* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #825 / Revived #045 on 2024 02 07 *

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.

PLEASE NOTE CLEARLY:
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!

SEVILLA - PLAZA de ESPANA

Plaza de Espana is one of the tourist highlights of Sevilla.
If you are interested in the history and meaning of this (actually fairly recent) Plaza and its architecture and symbolism, you can find lots of information online.

For our long walking day in Sevilla, we had no preconceived itinerary.
So it was almost by accident that we ended up on Plaza de Espana right at the best moment of the day as far as light is concerned.

I made some cracker shots with my telephoto and wide angle lenses on the E-M1.
But those shots are still miserably confined to my hard drives, waiting for a closer look.
The old iphone (still using an 11Pro model) did not do too bad, fortunately, for this "preview".

A further homage to bricks and bricklayers
Some months ago I posted a series on the use of bricks in Italy.
I spent this morning on my first ever brick construction, Preparing for a very simple little BBQ. I was ruefully reminded of the brickwork I had seen in Italy.
My admiration is limitless. The following three are all from Bologna.

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Wonderful! The color contrast is superb and what makes the image really special, but the composition is also interesting and effective. I love that the people in the boat look like silhouettes due to the lighting (limited by the bridge). Well spotted and captured!

I seem to remember seeing this tower before in an earlier version of the thread, but I don't recall if it was from you or someone else. Regardless, it's very well captured and looks quite impressive here.

Depending on how intensive the post-processing already was, I would try and see how it looks like if you enhance the brickwork even a little bit more, by raising clarity/contrast on the appropriate areas. But of course there's also the possibility of the forum software crushing stuff as its regularly the case...

Re-Tern

Our visiting terns have come back for their winter holiday.

Paper is equally wonderful as it is frustrating, when being used in my macro experiments. I can imagine a great number of interesting arrangements and compositions involving shapes of paper, think of transformative ways to illuminate it, combine it with other materials, I enjoy its texture and how it behaves when its folded or crumpled... and yet when I try to do anything slightly advanced with it, it regularly makes me throw in the towel after some tries, or at least compromise my initial ideas heavily. So when I recently decided to use paper once again (due to a theme on flickr) I decided pretty quickly to keep the ideas rather simple. Turns out this wasn't such a bad idea. Here's the one I used in the end:

Trying to find my place by simple.joy, on Flickr

The result is amazing 😍

3 Bridges

Agreement between municipal, provincial and federal governments resulted in creation of a massive $1.5 B flood control project where Don river meets Lake Ontario. In order to facilitate grand landscape development 3 sets of bridges were constructed. Designed in UK, engineered in Germany, manufactured in Holland, assembled in Nova Scotia and brought on barges to Toronto for final installation. There is still a lot of construction around, but bridges are open to vehicular traffic, walkers, runners and bikers. I could have spent hours there, but I think return trip in better weather is a must.

You talk about less is more! The aura of mystery is prevailing with shore in a distance and birds flying in random pattern. Simple and great image.

Ideal shot with a brilliant light on a building , arch of a bridge and the boats full of people. Reflections in the water, visitors watching the scene. What a scene!

Bricklaying is an art form. Italians are the masters of the craft. Your first shot demonstrates this beyond any doubt. This highly intricate masonery at it's best.

I congratulate you on your constant and relentless pursuit of pushing the envelope of discovery in photography as an art.

I like bridges - and these are really interesting! :-)

"In Utero"

As a boy, I enjoyed browsing picture books of foreign lands, fascinated by the unusual architecture, colourful costumes and customs. When I was finally able to travel, I was disappointed to find that the buildings had become western, even the shops were the same, except for fewer and fewer noteworthy survivors. But most disappointing of all was the almost complete disappearance of local costumes. Just jeans and T-shirt, the same as me.
On my recent trip to Bhutan, I was delighted to find that was not the case. Most men wore the traditional short tunic with knee-length socks and most women wore the traditional skirt, made be winding a length of cloth around their waist.

Pete

Just a moment in time

Grasses, Roseville, CA

Rich