Open
Set Subject
Prints
Boy
This image demonstrates the curiosity of young boys who love to explore dark places. By tilting the image on a diagonal the photographer has added interest. The darkness represents the unknown.
Rarauhe hou
Nicely presented in a portrait panoramic shape this image has good design with a bright green fern laid on top of a dead fern. Nice light giving texture to the leaves. The rest of the background is completely out of focus, which eliminates and distractions.
Sweet Sweet Dreams
Using a shawl as a background has set the mood for the image. The baby lies peacefully among a sea of white. The image is slightly soft.
Callanish
This is a well-composed image. We are lead into the image, from the left, towards the grouping at the top of the image. There is nice warm light filtering in from the left giving texture to the rocks. You could consider removing some of the sky as the white clouds distract the viewer and this image would look good as a panorama.
Dandelion Seedhead
Good composition with the stem on a diagonal leading to the flower head. The seedpods stand out against the solid black background.
Old Town Bike
A good image displaying a few old items like a bike and a letterbox. The photographer has applied some post processing treatment to the image that, for me, is distracting.
Witchy Woman
This is an image that has been constructed in the photographers mind and owes as much to their post processing skill as it does to their photographic skills. The brightness of the body makes it leap forward, but it has lost some detail. The trees have been applied to the top of the image and I find the white lines of the branches on the face distracting.
Flowering Beauty
The purple of the flowers stand out against the green of the bush. Its a shame the purple flowers are out of focus, because they should be the focal point of the image.
Fishing Boat Returning Through Raised Seabed
A good action shot as the boat runs between the rocks to port. The image has depth due to the rocks in the foreground. Although its not essential you might consider removing the sky as it has no interesting features and gives nothing to the photograph.
Digital Images
Dandelion
Good grouping of flower and seed pods. Having the stem on a diagonal give the image interest. Yellow is a bright colour and attracts the eye so the yellow flower in the background on the right is distracting. This can be removed with cloning. You might like to crop some off the bottom and left side to remove the bright reflection on the leaves. By doing this you concentrate the viewers attention to the buds and seed pod.
Little Fuffy Stool
The Red stands out against the dark background. The image could benefit from a bit more depth of field as the focus is limited to a small area.
A Dad's Dispair
This image is doing a good job of telling the story of the despair a Father feels giving his daughter away on her wedding day. It looks like he might be on crutches so this is adding to the story. The low saturation of the image adds to the mood in the image. You need to watch where you focus, The bouquet of flowers is in the foreground are out of focus, so it is distracting and dominating. If you are in this situation again just ask the bride to lower the flowers
Marlborough Sunset
A beautiful sunset with a dramatic sky full of swirling clouds. The loight is catching the top of the grass on the edge of the road. Good low camera angle.
Old Tree Gossip
Black and White is about texture and light, this image has some good texture in the tree roots and the two tree trunks on the right. There are some interesting shadows. To lift this image the photographer really needed the light to move round to the front a bit more to fill the shadows in the two trees on the left.
A New Day Dawning
Beautiful setting with the Lake reflecting the trees and mountains. Lovely low angle light warm light. The warm colours in the foreground come forward, while the blue of the mountains recede giving the image a feeling of depth. Unfortunately the foreground is not in focus and this is an important element.
Agapanthus Flower Bud
The bright bud is separated from the dark background giving the image some depth. The plant is on a diagonal adding interest to the image. The light has burnt out detail on the top of the bud, you might like to try and darken that area. The focus is on the small opening bud under large closed bud which dominates the image and should be in focus, maybe try closing the aperture another stop.
Emerging Poppy Flower
The eye is drawn straight to the bright red colour of the Poppies petals. Red is a difficult colour in digital and it is easy to loose detail, try to desaturate the red and you will get more detail. The image has a nice tone.
Magnolia Bud
The magenta of the flower bud stands out well from the green of the leaves, it’s a shame the photographer didn’t focus on the bud.
Nest Building
Nice light coming through the birds wings. The motion blur on the wing tips and interest to the image. The photographer has left room in front of the bird so it space to move into.
New Fern
The viewer is taken to the fern head by the leaf coming in from the bottom. The background is out of focus so isn’t to much of a distraction, but it may have been better if it was even more out of focus and maybe just a bit lighter.
New life from old
The light is coming through the leaves making them stand out well from the beautifully mottled background. Nice texture and colour in the foreground which has been darkened enough to keep the veiwera attention inside the image.
New use for old beetel
The creativity in this image belongs to the artist who created the sculpture. The photographer has stood in front of it and taken a sharp well exposed snapshot, the challenge for the photographer is to find a new creative way to photograph the sculpture.
