A few comments on this week's Gallery. Sorry, no Photoshop hijinks this week.
John Mason - Staging Lane, Eastside Raceway, 21 March 2004
Great mood to this one, the backlighting really pops out the smoke. Good composition drawing the eye in. Nice addition to your series. I would consider burning down the highlights just a bit, they're somewhat washed out.
An observation not directly related to the photo: The ubiquitous American flag. I wonder how much respect it shows when the flag is displayed this way. Will it be properly disposed of when it's shredded after a few runs? Or will it end up in a garbage truck being hauled off to the landfill for its final rest?
Don Roberts - Sure and Certain Hope
I stared at this for a while waiting for it to move me. The elements are there. I remained unmoved. Maybe if the cross were used as a framing device. Maybe if the light weren't so flat. I'm not sure, or certain.
While staring numbly I noticed an oddity in the upper right corner. What is that, some sort of scanner aberration?
Dan Mitchell - Lynn Ferry
Nice graphic elements. I'm not sure it tells a story though. I'd almost like it more with no people in the frame, or just one--the woman coming up. As is, having the people jumbled together doesn't work for me. I tried cropping a lot off the right side, just to the edge of the woman ascending, and it worked a little better. I think the visual elements could have been worked with some more, is this a place you can return to for further exploration? Maybe a day/time with more interesting light?
Peeter Vissak - 6 o'clock drink
Very nice! Interesting moment and well seen. Something tells me this was made with a digital camera, but it has a distinct Kodachrome feel to it.
Part of me would like to see the foreground lightened a touch, but I'm not sure it would retain the feeling of impending darkness as well. Maybe just a wee bit lighter?
Pini Vollach - Farm
An Estonian farm. A somewhat abstract farm at that. Something odd about this one. I'm having some trouble putting my finger on exactly what is askew.
Limited depth-of-field. A bit soft overall, but noticeably so in the background. What I think detracts for me is the palettes in the lower right corner. I blocked them with my shadowed hand and the composition suddenly jumped. Cropping the bright part of them off from the right ruined the rest of the composition however. Leaving them in my eyes keep landing, and staying, there.
I love the saw blade and how it resembles a head, with the metal/plastic bit to the right of it looking like the collar and shoulder of a shirt.
I'd like to see more of this farm.
WRGill -
Yes, it is a discernible composite, isn't it? Easy to do in Photoshop. Much easier than slide duping, and yields better results. For starters, I never had any luck with matching colors on film composites done this way--to much added contrast and color shifts like the magenta seen here. Much more control and flexibility with Photoshop, even this one could be made better.
Christopher Strevens - Street
"Totally digital?" Buildings, vehicles and people are digital? Light is digital? Surely you didn't do this with your ray-tracing program?
That said, I think it works nicely. Well composed--my eyes travel well around the frame. Great colors. Interesting scene.
Jim Davis - Backlight on White Bird I like it. I think it would have worked as a silhouette also.
Interesting how the reeds have taken on the ripple effect from the water. I wonder if the same effect would have been seen if shot to film?
"Interesting that a white bird does not always look white." Yes, but do shadows always look like shadows? ;-)
Bob Talbot - Flamingo
Aye, eyes. Creepy fun! Looks like someone cloned an arachnid with a snowy owl and fed it lots of brine shrimp.
Andrew Davidhazy -
Wow! What a winner--photo and girl. I can see why she went on to a modeling career.
Excellent use of light and looks to have been well printed. Good choice of lens and effective depth-of-field.
Two very minor nitpicks: Her foot is chopped off. The fold in the pants below her knee.
Cheers, Rich Mason
http://richmason.com
