Hi again, everyone.
After being out of town for the weekend, I offer you my take, albeit a bit
belated, on this week's gallery.
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Blackwells Mills Flowers by Mark Harris
Mark, one of the most striking features of this photograph is its shallow
DOF. The unidentifiable blob behind the flower works so well to reveal its
shape and provide contrast. It seems to have a fair amount of general
unsharpness going on, though, and it would be good to see a bit more detail
in this side of the flower. I'm not sure where I stand on the overall
grayness of the image; it could be good or not so good, I'm on the fence. I
really like the composition here; at first the lopping-off of the object in
the background disturbed me, but then I realized that if I were able to see
the surrounding dark area, the image would feel too isolated, that you
should have gotten in a bit closer, which you did!
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Self Portrait by Guy Glorieux
Guy, as someone mentioned earlier, it's good to have a face to associate
with the name. And it's a decent self-portrait, I might add. Focus could
probably be a bit sharper, but with nobody monitoring the viewfinder, I
think it's permissible. Compositionally, I think it was done very well; the
barrels in the background and the lights in the ceiling create an atmosphere
into which you are not intruding; you appear to belong there. The lighting
on your face is warm and directional, so it agrees with the surroundings.
Additionally, I would not have realized it was a self-portrait (for a few
moments, anyway), largely because the bold expression on your face and
interesting background effectively distract the viewer from looking at your
arm.
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George Shannon by Lea Murphy
Lea, this is an inviting photograph; although I'm not sure what the ultimate
purpose of the head shots was, I could go out on a limb here and say it was
a success. I don't know how dynamic the end result was intended to be, but I
think I would like to see a bit more highly-localized light on the wall to
the viewer's right; the gray is a bit too smooth, even with the light spot
that's there. Pose and prop(s) is great. Even his slight smirk gives a sense
that he knows just a little more than you think. And sorry about the jacket
front. So easy to fix with an A-clamp... Great job, Lea.
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Cats by Qkano
Bob, I really like this shot. Everybody's doing the same thing, but no two
are alike. You managed to capture the height of activity, framed the shot
well, and nailed the exposure. The only two problems I see with this are a)
the noisy background, and b) the instances where black-clad legs are
overlapping, preventing separations of subjects. Note that both issues were
unavoidable, so you did the job as well as could be done. Way to go!
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Bosnian Cafe and Bar by Pini Vollach
Pini, if you hadn't mentioned it was Bosnia, it could easily pass for New
York, London, L.A., or any one of a number of major cities in the world. The
lighting (and your handling of it) is excellent, from the blue neon to the
backlit bottles, and the various highlights reflected in tables, chairs,
etc. Your use of a slow shutter speed, undoubtedly necessary for this
low-light scene, helped to blur the patrons in the right side of the frame,
which added to the underlying concept of being in a hurry whilst loitering
in a cafe. Your added text has piqued my curiosity, though, and I can see
this image as one half of a diptych where the other half is possibly a
still-life of a typical traditional table setting, complete with the goodies
you mentioned... Nicely done!
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Well, that's about all I have to say for this round, and I'm looking forward
to the continued discusions of these works!
Yours very truly,
Darin Heinz
Melbourne, Florida USA
