* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #812 / Revived #032 on 2023 11 08 *

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

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!

Encourage - it is a scary business putting your work up for other people to judge!

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.

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!

ARTISAN/ARTIST

Another from the same India trip in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, a couple of years ago.
And another from the "WORK" gallery that I made after that trip.

This is an artist/artisan in a small community, who specializes in small bronze copies of statues etc.
We bought a small Ganesh figure from him, at the end of his explanation of the processes.

(to enlarge: right-click on the image and open it in a new tab)

A little mushroom landscape { manual focus image stacked }

dresser

They say jump, you say how high? by simple.joy, on Flickr

Wild Boar
At the end of September, we went walking in Wolin National Park, near the Baltic Sea, in Poland.
The signs of the Wild Boar were everywhere to be seen; they root around in the ground looking for food, something I’ve also seen occasionally in Austria.
While walking on the trails we didn’t actually see any pigs “out in the wild”, but inside the park there’s also a Bison ranch and I got this action shot there, of a Boar digging around in a pen 😊

He looks quite cuddly for a wild boar.

To me the black and white looks better. If only to hide the brown pipe. It's a difficult image because I see how you might want the bookshelf and left dark area in the image, but they are distractions to the main theme. Cropping them out you lose the window. B&W you lose the colour of the artwork...

UFO?

I was on a bike and looked up...
I imagined a landing craft coming to view...

Good shot. Apparently it's a very uppredictable animal.

X-mas is coming and red is the colour. The popcorn ground is very interesting and so is the ball.

The detail is amazing and so is the contrast. Well done.

Very detailed work station. I like the background: green on green.

Old Mill at Babcock State Park in West Virginia, 2 weeks ago. The lady whose house we stayed in when I took last week's submission suggested we go by this little state park and I was glad she did. Apparently it's well liked by photographers. I've never seen more cameras per capita at a state park anywhere.

Valley Fog

A delightful look at a tiny world many would just pass by. Focus stacking adds to the impact of sharp perfection.

Again, the perfect marriage of title and image. You've shown that one-color photography can have great impact! I struggled with the flickr theme for several reasons, but thanks to you and a couple of other folks, I feel like I've learned from the experience 😁