* Wed C&C "No Theme - No Brand" Thread #780 / Revived #001 on 2023 04 05 *

Well that's simple enough! Thanks for figuring it out and sharing.

Is it a proper critique? Absolutely!

I take your point that photography may seem unsuited to the abstract. But in another sense, couldn't every photograph be considered a two-dimensional abstraction of a three-dimensional scene? It seems to me that the concept of abstraction is a continuum, from flattening a 3D scene down to 2D all the way to a completely unrecognizable image. If the criteria of abstraction is that the original must be unrecognizable, then that is too high a bar in my view.

By the way, the "flat field" concept is certainly valid. Many of my reflection attempts were near misses because the depth of field was too shallow to keep everything sharp enough.

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I'm gonna tell you how I fight halos in Photoshop and show you a very quick and dirty example.It may work similar in other apps. I'd have been more careful if we were headed to the printer's. I brought it into PS, and duplicated the layer in case I messed it up and needed to start over (I always do that). Then I got a small round brush , medium soft. You can change size/softness of brush to fit the area you're working on. I chose the clone tool and selected the Darken mode in the menu at the top (not the layer blend mode). I sampled from the side I wanted to get pixels to fill in the halo. Placed the brush across the edge of the area and worked my way around. I had to undo redo a couple of places but mostly it got what was needed. It took about a minute. I would go slower with something for print to be sure. I like to do this at 50- 100% magnification. Yeah, Topaz oversharpens any chance it gets, it's a fierce tool that has to be beaten into submission. Result below.

Roel, there is great background bokeh, and the head is sharp throughout - both things that most wildlife photographers strive fore. However, I think Minniev was on to something re: cutting off the top of the head. I might add one more point. This would be a much more imposing creature taken from a lower point of view. Looking down on an animal like this from a "normal" human view point diminishes it somehow. So if you get a chance to shoot him again, get down below his eye level and shoot up. :)

I like this one! Not subjects I would ever expect to see in the same photo.

I suspect you want to keep the dark, moody feel. But, in addition to the white balance suggestion made earlier, might I suggest a slight brightening of the two subjects - probably no more than a third of a stop. That will help them pop out of the foliage/water and will help draw the viewer's eye to them. It would be tricky for the boar because of the grass, but worth it. I wonder what it would look like cropped in from the left to move the 'gator closer to the rule of thirds point... Just a thought.

@minniev, I've been looking at this image on and off for a couple of hours, and I want to thank you for your suggestion about the purple streak. I've probably printed that image three dozen times, and never looked critically at the streak. Your suggestion is a definite improvement, in my book.

Chris, these are fascinating images that go together beautifully. In fact, when I first saw them (without the carriage return to separate them) I thought you had created a very tall vertical pano. I really like the concept of a tryptich of the three shots vertically - would make a great print, I think.

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I see your point. I'll work on a slight brightening esp of Mr. Pig. The new masking tools in Lightroom will be my first stop, then PS if necessary. I'm not sure about the crop but will give it a look. My thinking on the framing was having sort of matching exit points on each upper corner kind of like drapes framing a scene. Thanks for the tips and the kind comments.

Thanks for coming back to share!! Your comment makes my day! I'm so pleased to add my opinion to what I think is a very fine piece of art.

One online mentor (who's still shooting at 92) taught me that I should look for what the image needs that it doesn't have, and what it has that it doesn't need. Not really flaws, just a way of looking.

Really hope you'll hang around with us here, sharing your images and your ideas.

Hi Lou, you got two posts up, so I'll answer the first. This forum has some tricky formatting, doesn't it? Here I find a beautiful swamp (and you know I love swamps), in rich swampy colors with lovely reflections and lovely late day (I think) side-light. I love the colors. I love the serenity and the wild untamed look of it. The fence is a worrisome intrusion. I am assuming that you chose to keep the fence in there, because it looks like it would have been possible to walk over and shoot through it. So I'm interpreting the message of the fence to be exclusion: you can't come in. The fence's worrisome intrusion is part of the story. Thank you for sharing it.

Lurking in murky waters. An unusual view of an alligator: we most often see them in a head-on or sideways.view. Looking with the animal over its shoulder creates a kind of immersion (no pun intended, or is it?) : it puts us in its POV and makes us wonder what it is looking at.

Hello Jim,
Welcome to our weekly venture!
And the first thing I have to ask is this: where have you been all these previous years?
Your photo is beautiful and enigmatic, and original. Just the kind of thing we want to see and try to get our heads around.

The Edward Hopper vibe is unmistakable here.
(That epitheton gets pasted onto almost any shot of a diner at nighttime, looking in from outside. But in this case, the connection is really remarkable.)

You say that you prefer not to get too deep into how you made this image, but you do give a hint that this is not a single file, but a composite of multiple images, by using the word "captures" (plural). I think you have invented the "layered drive-by micro timelapse".

It is an intriguing and very cool concept and we want to see more of it (and of you).
Let's agree that you will become a regular.
Right?

Aha, that is about right with what I suspected. Staccato is a perfect term here.

I'll make sure to wear my protective gear then...
This cassowary lives in an enclosure in Planckendael Zoo.
There is a tight-netted fence around him (or her).
And that fence is pretty high, because these animals are known to attack fiercely, using beak and claws (to slash your gut).
They can jump too.
So the only way to get an unobstructed view when he is near the fence, is to get up on a bench and aim over the fence.
Hence: looking down.

That's an eye catching image. The subject is heavily shadowed but we can't miss her because every line of the light beams takes us right back to her outstretched hand, which is thoughtfully placed at the upper right thirds intersection. The reddish outline of her form is the only color discernible, simplifying the composition further. The lights themselves are puzzling because they re so pixelated so I'm assuming some kind of pulsing projection. Very graphic, and very interesting.