* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #800 / Revived #020 on 2023 08 16 *

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

We have cause to CELEBRATE because today marks the 800th consecutive weekly edition of this adventure (20 of which have been hosted on DPRevived, where we are blossoming as in the best days on DPReview).

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).
• Add a clear title to your post to reflect the image’s title and distinguish your entry.
• 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!

MOVE OVER DARLING

An image shot on the Isle of May (off the Scottish east coast) in late April 2017, with the Olympus E-M1 on which was mounted the weathersealed Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 lens with the x1.4 teleconverter, resulting in the F4 maximum aperture used here. Weathersealing was a must on this wet and cold day.

Congratulations and a big THANK YOU to everyone involved in creating this wonderful thread as well as keeping it alive for such a long time!

I've created this image as a small celebration:

I really liked to draw as a child, but was discouraged over time by a number of factors including my overly self-critical nature as well as the conventional school system, which (while it worked fine for me in other areas) was quite devastating to my enjoyment of it. Therefore I unfortunately missed the opportunity to gain the motivation, experience and skill which would be necessary for me to explore and enjoy it as a hobby.

However - stubborn as I can be from time to time - I realized that photography can be an interesting avenue for me to experiment with drawing without the frustrating consequences, because it opens a way to mask and overshadow a lot of potential shortcomings in technique and it's also not as important to me to draw something unique from my mind there (I mostly draw stuff by copying images...) because I'm creating something else with it anyway.

So i can finally draw something and enjoy it in a different way:

Daily bread... a mere illusion! by simple.joy, on Flickr

simplejoy, your ability to come up with instant ideas like this on your table top studio is amazing.

Invasion.

When water looks almost B&W

On holiday this week, so these are some older shots.

Congrats on 800 times !

I'm fond of repetition and pattern in imagery, this gets a thumbs up from me. Also approve of the balance here, with the larger space on the right balancing the visual weight of wind surfers. And the green/red juxtaposition adds a little extra (assuming you're not colour blind)

Nice action shot. Puffins seem like real bad flyers compared to others, but they get where they want to go and look colourful and cheerful doing it :-)
The sharp birds stand out well against the slightly blurry sea. F4 works well here

Tidal pool, Margate, UK

I'm kind of getting bored with this set now, having spent so much time editing and posting in various places over the last few days. They work better as a set than individual images IMO. I've tweaked this one a bit to fix the bent horizon and bring out the yellow paint a little. This'll be the last of this set I post on this site, I think. I'll be putting the whole set up as a gallery on my website in due course. I usually prefer making long exposures as B&W's but the smoothness of the GFX images keeps tempting me to shoot colour.

Hey, anyone noticed how the images on this site look a lot better if you click the thumbnail and view in a separate tab? Much better.

p.s.

I must be getting old. Climbing up onto the pool wall and walking along it with the pool on one side and the sea on the other in the dark made me feel quite tottery. And Not to mention stepping down off the wall at the end. I stared at that 3 foot drop for a loooonnnnggg time...

Equally delightful and disturbing. A humorous visual of an unexpected pairing, and yet it's also a uneasy juxtaposition with several messages, as reinforced by your title. I love it!

I don't recall having previously seen a theme like this. A fascinating idea with three strong representatives. #2 has a lot of impact for me with the apparent height and glimpse of clouds. The dominating, steep rock face makes me feel the power and danger of the location, even though the water flow isn't extreme.

Simplejoy's creativity is infinite! Congrats to the thread's plank owners and to all who contribute!

Basalt 2

I was inspired by feedback from last week to take new photos that concentrate just on shapes and shadows, maybe for editing as monochrome. Turns out I'm too in love with the colors of the lichen to go b&w, so here are two new color shots for your appraisal.

There are no “owners” here.
Or “leaders”.
I should check but I do believe we are the world’s only successful experiment in true peer-to-peer democracy in the cooperative spirit.

It just takes one every week to take the initiative.
I am honoured to be that one (most often).
And I am proud to say that I have participated in ALL 800 editions (except 1 or 2 when totally off the grid).

A Bird's Backside

The dam is my go-to place when there is nothing else I can find, and sometimes I experiment with unlikely things like hand held slow exposure (tripods are both impractical and impossible for this project). So here's one.

The Grief
Pure Art at the graveyard, Leuven, Belgium

Enlarge >click image>click downarrow
Names have been removed for private reasons

Colors are beautyful.
Do you know the basalt city of "Nan Madol", if you are unfamiliar with that, google it. Worth the effort.

Lou