Kat
by rubyrednails

Comment:
Pretty even lighting and minimal shadows give you a good exposure. This seems as though it "can't decide" whether to be sharp or a soft-focus portrait -- it seems kind of in-between without being OOF either ... I also can't tell if your model is relaxed or tense ...

Harrison
by Frank Beckman

Comment:
The lighting seems kind of harsh and the colors saturated, giving him almost a cut-out look. The last baby picture I did, which had some similar issues, I ended up converting to a duotone so that the emphasis would be on the baby's cute expression and not on the surrounding colors.

solitude (my first trip to the mountains)
by fstopopen

Comment:

Originally posted by nshapiro: Nice use of the tree and foreground objects to give depth to this gorgeous view. A little fill flash might have been an interesting way to get a little more light on the trunk of the tree.

I was going to say almost exactly the same thing until I scrolled down and saw this comment. I'm not quite so concerned about the dark trunk though -- you have a lot of woody detail in the long branches, and sometimes a fill flash can be a little too much, but worth taking a secons exposure. If you have a tripod, try two identical shots with different exposures and try stacking/blending them to use the best parts of each.

Bella Fiore
by scalvert

Comment:
Reminds me of old-time oil painting; loss of a little highlight detail on the edge of the dress (at least on my monitor) is my only "complaint." I think it could have been even a little darker while maintaining the mood and detail. I think this was a good time to use a less-common full-figure portrait.

Free At Last
by EddyG

Comment:
Well darn it, not only a fine picture, but your post-shot comments helped me figure out I could edit that field after the challenge was over. D'oh, indeed :)

I usually just add further comments in the thread.

Summer at the Farm
by L1

Comment:
While enjoying some cool watermelon on a sultry summer afternoon may not be a universal experience, I think this photo does an excellent job of conveying what that experience might feel like, even (especially?) to those who haven't experienced it themselves.

Deer's Revenge!
by buzzrock

Comment:
This brough to mind Tom Lehrer's The Hunting Song.

Rescue Chopper, Hospital Helipad
by GeneralE

Comment:

Originally posted by tyt2000: Paul, why take a photo out of your car's window? I suggest putting more thought into your composition :) Good luck...

Because I was driving to work, in the left-most of three lanes of merging traffic, and the helicopter was only going to be there for a moment. Believe me, if I could have set up traffic cones and my tripod I would have radioed the pilot to circle around and come in again from a better angle ... :)

This is an opportunistic, photojournalistic-type shot (more suitable for this week!) and is obviously not "composed" in the usual sense. In retrospect, I agree with the people who suggested tighter cropping to eliminate clutter and put more emphasis on what part of the helicopter is visible. Still, this is one of the types of photography I do ... sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I think it can be a decent photo, but not necessarily "Art" for the living room wall.

A Watched Pot ...
by GeneralE

Comment:
Thanks everyone for the comments. In particular ...

Originally posted by postaltheclown: Aww 'com on.... it's great. They really didn't get it...

Thanks! As you can read below, at least a few people "got" it. :)

Originally posted by Dave Gordon: The gas flame is so clear it makes it hard to see this as a pot with depth. Great idea, though, and great colors in the flame, metal and glass.

First time I've had a problem with excessive optical clarity, but you are right. I was expecting there to be more rippling or bubbles or reflections but it didn't happen (see further below).

Originally posted by skylen: Pretty cool. But I can't tell what I see... is it looking down on a burner with a glass pot?

I see you can see perfectly well. This is the bottom half of a Pyrex double-boiler ... about the same as a 4-quart saucepan; the handle is exiting the frame tot he lower-right.

Originally posted by photom: While others had the same idea - no one else captured it so graphically. Perfect idea to use a glass pot and a gas flame. It makes a very unusual but pleasing image. Not sure I like the "dirty looking" area to the left of the flame and in the bottom / top right corner areas.

No one else (including me) much cares for the dirty stove (mostly stray coffe grounds) either, but I was up against both the submission deadline and getting dinner made, so, since I wanted to isolate the pot anyway, I (mostly) covered up the worst of it in the corners with the white vignetted border. Hey, maybe with a can of white spray paint ... :)

Originally posted by undieyatch: Like an eye! A interesting gas burner beauty... a circle shape and near abstract elements seen through the water would be a common view, but this makes me look. Apparent strong daylight mixed with the burner flame is a different take to this often used theme. To me very good colour and composition. Excellent work.

You even see more in it than I did :) I just wanted it to look like a pot waiting to boil. I took this at about 6:30 pm with an east-facing window, so it was more diffuse sunlight (coming from the direction of the handle) and overhead incandescent lighting. The color came out surprisingly well -- it was on complete auto-exposure/white-balance. It probably looks "brighter" than it really is because of all the white border I added.

Originally posted by Kolya: Clever - I assume its looking down at a glass bowl on a gas stove. Well done. Perhaps waiting a little longer to see some of the boiling...

I REALLY wanted to wait for some tiny bubbles! I was 1) up against the photo deadline and trying to make dinner at the same time; 2) Too chicken to stick my camera into the path of that much rising water vapor.

My original idea was to shoot from the side, just as the bubbles started to form, but it didn't look good.

Sunset
by jodiecoston

Comment:
How/what part of the photo did you meter? With the limitations of my camera, I usually get the best results with this type of shot using about -1/2 or -1 exposure compensation, spot-meter mode, and taking a reading right off the sun before re-framing.

Outstanding job keeping the detailed silhouettes, even for the tree in front of the sun.