# 5th PAD Post for the Week of January 22-28, 2007



## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

Post your best/favorite image from the previous week. See Rich99's original post (http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/s...ad.php?t=101580) for more info. No explanation of your image should be used. Just post the image. Let it speak for itself. Try to get it posted before the middle of the following week. No more photo posts after Wednesday from the past week.

CC is welcomed. Remember to ONLY use constructive criticism. Don't simply say you like it or hate it. Explain what you like/dislike about it, then add what might help it to be better image in a positive way. If you like an image and want to know how it was done, just ask. That's another great way to learn.


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## Dorado-Mahi (May 23, 2004)

Here's my entry.


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## Pocketfisherman (May 30, 2005)

*Batman does commercial real-estate*

Here's mine:


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## MilosMaster (Aug 18, 2005)

I am very new to the _real_ photography thing, but am anxious to learn. Here is my fave photo from this past week.


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## Dances With Fish (Jul 24, 2006)

Those first three are some really good quality photos......RYAN
Looks like were gettin warmer!


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

*Cheating!*

I know we are not supposed to comment, but I must say I am blatantly cheating. This is not an image from the required week, but it sat in RAW form until this weekend. Feel free to kick it out of the thread but if so I will have to sit on the sidelines this week...

Any comments/critiques welcome.


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)




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## richg99 (Aug 21, 2004)

*Best I could find on a rainy week.*








Rich


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## MT Stringer (May 21, 2004)

*Wind skier...*

Here's a shot from Sunday afternoon. This fellow was a good ways out and my I didn't have the zoom to reach out to him so I had to crop the pic some...OK a lot!
Mike


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

*squeezing in before the deadline...*


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## Dances With Fish (Jul 24, 2006)

KORU is.................spiderwoman


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Dorado-Mahi said:


> Here's my entry.


 I really like the way the DOF focuses us on the action and I like the triangular composition. Good job of freezing the action and the expressions.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Pocketfisherman said:


> Here's mine:


I always thought that building looked like someone dropped the Sydney Opera House on top of the building from Metropolis!

Nice work. In my ideal world we would have a better view of the building, less cluttered by trees and other buildings (hard to find that view in Austin) and maybe a little more contrast and/or saturation to get the image to pop out a little more.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

MilosMaster said:


> I am very new to the _real_ photography thing, but am anxious to learn. Here is my fave photo from this past week.


I like the effect of the ripples in the surface on the neck -- makes for a more interesting reflection. For me, if the foreground were uncluttered I would like it a bit better. It may be that a slight contrast boost would make a difference here as the lighting was fairly soft.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

I love the expression you captured on the dog's face. I would crop the person out on the left.

I have a mixed view about the focus -- it does a good job of drawing our attention to the expression, but I wonder how it would look with enough DOF to have the whole dog in focus.

You could replace the eye color with post processing and see if you like it better that way.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

richg99 said:


> *Best I could find on a rainy week.* Rich


Nice done. I like the use of DOF here and the way the angle of the bird's body divides the frame diagonally. I do not know if you tried a little sharpening or contrast/saturation change to pick the bird out a little more. Sometimes we just have to go with what the available light allows.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

MT Stringer said:


> Here's a shot from Sunday afternoon. This fellow was a good ways out and my I didn't have the zoom to reach out to him so I had to crop the pic some...OK a lot!
> Mike


I like the diagonal composition of this one as well. I think any negatives here are just the result of the required zoom/crop and available light.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Koru said:


> *squeezing in before the deadline...*


I really like the subject and compostion. I think your enemy here is the contrasting light and exposure, perhaps due to the sun backlighting the image. This may be a case where a small change in exposure would give a better overall image, but I am really just second-guessing here.


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

Thanks Charles. I didn't like the wife's arm being there either but I don't know how to crop it without losing part of the dog. As for the focus, it was on Auto and purely accidental. I would have rather it been all in focus too. Oh well. Live and learn.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Gator_Nutz said:


> Thanks Charles. I didn't like the wife's arm being there either but I don't know how to crop it without losing part of the dog. As for the focus, it was on Auto and purely accidental. I would have rather it been all in focus too. Oh well. Live and learn.


Better to learn at home where you can re-do than later on a trip where the shots cannot be repeated. You are definitely taking the right approach. I fought my focus until I decided to shoot almost entirely in Program mode on my D70 which lets me specify the focus point and mode. Then you can increase the F stop to give more depth of field to the picture as well -- on mine I have to spin a little wheel to increase it, which does mean a slower shutter speed.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Gator -- ths is just an example of a quick crop and Photoshop edit -- clearly the goal is to get the best shot the first time but I am always willing to see if post-processing can help my picture.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Gator_Nutz said:


> No picture Charles.


I had to resize it a bit -- somehow I missed that the first time!


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## Gator_Nutz (Sep 27, 2006)

Thanks. I like that better. I only have Elements at the moment and I don't know yet if it will let me do that. I have too much reading to do. I'd like to get PSCS2 someday but I have a long way to go yet before I need that. (I think)
Her name is Eureka by the way. She has two brothers, Kirby and Bissell.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Gator_Nutz said:


> Thanks. I like that better. I only have Elements at the moment and I don't know yet if it will let me do that. I have too much reading to do. I'd like to get PSCS2 someday but I have a long way to go yet before I need that. (I think)
> Her name is Eureka by the way. She has two brothers, Kirby and Bissell.


I was using Elements 4.0 but most of the programs will let you clone around some minor things you want to remove.

My dogs are enemies of the vacuum cleaners -- sounds like yours are allies!