Praying Manits Laying its Egg Case
Its difficult to get a sharp close up image of insects, bit it is important to get the head in focus, unfortunately you have the front leg sharp but not the head. If you try this again try closing the aperture down more. To give the image more interest try turning the camera to put the branch on a diagonal rather than straight up.
A New Poppy Emergeing
This photographer has used a very shallow depth of field technic to eliminate the messy background getting it out of focus enough to make the Poppy stand out. The eye is drawn to the bright red colour. The image is balance with the other two stems in the background.
Fungal life emerging
I find all the lines created by the grass in the background distracting, They are leading the eye out of the image. You might like to concentrate the viewer on the fungus by going in closer to the bending branch and cropping out the grass.
Hand on hand
A simple image with a strong message of the bond between a parent and their child. Lots of detail and well exposed.
Hatching Imminent
A well composed image with the eggs placed off centre. The lighting and exposure is good. But what makes this image stand out is the subtle image of a chick superimposed on the egg which give the image its message.
Just behind Mum
Mum and babies are well positioned to the right with plenty of room to move forward. The story is about the mother and her chicks so it may help to crop closer to them, filling the frame with the family. It’s a shame the chicks are not looking towards the camera. Unfortunately the image isn’t sharp.
Koru Club
The Koru head has lovely curve and the side lighting brings out the texture, but the plant is lost in the confusion of the background. If you have the opportunity to do this shot again try using a larger aperture to blur the background more then the plant will stand out more.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow
There’s a good story being told here, with the fallen leave which represent the end of the cycle and the acorn representing the beginning of the cycle of a tree’s life. The viewer is drawn to the acorn because it is the sharpest object in the image. The area of ground on the left isn’t contributing to the image, so by cropping this away the acorn would become more prominent.
New Beginning!
The lighting has brought out the detail I the embroidery, by using the embroidery of the wedding dress as a background ties the story of a marriage together. I feel like the rings need to be more dominant in the image as they have been lost. I think that the photographer could bring more attention to the rings by getting closer.
Only a mother could love 'em
This is a well-exposed image. The composition with the circular edges of the nest keeping the viewers attention on the birds inside. The colour has ben handle well. My only suggestion would be to darken down the top right corner.
Reassignment-Espresso Evolution
I like the brightness and the feeling of movement you get as the coffee beans fly off the rotor arm as it spins round inside the vat. There is a distracting bright area dragging the eye to the top right corner. I would suggest the photographer try cropping the image up to the vat , to eliminate this, so the viewer can just concentrate the action and vibrant colour inside the vat.
Spiderlings
By blurring the background the photographer has eliminated what could have been a very distracting background. It allows the flower to stand out as well as the spider scampering along the str ands of the web. The flower is backlite so the side we are looking at is in shadow, there is detail in the shadows and the photographer may want to try and lighten up the flower a bit.
Wasp Nest with Lavae
The soft lighting has eliminated deep shadows, so we can see some detail inside the chambers as the wasps work away. The wasps create a nice diagonal giving the image some flow. The area top left and on the right of the image are not contributing to the image so maybe the photography might consider cropping closer to the cone. This would centre the viewer’s attention on the action.
Wedding Bliss
This image has used the tones and texture of the bushes and trees well. I like the use of the panoramic format and the way the photographer has ignored the rule of thirds and centred the main subjects to good effect. If I was to change anything I might look at darkening the sky a bit to keep the viewer’s attention in the picture.
Autumn tones
The beautiful warm tones of the Autumn leaves are highlighted as the sun shines through them. It would have been nice to take advantage of the texture in the larger tree trunk by having it in focus. We don’t any detail in the leaves; this is because of the refection of light off the leaves. If you have a chance to repeat this image try using a polarising filter to reduce the flare caused by the reflection of light off the leaves.
Corsair attack
The confusion of the trees in the background is fighting with the Corsair for the viewers attention.
Cuban Gentleman
A Character portrait making good use of the monochrome palette. The subject, who is placed against an interesting but neutral background, is looking straight at the camera so he is engaging the viewer. Maybe the face could be lightened a bit.
Fallen Leaves
Lovely warm tone of the leaves with selective focus on a small area of the front leaf. The leaves have been placed on a painted canvas of similar warm tones. This is a nice restful image that would look good displayed on any wall.
Fontaine Blanche
Long exposure give the image movement. The light bottom left is distractingand could be cropped out so the viewer can concentrate on the fountain.
Mother and Daughter
A proud Mum with her daughter. I like the way the photographer has framed the Mother and daughter in the window with the decorative iron work.
Share:
