[SI] U comments

On 2012-02-12 18:07 , Alan Browne wrote:

Pete A http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141447562

When I first saw this I couldn't decide what the "U" was. The image
with the dark void in the middle? The letter U in the sign on the side?
So, wrt the mandate this does not do it for me at all. The image itself
is quite stark with the mild pedestrian traffic on a cool evening.
Because of the void in the middle it's a very cold image - though the
converging lines to the middle and an area of perhaps cheerier mood
gives a sense of hope.

Tim Conway http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444612

From time to time a very busy image comes along that communicates its
essence loudly and with no hesitancy. This is such an image. Thought
the "white" sky falls into the trap of what can ruin a photo, here it
works as a anti-sceptic background to the foul fore. The positions of
the two bulldozers that seem to converge on some living thing that needs
to be crushed adds to the pathos. The seagulls add opportunistic
scavenging and a sense of new life from the discards remains of the
old. I think the image would be improved if the left 10% were cropped
off (or perhaps the image more centered to the right).

Jessica Stevens: umbrella sets. All three leave me with a sense of
failed contrivance.

Eric Stevens http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444617

A good, fun "editorial" style image. Lark. Nice contrasts. Only a
pure blue sky might have made it better or perhaps a bird preening
itself on the wire. A bit of "blown" highlights - could have stood a
lower exposure.

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444618

The dead exposure in the area pertaining to the mandate kill this image
for me. A case where HDR could have rendered something more akin to how
the eye sees such a scene.

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444620

A clUttered mess to get a scene with the letter U in the title. Blows.
Having your own shadow (I assume) in the image is really not on.

Bowser: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444622

When I first saw this image I didn't connect to the umbrellas. Doh. Had
this been shot in "magic light" it could have been fantastic. As is it
is merely pretty good with all the elements of good photos from
repeating patterns (everywhere!), cool colours, perspective lines and so
on. Maybe a tighter cropping and angled to hide the boats (plus magic
hour light) would have made this a really compelling image.

Bowser: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444623

Lots of dynamic, strong connection from the subject to the crowd. A
little bit of a 3D feel to it in the way the unicyclist is isolated
against the sky. Neat shot all around.

Bowser: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444624

Woof. The way this is shot turns it into a grab and loses any sense of
story. Would have been much better with the whole dog to give it some
personality. Or connected to the owner. Or...

'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444625

Utterly ridiculous with the out of focus mandate subject. Sorry - don't
fly.

'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444626

This image is visually interesting but bears the hallmarks of
over-processing. It looks like the open shade areas have been over
pressed to blue.

'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444627

Baah. Someone once told me that in an animal shot one thing was needed
and one thing had to be avoided to make it work. Needed: eyes. Avoid:
animals with their heads down eating. We can barely make out the eyes
here and the whole posture is uninteresting. I won't even mention the
lighting ... end.

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461483

The use of built in flash (shadow on right) belies impatience and a
rushed photo. Otherwise, taking a photo of a statue/bust is not what
the SI is all about. (Unless I do it - then it's OK of course ;-) )

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461566

This is actually a good photo for the next mandate. I really hate
middle of the day shots for all the reasons shown in this image. Dead
overexposed areas, shadows underneath the subjects, flat appearing
colours, etc. This is the sort of photo I'd expect in Nat Geo
describing the plight of greyhounds...

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461567

I tend to like images with constrained colours and this one meets that
criteria. I like this - it needs no explanation. I would have
preferred it more tightly cropped (esp. to eliminate the over the
dash/outside area.

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461568

A snapshot. Other than the interesting shapes of these fish, the image
itself is not that compelling. It does have a pleasant tropical colouring.

Me: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444630

A white shoot-through umbrella backlit with a blue filter over a studio
strobe. Front light is an orange filtered snooted strobe. to pop off
the ribs. Did a bunch of these trying to get some curves and
diagonals. Fun table top stuff that you do when the mandate deadline is
24 hours away. I shot this with a 135 f/1.8 at various apertures - not
so much to control DOF as to get different levels of saturation.

Me: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444629

As the prior one, this time with the orange filter behind and the blue
so far to the top as to not show in this image. Here, this close, a bit
wide aperture and 135mm, the DOF was quite shallow. Had a hard time
getting the rib tip in focus. Anyway another limited color, diagonals
and thirds compo.

