WARNING: This review may contain strong - even bigoted - opinions. People of a nervous disposition, or those who can't take criticism of their political leaders, should not read further. at http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/gallery.html include: >Emily L. Ferguson - Nautor Swan 45 in Narragansett Bay Possibly the best action shot I remember seeing by Emily. I really get the impression we're right up behind this yacht at speed. If I could change anything I'd like a bit more room on the right and I'd have preferred the blue objects on shore to be less visually prominent (easy to do these days). Darned good shot though >Bob Talbot - Outhouse Well, Howard questioned the amount of empty space to the right: lucky then I cropped much of it off for submission to the gallery :o) There was a lot of empty foreground too - this was always intended for removal (I wanted the film plane parallel to the front of the building). The building was right where I wanted it in the frame. Other shots taken closer/squarer just to me look like Estate Agent's ("Realtors"?) pictures. I really wanted to place the building in the context - as an aside to - the empty farmland space beyond. >Jim Davis - Surf Casting Lesson Ignoring some brilliant nature photography this is the best image - by far - Jim has submitted to the gallery. It's a dynamic candid full of action and we don't need to know anything about the people to appreciate it. It's about diagonals, human interaction and the power of pointing ... If Jim hadn't insisted it was unmodified I'd have sworn the beach and background had been partially desaturated for effect. In fact, without an "artist's statement" I bet many would assume it had been. It's got some motion blur but in the context that's irrelevant. It looks like a long lens (400 + digital cropping factor?). It could hardly be better ... but I can't resist commenting that a few extra pixels from the top would put the rod squarely in the corner ... which I guess Jim didn't do to leave some disharmony ... >Howard Leigh - Exhausted OK, it's a good shot but sadly it follows 3 great ones in my viewing order :o) Yup, it's the back end of a bike. It's OK to do that with modern day motorised transport but you would get looked at very oddly if you did it with horses. It's symmetrical for sure. It's competently captured but it's not grabbing me ... >Christopher Strevens - Beggar Girl Didn't you know ... the thought police say you can't call them beggars these days even if that's what they do for a living. Indeed, this girl is clearly plying a skill: playing that pipe ... Photographically it's rubbish as a whole. Most of the image I like as it is and can even live with the overtly digital b*ggering about. The bit that completely ruins the shot for me is the treatment of the woman's face [ I forgot: the thought police say you can't call them girls either]. I understand the perceived need to disguise her identity: as shown though it looks like a hard-edged (little feathering) gaussian mask has been crudely applied to her face which stands out against the acceptable "canvas" style filter visible on the background. I'd be tempted to try a different approach on her face ... the image would benefit ... Off Topic: <Comment: Britain has become vicious. A nation-wide bankrupt firm is suing its staff falsely of theft and taking all their possessions. No - one got any pension, some after 25 years service and had their redundancy cheque snatched by a professional hit man. > Summary executions on the street by the security services are now an accepted part of modern day life. It is shortly to become illegal (meaning 3-months detention without charge or trial) to criticise our foreign policy - all it will need is a tenuous link to the "T" word. You can be sure of one thing: once you surrender free speech governments don't like to give it back ... >Andrew Davidhazy - Relief Good demo Andy: it's a very powerful effect we (most of us) can't break. Light comes from the sky (above). However hard I try I can't prevent that post-capture processing. Yet one more reminder that the world of perception cannot be simplified to mere numbers and numeric processing. The world we see (photometric) is not the world we measure (radiometric). Thanks for showing the demo. Maybe it's prompted me to submit a similar one I've been "getting round to" submitting for the last 3 years ... "Optical Illusions" like this example are I believe unfairly described by the phrase. They are "Optical Realities" Bob
