free
by jaxed

Comment by tinmason:
I've been taking flag images and not having much luck at it and here what do I find...the one I've been looking for...great use of curves here with a very nicely balance image. I bet you spent some time getting the right shot on this one!

Lexington Church
by jaxed

Comment by tinmason:
I don't know about toning down the white in the doors...it seems to enhance the greens in the image and give the image a sense of purity. In addition, the soft white doors also enhance the texture of the stone walls in the image. The doors and trees also work together to enhance the vertical which denotes strength in an image...very appropriate for the subject matter!

Prowl
by jaxed

Comment by rjkstesch:
You have some wonderful images in your portfolio. You've also made a strong mark for yourself is your few challenges. This image is no exception. You've managed to capture Miss Betty's personality in this close up. The tones, colors, contrast and composition are strong. The DOF really works and the pose is awesome. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Tender
by jaxed

Comment by zara-opal:
looks like a painting.. well done

Wonderland
by jaxed

Comment by bucket:
great shot..so interesting..

Tender
by jaxed

Comment by Philos:
Very lovely photo.
Congrats on the ribbon!

cold
by jaxed

Comment by tinmason:
I like what you did with this composition...the vertical lines give it a sense of power and the angled lines accentuate the vertical while giving a sense of calm and flow to the image. The only thing I don't like about this image is the black border. IMO, I would have tried a softer black border first. Try this if you like: create a duplicate background | Rectangular Marquee tool to select inside edge of frame | Inverse select | select feather and set somewhere between thirty and fifty | Grab the brush tool and set the Opacity to 100% | In the brush setting (Brush Preset Picker) set the hardness to 100% | take several trips around the border with the brush tool | Goto into the layers pallette and adjust the opacity there untill you get the effect that you want. Hint: View drop down menu | Select Show and remove the checkmark from Selection Edges. Becareful though, don't forget to turn them back on!!! And by the way...Your a much better Photographer than I am and as far as your post processing skills are concerned...you're pretty damn good at that too! I hope you understand that I sincerely mean it when I say that I in no way meant to rain on your parade. I just have this attitude about what is allowed and what isn't. I think it's great that we have Basic Challenges, Advanced Challenges and Open Challenges or whatever type of Challenge you want to comeup with; however, the problem that I see with it is that it denies photographers and artists alike from using tools to enhance an image! If Joey lawrence put up an image that uses advanced Post Processing tools and he puts it into a basic competition I probably end up giving him a seven, eight, nine or ten and because his images are so dynamic and powerful I would have never requested that the image be disqualified. As a matter of fact, there was an image that was dq'd because it used seven exposures to get the one image. This artist used the tools that were available to them to create a very interesting image...The thing that disturbed me about it was that it was dq'd. One of my favorite photographers on this site is Jutilda...I think she likes to explore those bounderies that editing rules would deny her! Take a closer look at some of her work...she's very good too! That's it for now...I'm going to be taking a respid from all this and go out and try and find my passion! LOL! I'll be back after the first of the year with hopefully some better images to put. No competitions or voting for me though. I've retired from that type of endeveavor...but you keep it up... you have alot of talent to offer!!!

Prowl
by jaxed

Comment by Jutilda:
What a great close up!!! Give Miss Betty a pat for me.

Wonderful detailing and colors.

Tender
by jaxed

Comment by Sonifo:
hmm..some people need help..LOL

This is a beautiful photo! You did a wonderful job! Congrats on the well deserved blue!

Tender
by jaxed

Comment by ursula:
Many congratulations on your ribbon and on a beautiful, beautiful picture of your little daughter!