Me: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444628

Yeah. It's crap. I struggled to get something interesting out of the
utensils. Maybe should have gone with a different set of images (photo
books, meter, CS3 DVD...) or different sets of colour filters.

Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461570

Gets the mandate, but is a bit blurred (why it's sized so small?). No
"glint" in the eyes to really grab interest. More of the birds would
have been more interesting.

Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141494897

Again a mandate meeter that as an image falls a bit flat. The beak
looks plasticy and blocked up. The background looks like bad PS editing.

Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461571

These sort of shots are usually dynamic, interesting and dramatic. Here
the black/white area seems to rob it all. I would have placed the eye
further into the corner in cropping - and lose the dark area in the
upper right.

MG: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461657

I don't quite get the "U" connection here. That aside it seems like a
very disjointed image. The tools aren't right for the job. There is a
sense of depth that in the right composition could be interesting. Nice
detail in the mechanical area.

Paul Furman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141494899

I like the narrow set of colours and the composition. Something large
hanging like that makes an impression. It's too bad the shadow was not
more prominent against a higher wall. The sky (without urban features)
is a nice BG - too bad for the mounds of earth. The ladder adds a comic
edge.

--
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty."
Douglas Adams - (Could have been a GPS engineer).

On 2012-02-14 23:38:15 +0000, Alan Browne said:

On 2012-02-12 18:07 , Alan Browne wrote:

Pete A http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141447562

When I first saw this I couldn't decide what the "U" was. The image
with the dark void in the middle? The letter U in the sign on the side?
So, wrt the mandate this does not do it for me at all. The image
itself is quite stark with the mild pedestrian traffic on a cool
evening. Because of the void in the middle it's a very cold image -
though the converging lines to the middle and an area of perhaps
cheerier mood gives a sense of hope.

Tim Conway http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444612

From time to time a very busy image comes along that communicates its
essence loudly and with no hesitancy. This is such an image. Thought
the "white" sky falls into the trap of what can ruin a photo, here it
works as a anti-sceptic background to the foul fore. The positions of
the two bulldozers that seem to converge on some living thing that
needs to be crushed adds to the pathos. The seagulls add opportunistic
scavenging and a sense of new life from the discards remains of the
old. I think the image would be improved if the left 10% were cropped
off (or perhaps the image more centered to the right).

Jessica Stevens: umbrella sets. All three leave me with a sense of
failed contrivance.

Eric Stevens http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444617

A good, fun "editorial" style image. Lark. Nice contrasts. Only a
pure blue sky might have made it better or perhaps a bird preening
itself on the wire. A bit of "blown" highlights - could have stood a
lower exposure.

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444618

The dead exposure in the area pertaining to the mandate kill this image
for me. A case where HDR could have rendered something more akin to
how the eye sees such a scene.

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444620

A clUttered mess to get a scene with the letter U in the title. Blows.
Having your own shadow (I assume) in the image is really not on.

Bowser: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444622

When I first saw this image I didn't connect to the umbrellas. Doh.
Had this been shot in "magic light" it could have been fantastic. As
is it is merely pretty good with all the elements of good photos from
repeating patterns (everywhere!), cool colours, perspective lines and
so on. Maybe a tighter cropping and angled to hide the boats (plus
magic hour light) would have made this a really compelling image.

Bowser: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444623

Lots of dynamic, strong connection from the subject to the crowd. A
little bit of a 3D feel to it in the way the unicyclist is isolated
against the sky. Neat shot all around.

Bowser: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444624

Woof. The way this is shot turns it into a grab and loses any sense of
story. Would have been much better with the whole dog to give it some
personality. Or connected to the owner. Or...

'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444625

Utterly ridiculous with the out of focus mandate subject. Sorry - don't fly.

'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444626

This image is visually interesting but bears the hallmarks of
over-processing. It looks like the open shade areas have been over
pressed to blue.

'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444627

Baah. Someone once told me that in an animal shot one thing was needed
and one thing had to be avoided to make it work. Needed: eyes. Avoid:
animals with their heads down eating. We can barely make out the eyes
here and the whole posture is uninteresting. I won't even mention the
lighting ... end.

