These birds have fantastic colours and markings, and an expression that hovers between comedy and pathos. Well, that's how they look to me anyway. In correctly exposing for the bird (using flash?), the grass has been badly over-exposed, which was probably inevitable. However, if you crop it, you would lose the context of the burrow, so you've probably achieved a good compromise - and the bird looks great.
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Robert
rgmwa
A very pleasing combination of soft colours, and I like the framing as well. Not much to criticise. Getting enough depth of field in close up work is always a battle, but the softness seems to suit this subject.
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Robert
rgmwa
Effective composition and a good b/w subject, although I'm not sure what the message is, if there is one. Perhaps a little too tightly cropped on the right hand edge, or maybe the vignetting is a bit heavy, but the slightly distorted wide angle perspective and strong diagonals make it a good photo.
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Robert
rgmwa
That looks like a pristine and very chilly part of the world, Ryan. Although, do I see some diagonal lines that could be cables near where the river meets the trees? I really like the subtle grey/green shades and the contrasting textures of water, trees and mountains. It's has a kind of primeval feel about it.
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Robert
rgmwa
Thanks for the positive comments Adam, JanneM, Roger, Dominique and Brent. Although it was overcast, I was shooting towards the sun, hence the fairly harsh lighting on the water. There was a sandbar closing off a large estuary on the left that had been cut open the day before by earthmoving equipment, so there was a strong current about 70 metres wide flowing into the ocean, which created these interesting patterns. Take last week at Denmark on the SW coast of Western Australia, for those of you who may know the area.
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Robert
rgmwa
I like it and think the elements all go together. Not sure about the lower vignetting, whether it adds much or obscures things. Certainly the combination of wide angle and the lighting effect give the picture a pleasing depth. What is a "breakroom"? Also, is this an unposed or posed shot? I don't mind either way but if I was posing it I would have only one crate in the background, to further simplify a very raw and sparse atmosphere.
Adam Aitken
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'Photography is nothing else than a writing of light' - Eduardo Cadava
Really lovely capture of the butterfly, the lake and the flowers. I really like the colours, and the blue is unusual to my eye. The whole picture really uplifts my spirits! I would experimentally crop the image so that the butterfly was at a 45 degree angle and there was a little less lake on the left. See what you get.
Adam Aitken
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'Photography is nothing else than a writing of light' - Eduardo Cadava
Sorry for another butterfly image, hopefully this one of a Worn Large Skipper in evening light gives an impression of the brevity of its life. Maybe add a bit more yellow filtering?
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That's some description of how my photograph made you feel. I seriously blushed while reading your words. Makes me feel awfully good that someone can understand my images so deeply. Thanks for that Brent.
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Ryan
'Old Heraclitus could not have stepped in the same river once, let alone twice.' - Jim
Harrison, The Road Home
Not often do you see shots of Puffins "at home"! I would experiment with actually increasing the burned out area in the top left of the image to create a "natural" framing of the burrow and bird.
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To vignette or not to vignette.... hmmm. I'll do some comparisons tonight and see what i can come up with.
Yes, those are powerlines. This photo has actually been upsized and printed to 48" tall and in that image, the powerlines have been cloned out. However, I didn't do the cloning, and didn't want to represent something that wasn't 100% my work. But yeah, I agree. They have to go.
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Ryan
'Old Heraclitus could not have stepped in the same river once, let alone twice.' - Jim
Harrison, The Road Home
Great shot. I love the processing/color tones and detail, but I find the verticle column through the head a bit distracting and the bright green horizontal bar a bit distracting too (plant stems).
Eric
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I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object
be what it may - light, shade, and perspective will always make it
beautiful. - John Constable (quote)
Great framing. Wonderful use of DOF to blur the background and yet leave enough detail to maintain an important part of the story. I'm a big fan of documentary photography, and you're timing was impeccable to capture this moment. Well done.
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Ryan
'Old Heraclitus could not have stepped in the same river once, let alone twice.' - Jim
Harrison, The Road Home
Thanks for the comments Robert. See one of my above responses to find out about the powerlines. Appreciate you taking the time to look and post.
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Ryan
'Old Heraclitus could not have stepped in the same river once, let alone twice.' - Jim
Harrison, The Road Home
