Review of this week's Photoforum Gallery (at <http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html>). Johnny Mason -- Staging Lane, Eastside Raceway, 21 March 2004 -- I find this a really striking photo, and a very good use of B&W. Capturing the details in the car decals (and especially the "thanks" list) and the flag against the dramatic sky, with the people and other car and ground-level steam in the background, is all very nice. Don Roberts -- Sure and Certain Hope -- I feel like I should be able to read the inscription on the top block under the vase, and I can't. I think the flowers have lost some saturation to exposure at the high end, too; but maybe that's desirable, they might dominate too much at full saturation. I like bringing the rusting cross in the railing over the side of the vault. The title is pretty dramatic, but even I recognized it as a quote often used in association with death from the mainstream American religion. I find that title playing off the rusted railing and flaking paint (old tomb?) and presence of two different recent floral pieces in interesting ways, in this case. Dan Mitchell -- Lynn Ferry -- Interesting play of perspective and direction, with the stripes on the steps and the railing and the pole (and railing supports, come to think of it) all going every which way. Peeter Vissak -- 6 o'clock drink -- Interesting exposure problem, to begin with. Certainly you *must* preserve the detail and delicate colors in the sky. I find that in this rendering the dog's face is enough too dark that I'm bothered by not seeing eyes. I like the shapes of the pools of water, and the sky they're reflecting makes them stand out very nicely. Bringing up the foreground exposure might change the tone of the photo to something completely different and not as interesting, and I guess a graduated neutral density might have left the reflections brighter than the sky, which would never do. Pini Vollach -- Farm -- What I see first is the color palette, especially the red of the rusted blade, the sunlit yellow, and both the natural green and the green on the roof. The sunlit fence at right seems to be hanging on the ragged edge of the exposure, which is where it should be given the brightness range. That diagonal thing up to the roof -- some kind of ladder? -- somehow seems to do a lot to pull the composition together; although overall I don't find it compelling. WRGill -- A striking sky gradient, and an interesting color palette (I seem to be having a "color palette" day). This sort of composite is much easier to do in Photoshop than in the real world, at least in my limited experience. The hard part is cutting out the moon. Then you just drop it in on another layer, and adjust the curves until it looks like it belongs in the composite. Whether people would be able to tell you'd done it -- depends on how careful you are and how carefully they look in either case. At lesat with Photoshop, you aren't several generations of duplicate away from the original, and that helps. C J R Strevens -- Street -- I don't think I've ever seen that filter produce an actually artistic result before. Jim Davis -- Backlight on White Bird -- A lighting "situation" indeed. I don't see flare into the bird "silhouette" at all; pretty good lens there! I like the beautiful backlit green blades (too big for grass) as the color element of the picture. Bob Talbot -- Flamingo -- Whee. That looks very little like any actual animal! Every time I try to figure out what exactly I'm looking at, it comes apart in my head. I assume "minor digital manipulation" doesn't include mirroring? (It's minor to do, but would be a really major factor in this photo if it were done that way.) Andrew Davidhazy -- Looks flat, probably because of lack of black, and the facial shadows look dirty, which is too bad for a nice photo of a very pretty girl. I'm not surprised she was able to have a modeling career. The pose is nice (and probably far less comfortable than it looks). The backlit hair is a nice effect (and makes the exposure on the face harder of course). And I do notice it's 40 years old. I took a Plus-X negative 10 years younger than that in for a professional scan a coupe of days ago, having failed to get adequate range out of it myself. Thanks to all who participated in the Gallery this week! (I've been lurking most of the time, but not finding time or energy to do gallery reviews mostly. No promises about the future either, but I felt like reviewing this one, anyway.) -- David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd-b@xxxxxxxx>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/> RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/> Photos: <dd-b.lighthunters.net> Snapshots: <www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/> Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>
