Moonlight Serenade
by MacDonald

Comment:
This shot is much better. You leave some negative space for us. I'm trying to decide whether you burned the black areas or whether they are dark in the original. It looks somewhat artificial, probably because the bird is so bright along with the reflection of the circles in the water. Again, I think you need to up your shutter speed just a bit. 1/500 would have been much better as I sense just a tad of either motion blur or camera blur.

Great Blue Heron in flight
by MacDonald

Comment:
Down in the 5.5 range we can find pictures with promise but failed for specific reasons. Blue herons are great subjects and you did great being able to get one in flight, but your shutter speed was too slow and your crop is too tight. It might be nice to provide a little negative space to the left for the bird to fly into. It could also probably use a contrast bump. I just noticed this shot is from 2006 so it's quite possible you have moved way beyond this shot. :)

Lighthouse in a Storm
by MacDonald

Comment:
An iconic image. It's pretty nice the way it is, but I have two possible suggestions. The first is to crop vertically. It may heighten the feeling of the wave and go with the flow of the lighthouse. The second is shutter speed. If you could have (and perhaps you were limited by you gear and the light), I would have tried to freeze the wave as much as possible. I almost always like motion blurred water and I usually shoot for that, but in this case I think capturing the detail of the wave would enhance the image. I'll offer a pic of mine as an example:

In Reflection
by Citadel

Comment:
Best ofs are interesting because it shows what you liked. I've been looking at this one for a while. I like your processing with the colors looking muted and kodachrome. However, I'm asking myself what the "substance" of the shot is (since that word is being thrown around in the forums). I'm not sure I come up with it. I do like the geometry of the vertical motifs, but beyond that, is there something "to be seen" in the shot? I'm not sure.

Moonrise at Sunset
by Citadel

Comment:
I love the story behind this. Some of my best pics have come from times I don't want to stop or pull my stuff back out but do it anyway. I'm toying with whether the shot would be improved by cropping off the bottom 20%. Mainly it would be to remove the shoulder section of the road. It's also a hard call what to do with the overall luminosity. Here you emphasize the moon, which is great, but at the cost of having a pretty muddy canvas. You could boost everything which will diminish the moon's emphasis somewhat, but might make the canvas better overall.

Alberta Legislative Assembly
by Citadel

Comment:
I think you did nicely with the duotone. Depending on what is to the left and right, this may be a shot for a square crop with the reflected horizon splitting the canvas in two. Right now it feels a little cramped on the left and right. Clouds, again, might help, but if you have a gradient going (like you do here) they aren't necessary and only provide a different possible avenue.

Nexen Building
by Citadel

Comment:
I studied this one for a while trying to figure out how to improve it. Shots like this can really shine, but they do seem to be very sky dependent. So the sky here does let us down (although it's not as homogenous as your other building shot "Glass and Steel"). The colors here also don't add and that always makes me think B&W. Your composition is probably just fine. I'll offer two shots to compare to. Compositionally both are similar to this (actually bspurgeon's is probably better than both of ours). Compare and come away with your own conclusions.



Message edited by author 2010-07-30 17:37:52.

McDougall Church
by Citadel

Comment:
Did I ever tell you I was born in Calgary? Anyway, I have usually been starting way down in the 5.5s, but I'll start with your highest scoring shot. I think this shot is excellent as a landscape. I saw in your notes that you used ND filters. I have to say, I haven't pulled mine out in ages because bracketing and manual blending of exposures in PS can do such a great job. Either way, you did well with the sky, but I thought I'd offer the idea up for you to join the 21st century. ;) The hearty, yellow tones contrast nicely with the sky. I'd be proud to have this on my profile.

Hagia Sophia
by salmiakki

Comment:
Wonderful scene and composition. I think your camera may have let you down or you were forced to underexpose due to being handheld(?). There is a lot of color noise showing up in the shadows (primarily the columns). The blues contrast nicely with the yellows. I get a sense of the complexity, beauty and mystery of God.

01-52.jpg
by salmiakki

Comment:
I'm enjoying this B&W series. I like the square crop which works well with a circular subject. However, while not shooting something head on usually provides interest and dynamics, I don't think that's the case here. I'd prefer a straight on composition to allow the symmetry to stand out. Here, the slighty skew to the wheel detracts from the image instead of enhancing it.