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461483

The use of built in flash (shadow on right) belies impatience and a
rushed photo. Otherwise, taking a photo of a statue/bust is not what
the SI is all about. (Unless I do it - then it's OK of course ;-) )

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461566

This is actually a good photo for the next mandate. I really hate
middle of the day shots for all the reasons shown in this image. Dead
overexposed areas, shadows underneath the subjects, flat appearing
colours, etc. This is the sort of photo I'd expect in Nat Geo
describing the plight of greyhounds...

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461567

I tend to like images with constrained colours and this one meets that
criteria. I like this - it needs no explanation. I would have
preferred it more tightly cropped (esp. to eliminate the over the
dash/outside area.

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461568

A snapshot. Other than the interesting shapes of these fish, the image
itself is not that compelling. It does have a pleasant tropical
colouring.

Me: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444630

A white shoot-through umbrella backlit with a blue filter over a studio
strobe. Front light is an orange filtered snooted strobe. to pop off
the ribs. Did a bunch of these trying to get some curves and
diagonals. Fun table top stuff that you do when the mandate deadline
is 24 hours away. I shot this with a 135 f/1.8 at various apertures -
not so much to control DOF as to get different levels of saturation.

Me: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444629

As the prior one, this time with the orange filter behind and the blue
so far to the top as to not show in this image. Here, this close, a
bit wide aperture and 135mm, the DOF was quite shallow. Had a hard
time getting the rib tip in focus. Anyway another limited color,
diagonals and thirds compo.

Me: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444628

Yeah. It's crap. I struggled to get something interesting out of the
utensils. Maybe should have gone with a different set of images (photo
books, meter, CS3 DVD...) or different sets of colour filters.

Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461570

Gets the mandate, but is a bit blurred (why it's sized so small?). No
"glint" in the eyes to really grab interest. More of the birds would
have been more interesting.

Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141494897

Again a mandate meeter that as an image falls a bit flat. The beak
looks plasticy and blocked up. The background looks like bad PS
editing.

Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461571

These sort of shots are usually dynamic, interesting and dramatic.
Here the black/white area seems to rob it all. I would have placed the
eye further into the corner in cropping - and lose the dark area in the
upper right.

MG: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461657

I don't quite get the "U" connection here. That aside it seems like a
very disjointed image. The tools aren't right for the job. There is a
sense of depth that in the right composition could be interesting.
Nice detail in the mechanical area.

Paul Furman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141494899

I like the narrow set of colours and the composition. Something large
hanging like that makes an impression. It's too bad the shadow was not
more prominent against a higher wall. The sky (without urban
features) is a nice BG - too bad for the mounds of earth. The ladder
adds a comic edge.

Tut tut, Alan. Even you haven't dared to criticize Tony for his usually
terrible exposure, white balance, and distorted colour rendition.

On 2/14/2012 6:38 PM, Alan Browne wrote:


Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461570

Gets the mandate, but is a bit blurred (why it's sized so small?). No
"glint" in the eyes to really grab interest. More of the birds would
have been more interesting.

Yes I should have shown it in higher resolution. If the eyes were more
prominent, I think it would have taken away from the theme and caused
two points of interest.




Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141494897

Again a mandate meeter that as an image falls a bit flat. The beak looks
plasticy and blocked up. The background looks like bad PS editing.

You are right. I could have don a better job with the background. The
beak on that bird is naturally as you describe.


Peter Newman: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461571

These sort of shots are usually dynamic, interesting and dramatic. Here
the black/white area seems to rob it all. I would have placed the eye
further into the corner in cropping - and lose the dark area in the
upper right.

I haw another version with not as much over sharpening on the body, and
much more detail in the eye. Here though we differ on the placement of
the eye. Indeed I deliberately darkened the upper right. But things like
that are a matter of preference.

Although I do not agree with all of them, I really do appreciate your
comments and look forward to more like them. Negative comments get me
thinking. thanks again for taking the time.


--
Peter

On 2012-02-14 16:28:44 -0800, tony cooper said:

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:38:15 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461566

This is actually a good photo for the next mandate. I really hate
middle of the day shots for all the reasons shown in this image. Dead
overexposed areas, shadows underneath the subjects, flat appearing
colours, etc. This is the sort of photo I'd expect in Nat Geo
describing the plight of greyhounds...

Just being mentioned in same sentence with National Geographic is as
close as I'll ever get. It's like having someone say "Those
photographs of yours will never make the cover of "Paris Match".

