My take on things so far....
In The Fog, A Figure:
I love this image. Timing, contrast and comp all work. What doesn't work are
the limbs or weeds on the left. Crop them out. Something I would bet, you
have already thought about. Crop it out.
Uomo E Donna
The lighting on this man's face is excellent. It appears to be a simple
capture of an existing condition which I find to be the best images. It's
also assumed he is the focus of this comp.
Therefore what is the background doing intruding on our enjoyment of this
man's character?
Why is it included? A simple defocus that loses the background to the point
that it becomes un-obtrusive is mandatory for this comp.
The beauty of PS is that, not only can a user select the background, but you
can change it as needed. I do not advocate we change the truth, but
dissolving the background so that is does not intrude on the foreground is
not dishonest and in conditions such as this image, would be required.
Muscle Beach
Humorous. These three men of course have nothing to do with a muscle beach,
which results in the images' comedy. The beach seems empty, and therefore a
place to have a good time with the ability to disregard those who may
criticize their behavior or attributes. I would have cropped out the upper
left portion and some of the right hand side of the image to tighten our
focus on the subjects.
Randy Little
Although this image is very indicative of an Ansel Adams, it fails on the
left side. This image works as an excellent example of the Zone System, but
the entire left side needs to be cropped off. I would have drawn the line
somewhere to the left of the middle of the darker area in the clouds and to
the left of the waterfall.
Sunset Paparazzi
An image with very little focus. A bunch of amateurs all trying to achieve
some great shot. It appears to be an uninteresting sunset. Uninteresting in
the surrounding lighting has very little impact and not much color or
dramatics. So we have to assume the sunset is not that spectacular. And if
it was, then why not include it in the composition? The crowd of imagers is
dark and could have used fill light, but something stronger than a simple on
camera flash, assuming the photographer isn't getting any closer.
I would have walked far closer to the crowd, using a wide angle lens and
fill flash, covered the amateurs, and also the sunset.
Bridges
Good image but typical of a bridge shot. It works in comp in that the left
is off center and strong, but needs to tighten up in regards to the right
side and in this case, the foreground. There is too much negative space on
the right and the foreground has shadows worthy of being eliminated.
Exposure is right on and with the crop on the right, this image would be an
excellent shot of a bridge. In honesty, it's difficult to produce an image
of any bridge outside this type of comp.
Red Sky At Night....
The lines of this car are dynamic and very pleasing. I was unable to see the
entire comp of this image on my wide screen and therefore would suggest that
future submissions are presented in terms of what our screens can project.
The car's body seems unrealistic and therefore a curious rendering of the
photographer's imagination. Not a rendering of the car itself but an
imagination of someone's idea of of the spirit of this car. I would have
loved to see this car in it's illustrious reality using the very long
lighting reflector typical of studio shooters and their Car subjects.
Bringing out the specular highlights known for these types of cars seems
mandatory and therefore those images are, for me, the best.
This car is in respect, rendered not only in a clever computerization, but
drawn out for one's imagination of a spirited drive. The interior is given
to us as a ghostly aspect of this dynamic machine.
Fall Scene
For Fall, this image fails in that most of us assume there are more colors
than this simple orange. Browns, reds and oranges are the typical rendering
of fall. This image not only lacks that, but it also lacks focus. It has
next to no composition, and demands no concentration. We can look at a frame
of one color and assume that image is based solely on the photographer's
idea. If it doesn't provide some similarity to the audience's idea of for
example, fall, then it fails.
Gregory
