Emily L. Ferguson, sun and wind I like this one, but I just think it's too empty. Also, the right angled view of the fence would have been improved if shot at a different angle. I suppose the extreme fuzziness of the whole shot doesn't matter consider the abstractness of it, but it does strike me as strange. Guy Glorieux, Montreal, Silo 5 in Old Harbour (#2) The special effects here are wonderful, but my first thought was how terrible a tilted horizon really can be. My second thought is how uninteresting buildings are when shot square on like this. D.L. Shipman, Haliaeetus Leucocephalus Nice bird shot! I'll overlook a couple of small flaws that keep this from being an incredible shot, but it is 'different'. And I know that many days you do find a white sky, nothing you can do about it but try and use it, and use it you have. It's not everyday you see a couple of bald eagles sitting in a tree. So, rather than talking about all the little details you could cheat and do in Photoshop to this image, I'll just say congratulations on such a fine image. Jeff Spirer, Mirror Mirror Wow, Jeff, you really have a way with 'painting' an entire image. You have an ability of using the entire 'canvas', by filling it with shapes, textures and tones. Nice one! Deen Hameed Deckchair I like this one alot too, but holding my hand across most of the bottom red area brings out an incredible image of the top half. But hey, maybe you figured you needed that area for your copyright or something... Darryl Gage Found Objects It seems to me to be much too tightly cropped. This type of work in my opinion requires either showing the entire objects or zooming in tight using them to fill the landscape. I also object to the front parts being out of focus. I'd bring up the oilcan, that's gotta be more interesting than whatever is up front now. Jim Snarski Gulf Frittilary Lovely shot of a lovely butterfly for sure. I have two complaints here. I'd love to see the antenna stand out better. And if you're cropping so close to square, I'd go to a real square format. Although the background on the left is lovely, a smaller part of it would still be lovely. I have had the same dilemma - where you just can't bear to lose some of such a lovely background. WRGill North Trail I feel this is the best of WR's submissions so far. I really like the 'candid' look this one has. It seems as if it was taken while hiking along the coast. It just has nicely balanced overall areas, and it's not the stereotypical coastline shot, but an informal 'as you see it from the trail' look. I love the colours! Now for some thoughts on reviews and comments: Recently I had a comment on one of my images (not on PF), that 'the bird just doesn't pop'. Well, it sure beats me what this is supposed to mean, because my aim is to have a bird in the photo, but not overwhelming and filling the frame. I guess many people figure a bird shot has rules and should be used for catalogue IDing a bird or something. So in other words I do not want my bird to 'pop' but rather to be an interesting and important subject of my 'paintings'. Interesting reflections, water rippling, the abstract colour and shape of folliage are all very important in my shots. My point here is, that it's always interesting to hear what others think of our work. But sometimes it's so frustrating that someone like the person mentioned above just doesn't get it. The above mentioned photo has a really 3D look to it, and the bird is in the central focus, lighting and position. What I love about this particular image is the overall filling of the frame with interesting and beautiful colour, shapes, and patterns. While I appreciate comments most of the time, and learn much from them, at other times I'd just like to smack the retard who left me a comment that is completely without merit or thought :-) When I do these reviews I take my time and really think them over. I do not feel I need to comment where unecessary, nor do I want to review a sometimes lifeless gallery. But I think this week's is a very nice gallery. It could have been an exceptional one though and I am hoping that my sincere comments above help improve future contributions. Keep them coming! -- Jim Davis Nature Photography http://jimdavis.oberro.com Replies in plain text only please!