I didn't know you shot grainy trains.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:38:15 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:

On 2012-02-12 18:07 , Alan Browne wrote:

--- snip ---

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444620

A clUttered mess to get a scene with the letter U in the title. Blows.
Having your own shadow (I assume) in the image is really not on.

Sorry. It wasn't my own shadow. It was something behind me across the
road. Otherwise you are right to the extent that I hid my own shadow
in it. That shadow was going to be there anyway.


--- more snip ---

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 2012-02-14 15:38:15 -0800, Alan Browne
said:


'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444625

Utterly ridiculous with the out of focus mandate subject. Sorry - don't fly.

Yup!
If you checked my comments you will see that I fell on my own sword
with this one, declaring it to be one of my worst shots in recent
memory.
I had been thinking of an udder shot for this mandate some time, and
willing subjects became hard to find.
Then last week when I was running out of time I ran across this little
herd chewing the cud near to a fence. So I pulled over, and thinking I
would have all the time in the world to adjust my camera and get my
udder shot.
I was wrong. As I approached the fence they perceived that I was not
carrying any model releases, and they turned and fled from me hot foot,
....er hot hoof. So desperate to make that bovine boob capture I shot
away at the undulating udders as they rapidly disappeared. So all I was
left with for the SI was that wishy-washy U shot.


'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444626

This image is visually interesting but bears the hallmarks of
over-processing. It looks like the open shade areas have been over
pressed to blue.

?? Nought special done to that shade.


'duck: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444627

Baah. Someone once told me that in an animal shot one thing was needed
and one thing had to be avoided to make it work. Needed: eyes. Avoid:
animals with their heads down eating. We can barely make out the eyes
here and the whole posture is uninteresting. I won't even mention the
lighting ... end.

....and here I was thinking that it only had to be breathing or in the
process of being cooked.
Again, the ewe was a target of opportunity so I could complete the joke
and have a third shot for the "U" mandate.

Oh! Thanks for not mentioning the lighting.

--
Regards,

Savageduck

On 2012-02-14 20:47 , Eric Stevens wrote:
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:38:15 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:

On 2012-02-12 18:07 , Alan Browne wrote:

--- snip ---

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444620

A clUttered mess to get a scene with the letter U in the title. Blows.
Having your own shadow (I assume) in the image is really not on.

Sorry. It wasn't my own shadow. It was something behind me across the
road. Otherwise you are right to the extent that I hid my own shadow
in it. That shadow was going to be there anyway.

Thought I might get burned on that - but it looked so much like the
classic ... the rest ...


--
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty."
Douglas Adams - (Could have been a GPS engineer).

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:38:15 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444618

The dead exposure in the area pertaining to the mandate kill this image
for me. A case where HDR could have rendered something more akin to how
the eye sees such a scene.

I've tried that with a result somewhere between 'weird' and 'yuch'.

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 2012-02-15 16:37 , Eric Stevens wrote:
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:38:15 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:

Eric Stevens: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141444618

The dead exposure in the area pertaining to the mandate kill this image
for me. A case where HDR could have rendered something more akin to how
the eye sees such a scene.

I've tried that with a result somewhere between 'weird' and 'yuch'.

Well, make it more yuch or more weird and it may actually work.


--
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty."
Douglas Adams - (Could have been a GPS engineer).

On 2012-02-14 19:28 , tony cooper wrote:
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:38:15 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:

Cooper: http://www.pbase.com/shootin/image/141461566

This is actually a good photo for the next mandate. I really hate
middle of the day shots for all the reasons shown in this image. Dead
overexposed areas, shadows underneath the subjects, flat appearing
colours, etc. This is the sort of photo I'd expect in Nat Geo
describing the plight of greyhounds...

Just being mentioned in same sentence with National Geographic is as
close as I'll ever get.

I'm sorry if that sounded like an over-generous compliment! The phrase
"Nat Geo Photos" usually evokes their photographic best in nature and so
on. But a lot of the articles are more of an investigative report style
and the photography is more environmental than glorious. That is what I
meant.

It's like having someone say "Those
photographs of yours will never make the cover of "Paris Match".

I've seen several of yours that would be far more likely to get there
than the phots of a certain claimant around here.

--
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty."
Douglas Adams - (Could have been a GPS engineer).