* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #827 / Revived #047 on 2024 02 21 *

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!

RUSTY STEEL & FISHEYE

In last week's thread, a few people commented on my use of the fisheye lens in the bridge photo (thanks!);

I confess to being slightly addicted to using fisheye lenses. They can provide a unique perspective.

Depending on how you use them, they can appear to be "just normal" ultra wideangle (just avoid straight verticals or horizontals or keep them in the center).
The late Bill "Boorstrap" Turner was a master of that technique (he used it mostly on the beach, keeping his horizon centered).

But if you are feeling adventurous, a fisheye can also provide a distortion that can be made part of the composition (as in the bridge image last week, where the nearby distortion was used to create a curve echoing the natural curve above, in order to get a complete eye shape).

A few years ago, we visited the site of C Mine in Genk. This is a former coalmine, of which some of the main buildings are now converted to a cultural center. The elevator shafts are kept as a link to the heritage of the site. In front of the main entrance is a very large art installation made of rusted steel in the shape of a maze.

I went kinda overboard with my wide angle lenses in this unique location.
More examples here : **C Mine gallery**

I absolutely love this. Fantastic use of this wide angle/fisheye lens. I fall in love with WA lenses in regular intervals as well, but it's very rare that I get anything worthy of showing out of them. It just happened again, so I'll likely post one of those shots here later...

But you've managed to create something unique and fascinating here which likely is far removed from how the scene looks in reality and manages to 'make a point, where there isn't one'. Really great use of the shapes and colors and a worthy tribute to this interesting sounding site!

This dragon sculpture has been made with live plants.

Music #2 -- Guitar

WhyNot

Silence

I was passing by and noticed amazing site ...

Wonderful - I like this one best! Really great atmosphere. I wonder how it would look like if you had tried an even lower POV, perhaps slightly closer to the trees… Anyway, really well done and certainly seems like a place to revisit.

All three are nice but I particularly like the more natural perspective of this one.

Fog adds a wonderful impression of depth to scenes like this.

Something a little different from me, a casual portrait taken with phone of someone I met at Rozella's, the closest cafe to the country house. (No menu, just discuss what you want with Rozella and see if she can accommodate you.) This fellow knew lots of local history including the location of the ruins of what was once the most elaborate mansion in MS, now gone back to the earth. I'll have to check it out.

[![IMG_3312-Edit.jpg]

"Johnny Hurt Me Bad"

I worked through the Placa De Espana image I have and tried to make something of them, but it seemed out of place to share here, so I shared them here. Let me know what you think of the edits.

That said, here is the image I want to share here. Please tell me if you like it or hate it and if you have the time, why and how I should have done it better!

I like it - it's an interesting image because of the lines introduced by the buildings. I wasn't sure what it was at first and it almost feels like there's some distortion setting in, something deconstructing the rest of the image... and the ship is in danger of being affected as well. I would absolutely try to play with different looks in terms of color grading and also include B&W to see where it works best... my bet is on some B&W look with relatively strong contrast, but that's just a feeling. Great shot!

I've changed my mind and won't show any of the WA lens images as mentioned previously... Here' something else instead:

(some stupid title) by simple.joy, on Flickr

Bed with artichoke bushes

For better view please enlarge and click image >click downarrow

The stories this guy can tell you must be amazing. Very authentic capture.