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Hates the Infotainment
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: NSA Archives
 
2006-12-08, 13:42

Some nice snapshots here.

Ryan, even though you don't have "much to say", to me it's both technically and aesthetically a very good shot. Nature abstracts are an acquired taste -some people don't care for them- but I for one find it one of the most fascinating areas of photography. The only thing that might improve it is a little better light to work with (not in your control here), and I might've gotten a little closer to bring the beads of water more into the frame.

Stever,

I was looking at your web site with the natural perceptions page, and in reference to what bobsky was saying about "Photoshopped" images, I have to agree somewhat. The best images on that page - and there are some very good ones - are the ones where you don't notice the digital enhancements. In particular I think you get a little carried away with the saturation controls.

The "Road Behind My House" is a great shot and the reason is, as you examine it, you have to ask "was it retouched?" You don't immediately know because the colors in the foreground are subtle enough that they could be the result of the vapor lamps overhead and/or moonlight, and so you really look at the whole scene and enjoy the contrasts, etc.

The Moonlit Beach shot is nice too except I might actually crop down to make an almost panoramic format (short and wide) image. Having just a sliver of the moon pulls my eye to the top of the frame instead into the picture as a whole. With moon shots like that, it has to be a wide enough angle, "off in the corner" type of thing IMO, to show the moon and at the same time not have it distract from what the picture is really about.

Your Snow Temple shot above is really cool too, thing about that one is it's a little flat (because of the light). I'm guessing you retouched parts of this image too, though it's not obvious / doesn't detract from the overall image. In particular some of the foreground and middle ground look like they've been smoothed a bit to add that ethereal effect. As far as the flatness, you could tweak in ACR (if you shot RAW) and elsewhere to make it a little more contrasty but not "Photoshopped". But otherwise a cool / unexpected scene.

...into the light of a dark black night.
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