Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by karmat:
Great idea. A solid background would have really helped this shot -- or converting to bw so that the "obviousness" of the different colors wouldn't be noticed.

Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by Refracted:
It's a ncie idea, and the little hand is certainly cute, and the contrast is definatly there, the lighting is what sort of "breaks" the shot. If this was an onboard flash, there's not much you can do, but with a little creativity, you can get your flash to bounce off the ceiling (i sometimes use a cd to bounce the light). This creates a softer flash, and prevents the harsh shadows created by a flash. then again, i could always be completly wrong that it was a flash.. in any case, the harsher shadows isn't the bes quality of this photo. Good attempt though, 6.

Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by JPR:
this is such an beautiful and touching photo that it deserves more post processing to make it what it could be. I'm giving it a 6, but it could easily be an 8 ot 9 with a litle work. PM me after the challenge is over if you want me to take a look at it. cheers!

The round comes out where?
by KevinRiggs

Comment by GeneralE:
At least you refrained from titling it "Make My Day." Nice detail and exposure.

Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by MarkS224:
Three way contrast! The only thing I would like to change is to clean up the background by useing more of the towel. Good luck.

Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by autool:
This is the third time I have looked at your photo. Each time I have an urgency to replace the background. If it were black, it would knock em out. Please do it again, but with black. 7

Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by Koriyama:
I've just had my 1st baby, so I know how much meaning this shot has for you - there's a real sense of family here. However, photographically, I feel that it's important not to forget the basics. Here, the flash caused a few core problems, the harsh shadows and the blue tinges, especially on the white towel, and weak colours in the top right and bottom left. Also, take care about the background. The green doesn't help at all, the skirting board presents a conflicting line and there's a thingy hanging down in the top centre.

Late Night Carriage Ride Downtown
by KevinRiggs

Comment by Koriyama:
*critique club*
Overall
This photo meets the challenge well. You've captured a romantic night on the town. I wonder if you're making a pun, too - a Knight with steed and wench in tow? Certainly, the imagination is allowed to run loose here. This is in stark contrast to the quite rigid poses of the models, who appear relaxed enough but somewhat off balance. Usually, it's better to have models look at the camera in a posed shot. Here, ironically, it's the human who's looking away.

Composition
I don't like the white pole extruding from the human's head. It seems to accentuate the straightness of her body negatively. Also, being the brightest thing in the shot, it draws the eyes away from the key elements. The human is bang in the middle but looking through to the left. The horse is on the right but looking directly ahead. There seems to be an unbalance of objects, then. The horse's direct gaze calls for more space to work within. With the woman looking expectantly at something outside the photo and the horse at the camera, I feel rather that the photo loses a lot of its impact. The bright spots in the eyes also reinforce this imbalance.

Your f-stop is wide, but the carriage is clear, meaning that the dof is deeper than I think you had imagined. Certainly, the camera angle downplays any import for the carriage in this shot. Being out of focus would have helped your composition somewhat. If you wanted a sharp carriage, maybe you should have taken a shot further from the left. That might have pulled the inquisitive horse's eyes round to match the woman's, too. While doing so, you might correct the horizon, too.

Colour
I find the overall colour range too much on the dark side. Checking with Photoshop, I found that (except the pure white pole) most of the important body parts, eyes, face, teeth, even the arms, were in the 17% - 70% grey range. With b&w, you really need to push the tonal boundaries more, especially with potentially dark shots like this. Find the point which you can accept as being the brightest, then work backwards from there. (The white spots in the horse's eye are 100% white, a feature totally missing in the girl, which accounts for some of the problems there.)

To sum up, more tonal contrast, more thought about the composition and more consideration about the dof and you'll have a great shot. As it stands, this one is one worthy of re-doing, don't you think?

Best wishes,

Jim

Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by Alpine99:
NIce idea.. background is a little off-putting and light is harsh. flash?

Contrasting Hands
by KevinRiggs

Comment by RiderGal:
Good idea for contrast however this isn't a very appealing photo. The lighting is very flat, and the shadow especially from the man's hand is rathher annoying. A solid background might have been nice... as well as having the man's thumb in the photo. Black and white might have been nice for this.