Hello all,
My critique assignements this month were for Alin Flaider, Matt McCarter, Serge Kozak.
First of all, I would like to apologize to the three of you (and to the other PDML
members reading these comments) for the late feed-back but, unfortunately, I couldn't
find enough time the last few days to finish this off earlier.
So here are my uncensored thoughts on the pictures. Please, feel free to disagree!
These are only the various ideas that came to my mind while looking at your
photographs.
- " Bridge in Motion " by Serge Kozak
I find this is an impressive view of the bridge. (I am curious: where is it located?)
The suspending cables of the bridge nicely guide you through the whole picture frame,
towards the pillar top. In particular, wherever you first start looking at the
picture, there is always a strong line leading you towards that centre of interest. I
find very pleasing that the eye can wander in any direction in this picture, just by
choosing the "proper" cable. I also noticed that the shadow of the cables on the left
pillar neatly completes the pattern.
Although I never shoot black and white, I am under the impression that this is a
really good use of it as, I think, it simplifies a lot the picture elements and allows
to further concentrate on the strong, black lines.
The white vehicles included in the foreground give a sense of the place and foreground
interest. However, I should say that I would really have prefered a simpler
foreground. I do not like too much the superposition of the two vehicles which I find
disturbing. (I also have been wondering about removing the "colliding" car going in
the opposite direction.) My thinking is that this relatively confusing foreground
contrasts too much with the clear and simple pattern of the bridge cables and pillar:
in my opinion, a simpler foreground would probably have been more adapted to the
picture.
I'll conclude by adding that I like that you tilted the view. As a result, I feel that
the unbalanced position of the bus emphasizes the power emanating from the imposing
bridge pillar and cables.
- " Classical Goya " by Matt McCarter
This is a nice a simple view of the guitar. I like the atmosphere resulting from the
overall darkness and the low constrast of this photograph. In particular, I find this
is well-adapted to the idea that you like playing with it at night, as you mentioned
in your comments. The close-up view also gives a pleasant intimist touch to it.
I must admit that I played a bit with the brightness and constrast of your image on my
computer as, at first, I thought that both were too low: but I always ended up
prefering the original version. On the other hand, the low constrast and the shallow
depth of field doesn't help to get a strong feeling of the texture of the spruce top.
I think I would like to see more of the guitar in focus, and particularly the white
knobs (I don't know what they are called) in the foreground. I am also wondering if
you couldn't improve the image by avoiding to crop right part of the last knob. For
some reason, I find annoying that I can't see it completely.
Maybe you could also include a sound sample on the gallery, for all of us to enjoy :-)
?
- " New Generation " by Alin Flaider
Fallen leaves are one of my favorite and recurrent photographic theme, so this picture
directly grabbed my attention. In particular, it has a very unusual background: are
these frog eggs? I am really uncertain of what they are! (At first, I thought they
were melting ice droplets, which I had inferred from your mentioning of snow. I didn't
realize that I was probably wrong before I tried to understand the title.) To be
honest, however, I am not too sure of what to think of the shot: although I definitely
like a lot the various constrats conveyed by the picture (both visual and semantic),
somehow the composition doesn't work for me.
I find that the pattern of the eggs is a very interesting background (I'll have to try
that!), with a nice contrast between the lighter and darker portions of the wet eggs.
I also like the strong constrast between the monochrome background and the warm colors
of the leave. I feel that all this can make it a strong photograph. However, the
position of the leaf in the shot does not please me that much. I find the bright color
of the leaf so overwhelming that my eyes always go back to that bottom right corner of
the frame. I must say however that I haven't imagined a better position for it. I also
have been wondering about removing the small twig on the left of the leaf, as it
distracts from the main subject of the picture. On the other hand, it gives an other
point for the eye on which to focus, which counterbalances the power of the leaf
presence. Another comment I'd have is that the image seems very slightly blurred,
maybe from scanning. I wonder if it could benefit from using the "unsharp mask" filter.
After all this thinking, if I imagine I had to take the shot, I suppose I would try a
more open view, in which the leaf appears smaller, in order to give more importance to
the egg pattern and reduce the leaf visual power. Maybe this could equilibrate their
relative impact? (It would also likely emphasizes the life rebirth theme.) I'd
probably also try a much tighter cropping on the leaf.
-
Thank you all for sharing your pictures. I really enjoyed commenting them. I think
this has provided me with some inspiration for a few photographic sessions.
Yves
----------------------------------------------
Dr. Yves Caudano
Laboratoire LASMOS
Département de Physique
Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix
61 Rue de Bruxelles
B-5000 Namur
Belgium
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
tel : + 32 (0)81 72 5487
fax : 4707
URL : http://www.fundp.ac.be/sciences/physique/lasmos/
http://www.scf.fundp.ac.be/~ycaudano/
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