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## MilosMaster (Aug 18, 2005)

Charles - Thank you for the advice, you are completely right about the clutter in the foreground, I hadn't even really noticed it. I need to start paying more attention to everything in the frame when I am taking a picture. I mostly shoot wildlife, and am usually so anxious to capture the subject in an appealing pose that I guess I tend to ignore what else is going on in the picture. Thanks for pointing that out.

As for the contrast, I already bumped it up some, it was a very overcast day.

Thanks again!


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

MilosMaster said:


> Charles - Thank you for the advice, you are completely right about the clutter in the foreground, I hadn't even really noticed it. I need to start paying more attention to everything in the frame when I am taking a picture. I mostly shoot wildlife, and am usually so anxious to capture the subject in an appealing pose that I guess I tend to ignore what else is going on in the picture. Thanks for pointing that out.
> 
> As for the contrast, I already bumped it up some, it was a very overcast day.
> 
> Thanks again!


I will readily admit that I have a bad habit of focusing on the main subject in the viewfinder and missing the peripheral items I could have fixed in the first place if I were paying attention.

We don't like harsh sunlight but then we don't like the gray days too much either -- it is a conundrum.


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Thanks for the comments on my photo this week. Very much appreciated. rosesm

Ray - Nice clear photo of action and expression. The only thing I can question is the blue and white shoe(?) at the bottom of the photo looks a little odd. I might consider cropping it. Thanks for sharing this one. 

Pocketfisherman - I am in awe of this building. I like the subject. I like the colours within the photograph. Improvements? hmm I'm not sure. Maybe a straight on shot? Maybe with different foreground, either a different perspective or with an evergreen tree as the foreground? (I like straight lines in photos but I do try often to subdue them by adding in curves. Might be worth trying with this one.) I'm fumbling in the dark here. I like the photo just as it is. Thanks for sharing it. 

MilosMaster - What a beautiful and elegant bird. Great subject and in a perfect setting. I like that I can see colours in the reflection. Improvements here? hmm Maybe a little more contrast in the background, (but I don't know how you could improve that apart from taking the photo on a less 'grey' day). Thanks for sharing this photo. 

I don't know if anyone can tell me, but viewing this photo on my monitor, there are two slightly darker patches in the top corners of this photo. Do you see them also? Why are they there?

Charles - What can I say? This photo has kept catching my eye ever since you put it up. I love it. I love the angle, I love the colours - that coloured top sure suits the subject's skin - beautiful! I love the green in the background. I'm having a hard job trying to find something that I might improve on this one because it's such a beautiful photo. Okay, I've found something now... the _only_ thing I'd change would be to remove whatever it is that is on the right hand side of the photo - the curved shape. The rest is perfect. Thank you for sharing this photo and making me work hard to find something. 

Gator - I really like this photo. That dog looks tired! lol I like the lighting and the colours in the dog and its surroundings. I think if I were to take the same photo again, I'd either have the whole person in the photo or I'd take them out completely. Having part of a body there was a slight distraction for me away from the main subject. Thanks for sharing your photo. 

Rich - You have shown some amazing bird-feeder photos recently and this is no exception. I like the colours in this photograph. The colour around the holes in the feeder seems to go well with all the birds you've photographed. The only thing I can think of to improve this photo would be the angle of the photograph. I just want to reach out and turn the bird around a little so I can see his face, watch him nibbling that food. Thanks for sharing this photo. 

Mike - This is a great photo! I know how hard it is to get these things in focus when they're moving at speed through the water. I've also tried taking decent shots of guys who run off cliffs and ride the wind with their wind thingamiebobs (sorry the name completely slips my mind at the moment). The only thing I can think of to improve would be to check the level of the horizon. I think it's slightly out. Picasa (thanks Rich!) has an ability to straighten photos. You might be able to check it using that. Thanks for sharing this photo. 

Thanks for all the great photos and the chance to learn through critiquing them. I appreciate the lessons.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Koru said:


> Charles - What can I say? This photo has kept catching my eye ever since you put it up. I love it. I love the angle, I love the colours - that coloured top sure suits the subject's skin - beautiful! I love the green in the background. I'm having a hard job trying to find something that I might improve on this one because it's such a beautiful photo. Okay, I've found something now... the _only_ thing I'd change would be to remove whatever it is that is on the right hand side of the photo - the curved shape. The rest is perfect. Thank you for sharing this photo and making me work hard to find something.


Thank you for the comments. The circular shape is the beginning of a flower-bed border in the back yard of a realtive's house. I could clone it out if it is too distracting.

I was not as happy with this one from the same day:










I had a shot with better facial expression but the sidelight overexposed parts of the face and I could not correct it back. I should really be satisfied to get one keeper from a day's pictures!


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

Charles Helm said:


> Thank you for the comments. The circular shape is the beginning of a flower-bed border in the back yard of a realtive's house. I could clone it out if it is too distracting.
> 
> I was not as happy with this one from the same day:
> 
> ...


I like this one too, though honestly prefer the first. This one (fantastic frame too) I might spend a little time playing with the crop tool - just to see if I could improve on what I had... maybe taking it right down to head, shoulders and tree trunk? Not sure... might be worth spending a little time playing just to see.


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## Charles Helm (Oct 22, 2004)

Koru said:


> I like this one too, though honestly prefer the first. This one (fantastic frame too) I might spend a little time playing with the crop tool - just to see if I could improve on what I had... maybe taking it right down to head, shoulders and tree trunk? Not sure... might be worth spending a little time playing just to see.


Well, I'll give it a try...


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## Koru (Sep 25, 2006)

wow, look at that!


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