L'Amour
by Tallbloke

Comment:
Is that your new 100mm macro? Can't quite make it out.

Tattoo's a nice touch. If a little dark on this pishy monitor.

I like the high key feel to it, although I find the blemish on the wall up right a little distracting.

Nice composition, good exposure. Wonder whether it would look nice with a strong sepia tint? Nice self portrait too.

Hope you do well.

Valentine Card
by kevrobertson

Comment:
First Impressions:
Nice image. I can see what you are aiming for, and I think you've got there.

Lighting:

Generally pretty good. The lighting on the heart boxes(?) looks about right, but if anything the ribbons look a little hot. I'm assuming this was flash, so you'd only really have decent control if you shot in RAW. Would the hearts have survived any less light? There's no burnout on the mirror, which is good. Perhaps some backlight would have helped? Maybe a slave flash?

Focus/DOF:

Seems pretty sharp most of the way through. Part of me wonders whether this would look good as a more 'dreamy' image, with a much shallower depth of field. As a card, however, it could well not look right.
It appears to me that the 'mount' for the photo (i.e. the border) is an out of focus duplicate of the photo itself, which I think is about right. It has the right colours and feel, and has a presence without being too distracting.

Color:

On the whole seems good. There is an even balance, without looking too bland. The colours aren't muted, but at the same time not over-saturated. I've never been a fan of that 'metallic' red you get on those trinket boxes and the like, but there's obviously very little you could do about that.

Composition:

It feels good. Couple of nitpicks however. I would prefer to see all of the ribbon in the upper right part of the image. It feels a bit squashed.
I also would have tried to have the boxes facing the other way to try to avoid the shadow around the lids. Although having said that, there may have been something on the lids you were trying to avoid.
My only other issue with the picture is the 'heart' watermark. I think it's cracking on the 'mount' but think it's too distracting on the photo itself. I also feel that it would look better either entirely level, or a lot more 'on the skew', so it looks completely intentional (which I'm sure it was).

Meeting the Challenge:

It does that. The rules were very non-specific, but it definitely covers them. It feels very valentine's-ey, and has a warm feel to it. I'd probably buy it in a shop as a card. So I guess that means it fits your intentions pretty well too.

Hope it does well for you.

Mark

Cold Play
by graphicfunk

Comment:
Bonus for the title!

some Hearts aren't meant to be Broken
by seebrown

Comment:
Controversial!
Interesting take on the challenge. I find the dark/light sections on the mirror/glass distracting, but the exposure seems bang on, as does the focus. The only thing that would help this for me would be a banknote instead of plain paper.

Hope it does well for you.

small girl.jpg
by xtine

Comment:
or even just spend loads on a new camera?

the herons wall.jpg
by xtine

Comment:
I like the idea behind this. I don't like the unlevel wall, or the centre composition of the heron. They are my personal opinions though.

I never seem able to get the exposure right for shots like this, but you seem to have a talent for it...

bridge2.jpg
by xtine

Comment:
Lovely. Have you got the same shot in sepia/duotone?

The Flying Scotsman
by xtine

Comment:
Cracking shot!

I agree with the comments about the tree - although I realise this isn't always the easiest thing to do on the fly...

I wonder whether this would have benefitted from a slightly lower viewpoint? Also not too sure about the square (?) crop - but I don't know what you may have wanted to crop out of the image. Just my 5 eggs worth...

I love the reflection on the spokes - it really helps to portray the speed element. And the panning and focus seem spot on.
More like this please!



EDIT for clarity

Message edited by author 2006-02-18 18:36:43.

Industrial Bronze
by fotomann_forever

Comment:
Where is the need for the naked girl? -And why does she look like a waxwork?

Torment
by kevrobertson

Comment:
I really like this, although I think you may have cropped a little close to Pat's head. Was there any part of his hat showing?

DOF - I like it on the whole, although I'm guessing you shot wide open due to Roy's lighting design - some of the sacking' focus is off.

Contrast - has this been boosted? I wonder whether you could have gone a notch further - I like the burnout on his teeth and his face but IMO possibly a little more?

I really like the conversion to sepia, and I'm left wondering whether some grain would add to this quite gritty image?

Cracking shot!