden meaning is integral to the image: it is patterns hidden within the natural world Nature is full of wonder for me and using macro lenses reveals pictures invisible to the naked eye. If the image has a flaw the lighting is a bit too harsh: the spike is almost blown out on my monitor (screen not lizard). > Rand Flory - "Spring at the Never Inn" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/flory.html Rand: almost a perfect study - almost. I like the shoot and the lower half of the background. The two dark patches in the top half of the background kill this for me as an image - they demand too much attention. Almost like a face in square sun-specs looking over a white wall? I really wish the background had been less intrusive: selective focus did contribute to remove it but it's still there - and central. The shoot is lovely though. > Tom Fors - "Sarah, 4 Years Old" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/fors.html Ah! LOVELY portrait shot: fantastic gradation in tones, great control of exposure. Lovely "moment" - catching that expression. The lighting suggests that the set was designed for a straight on portrait (? correct me if I'm wrong). If the picture as is had a flaw for me it would be too much light on her left cheek and not enough on her face. Could you repeat the moment though? I doubt it - at least not the feel of spontenaity. Excellent work: thanks for sharing > Sonny Labay - "koh samui mornings" > http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery/labay.html Wide-aperture and wide angle shot focussed on the near end of three shell-encrusted poles. Contrast is excessive: almost painful. I want to read the shadows and just see black. The darkening top left - photographer's hand? The horizon is not level - it should be. No excuses unless done for artisitic reasons ... For me this shot needed a spirit level and a tripod. The tripod for composition more than for stability. Sorry, does not work for me apart from suggesting to me the shot I wish had been taken - Hidden meaning ... the footprints in the sand ? Thanks too all the contributors - The gallery IS PhotoForum. Without it anyone can claim to be a great photographer and argue over lenses, f-this, cameras, film types blah blah blah. Bob No nuclear bombs No chemical weapons No link to 9/11 Ali has lost his arms And we have all the oil Where is the hidden meaning in that?
