* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #790 / Revived #010 on 2023 06 07 *

Welcome to the Wednesday Comments and Critique (No Theme & No Brand) thread!

Today we mark the 10th edition of this weekly thread in our new home and I daresay that it is going fairly well, with good participation, interesting image contributions, constructive and polite comments and overall a relaxed and productive atmosphere. Just what the doctor ordered!

We are dedicated to continuing the great tradition of this C&C thread because we are convinced that looking at, and talking about images is vital for better photography.

Our tried and tested concept (15 years and running!) is a weekly "peer-to-peer" photo comments & critique encounter, in which you GIVE and RECEIVE.

The idea is simple: you post an image and get critique on it, and in return give other people your opinion of their images, or vice versa.

Any Theme, Any Camera, Any Style, Any Subject.

We are still figuring out how to create the convenience of threaded view on this new forum. For now, let us agree that you post an image with a title and short explanation, and that all comments include the image as a quote. Replies to comments may or may not include quotes.
THREAD GUIDELINES – THE SHORT & SWEET VERSION
• This thread does not care about brands. It’s not about the tool, but the image.
• Post one image that you would like to get comments on (exceptions: see below).
• Change the title of your post to reflect the image’s title. (IS THIS POSSIBLE??)
• Look at the other images and give your comments on at least one of those.
• For comments, try to go beyond a simple pat on the back or a short dismissal.
• Do you like an image (or essay) ? Try to explain WHY it appeals to you.
• Negative feedback is OK (we all want to learn), but be polite and constructive. Try to explain why the image (or essay) does not appeal to you and how it might be improved.

We will start with single images. Re-establishing our C&C for essays will be a next step.
Please limit any individual contribution to a single image. This avoids confusion.

The critique you give is vital. What was your first impression? What catches your eye about an image? Why? What do you like, and what distracts you? What would you change?

Fiddle with the image in your head - composition, perspective, color balance, exposure.
It is understood that unless the original poster specifically states that they do not want an altered image posted that you are free to alter the posted image and repost it in a reply for C&C purposes (no use for other purposes!). That reposted image may remain permanently or you may remove it after a short period of time if you prefer. No copyright disputes here!

More general feedback is also welcome. Do you know something about taking the same sort of image that would make matters easier - share your own as an example in your reply. Encourage - it is a scary business putting your work up for other people to judge!
And finally, here are some useful hints for navigating and familiarizing yourself with the forum mechanics of DPRevived:
• Unfortunately, there is no threaded view (yet). We can’t simply keep images and their related comments together like we used to. So please make clear about which image you are commenting.
• To do that, you may make good use of the “quote” feature. This allows you to keep the image in your reply. Excess content can be deleted. The “preview” button allows you to look at what you are going to post.
• There is a difference between the “reply” button that sits at the top of the forum, and the reply buttons under every post.
• A few threads in this new forum with useful navigation information:
dprevived.com/t/how-to-use-this-site/387/
and
dprevived.com/t/how-to-embed-photos-into-your-post-directly-from-flickr/456/
(this applies also, with modifications, to other photo hosting websites)
and
dprevived.com/t/how-to-quote/1014/

Have fun and let’s stick together!

Copperfield

This is another image from that "up-close-and-personal" candid documentary series in a small family circus that I mentioned last week :

This is in the private trailer of one of the two sons of the circus director who are the two clowns.

When I first started this project, the director had told me that I could shoot in the general circus area but that I had to respect the privacy of the artists and crew members, which of course I agreed to. So the idea was to not enter their private spaces. After a few days, though, a lot of mutual trust was established (and it also helped that I had brought them each a few home-made prints of the results of the first day of shooting) and so a number of the artists actively invited me in their trailer to document also that aspect of their life.

It's one of the best aspects of photography for me, these encounters with ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Sounds like an interesting and fruitful project - congrats. I like the image and particularly enjoy the composition with the triangle the arm + the head create together. It's a kind of frame we view the scene through and generates basic lines for the big head on the left looking in and the small (reflected) head on the right (looking out). The fully concentrated artist preparing his mask in front of the mirror gives the image the necessary authenticity to work as well as it does. Excellent work!

This image was created for the theme "single use items" and shot with an old scanner lens.

Toothpicks are handy... quite literally! by simple.joy, on Flickr

Nikon F4, 15mm f/5.6 Nikkor

I usually don't post such a straightforward documentary image as this but I have never run into an osprey couple sharing lunch on their nest before. Ospreys don't typically live where I live, so finding one is an oddity in itself. This couple is returning for a second year to the little swamp that's the subject of one of my ongoing projects, and some version of this or one of the others I shot of them a few days ago may end up in a gallery display at the state science museum. There are many dead trees since the tornado ripped through the swamp 2 years ago sawing off the tops of some of the older tupelos and cypress. Apparently snags of broken limbs are attractive to osprey.

WIND

In the past few years, as I've traveled less and have fewer photo ops, I've become addicted to colors and playful editing.

👍👍

Love it. It's nice to see playfulness in photography. Are you familiar with Ted Orland's work?

What a great find! Having chased ospreys and eagles for many years, I know how difficult it is to get two good poses in the same image, let alone to be there for mealtime! While your osprey enjoy dead trees, my area has man-made platforms (and the river) to attract the mating pairs. Your photo captures the massive nest size, along with the perfect moment. Love it!

I was not familiar with Ted, but a quick Google search confirms I need to be, and want to be! Thanks so much, Jim.

I also love the catch, but am unsure about the square crop.
I am sure that MInnie didn't shoot this in a native 1:1 ratio, so it must have been a deliberate crop from an image in another ratio.
And while I love (LOVE; L-O-V-E) square crops, this one does not work for me.
The branch on which the rightmost osprey sits, could have been a diagonal, but not in this square crop.
And I also don't like the stray thick branch on the far left: it leads my eye out of the image.
Since the right side branch is already touching the image's edge, there is no reason to keep the image this big (a branch that did NOT touch the image's edge would have been different.
I think I would crop this to 4:3 or even 3:2 (heck, maybe even 16:9) to concentrate on the main items on our menu.
We don't need all that blue.

This would be roughly what I mean (but I did not use a classic ratio: I just pulled the edges closer at a whim)
Please note that my crop is of microscopic size; I did not download a full resolution image but just the forum embedded version - after the crop it becomes even smaller - it's just to show you what I mean with cropping):

At first glance I thought these were pencil points.
But toothpicks, wow: that's even smaller.
I love the extremely shallow DOF here that creates a very peculiar effect with G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S light orbs in the bokeh.
The five toothpicks do indeed look like the outstretched hand of a very small animal (a mouse or even smaller).

ET phone home!

It's probably not something I would ever attempt to make (I am a pretty straightforward documentary shooter).
But I really love it.

Women at Work

The choice of jobs for women in China seems greater than in the West, but that doesn't mean that western women would clamour for a chance at some of those jobs.

Pete

Top...playfull and fine colors
Oh btw Linda I didnt forget your question... answer is Dap
Lou

Roel can you tell me how the black random bottom part came into place and why? The image could be so nice if it wasn't for that blotchy black bottom part.. now it's very disturbing.

Lou

Nice comparison, the name could be here "Handy toothpicks" and fine processing.
Lou

It's the V-neck black T-shirt the person on the right in the mirror reflection is wearing.