Pleiades Star Cluster
by Pascal

Comment:
WOW WOW WOW! Absolutely stunning imagery. I've never seen it this way. Love the hint of blue.

Ectopistes Migratorius (Passenger Pigeon)
by danculwell

Comment:
I remember giving this image a high score. I really liked the way the bird tilted his head, wish both wings on a diagonal. The upper left part is brighter and distracts a bit from his head. This was an advanced editing challenge, so I would have smoothed the image a bit (carefully leaving the important parts sharp). Due to the high ISO it does have a bit of grain. Now that might be your preference, so again, it's personal choice.

The eye of the bird is amazing. It's sharp and colourful. Becuase it is so attractive, I would have tried to compose the shot so the eye would land in the upper right third of the image. Your positioning is not bad, but cropping a bit from the right side would have strenghen the compo.

The colours are quite pleasing, maybe a bit of contrast to make them pop even more. Other than that, I really like this one.

P.S. I didn't realize the bird was dead. You made him look alive!

Message edited by author 2009-09-23 01:35:59.

Nap Time
by danculwell

Comment:
Too bad you had to rush this one. Taken the time, you would have probably seen a more pleasing composition, shapes and background. The foreground doesn't do it justice. Maybe zooming close to the two birds, cutting out some of the branches...

When you hand-hold, it does suffer from a handshake. Then when you try to fix it in postprocessing, it actually hurts the image, because sharpening increases the contrast and blows out highlights, etc. (I know it is hard to drag your tripod everywhere - I don't do it either). The worst thing is being rushed by our kids or spouses that are not particularly interested in photography and don't understand that we need to take our time, right?

If you get a chance, go back there and redo your photos. You've already learned some from this experience, so going back usually is fun and produces better results.

Also, you would greatly benefit by becoming a member so you can do more in post-processing in challenges that allow it. It actually taught me a lot more about my style of shooting and I realized in post-processing there is only so much you can fix, so it makes you a better shooter :-))

A Midsumer Nights Dream by William Shakespere
by danculwell

Comment:
This is a nice image. I like your idea by reding your description. To make it even better, here is what I would have tried:

I am sure you used a tripod, so longer times are possible. The image is a bit too dark. Longer time would allow the clouds and stars to become more pornounced and the colour of the sky a bit brighter blue. Since this is a silluette, it would not effect the darkness of the tree, and even if it did, a bit of colour or detail would not spoil it.

Now with the composition, I would have included less foreground on the bottom, since it is just a black mass (about half less) and then include more of the wonderful sky with flowing clouds. The longer the time, the longer and more softer the clouds would be which would show a nice swooshy movement.

I like the way you hid the moon behind the tree.

In post processing, try to increase the contrast a tiny bit (through levels or curves) - that will help with colour as well. Be careful when doing it so it does not create colour noise (common in night images).

Run Puny Humans, You are no Match for the Mighty Trac-tor
by danculwell

Comment:
Extra point for humour. The colours of the tractor are soft and pleasing. However, since you used your flash, it created harsh shadows inside the bottom of the machine and the sky is totally gone.

I know you shot this from a difficult angle probably hand-held, but try to position the camera on a tripod, low enough, then set it for a slower shutter speed, don't use flash, and let the light be recorded naturally by the camera. This will help with the sky a lot. If there is not enough light on the bottom or on the machine itself, then use a flash light to light paint the underside of the tractor. This will look even cooler than the flash on your camera. Painting with light is fun and it can create some amazing effects without the harshness of flash. Try even longer times and see what you come up with.

The composition is a good try, but by moving to the left a bit, you could have avoided the flagpole sturcture on the left. Go even lower and show more of the tires to make it appear even larger.

Round...and Good for You
by danculwell

Comment:
This is actually nicely set up. Very colourful with a nice clean background drop. In terms of composition, I would have loved to see the full reflection and taller background above (just by bit).\

Then the light... to diffuse the flash harshness, try placing a tissue paper, Kleenex, or other translucent material (even a thin cloth) over your flash gun. It will still light the subject plenty, but it will make much softer light. Even bounced off the ceiling, the flash can be quite pleasing. If the ceiling is too high, or dark, then sheet of white paper above the flash can bounce back enough light, yet, make it soft.

The composition... this is one is pleasing but quite simple. you can try to set it up with some smaller fruit pieces leading your eye into the image and placing the main fruit pieces at the upper part or side of the image. Try to throw it off balance for even more dramatic effects.

Even the Beautiful Must Die
by danculwell

Comment:
After reading your description, I realized you were holding the flowers. Therefore you do get a bit of motion blurr on some of the petals. To make it even sharper, place the flowers into a jar or vase, so make them really still. The green background was a good idea to eliminate clutter.

I like the way the dry rose is surrounded by live colour. The thing with colours is that the brighter ones attract your eyes better than the dark ones, and therefore the yellow one on the bottom distracts a bit from the main dry rose. On the other hand it creates a nice contrast. So perhaps less of it showing would achieve more balanced photo.

Try different composition or a vertical shot. But over all this is not a bad photo. It really fits the challenge well.

Nine O'Clock
by ErichN

Comment:
Colourful, good contrast, almost abstract feel. Simple, yet pleasing photo.

Nine Nines
by mlj

Comment:
this made me smile. reminds me of my son's younger days. colourful and fun.

N-EYE-N
by The Eskimo

Comment:
I acctually gave this image a 10. I love the nine around his eye. It's a well seen composition. Love the bright colours too.

p.s. if I see one more "shoe-horn" comment from others, I am going to puke... how does it help the photographer?