* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #894 / Revived #114 on 2025 06 04*

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 (almost 17 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 a photo or photo-based image that you have made and get critique on it. And in return you give other people your honest but constructive opinion of their images.

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 or essay 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 or essay that you have made and would like to get comments on.
An entry can either be a single image or a short essay. With an essay we mean not a collection of random images without any connection, seeking C&C on more than one of them. We mean instead a limited number (3 to 10) of connected images that together try to tell a story, create a fuller picture of a situation, event or location, etc.
• Add a clear title to your post to distinguish your entry.
• Look at the other images/essays 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.
• Please stay on topic, i.e. concentrate on the image and the photographic comments, without getting into politics or other distractions. No non-photographic arguments.

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:
Unless the original poster specifically states (for every individual posting offered for C&C) that they do not want their image(s) to be downloaded, altered or reposted, it is understood that within the context of this thread, other participants are free to download and alter the posted image and repost it in a reply for C&C purposes. That reposted image may remain permanently within the week's thread, or you may remove it after a short period of time if you prefer. The downloaded and altered images are not to be used for any other purposes nor uploaded anywhere else than within the context of the C&C in this thread. 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.

Have fun, be respectful and let’s stick together!

LAKE BLED

An (Iphone) image from the first early morning of the travel we are currently on.
We drove from home to Lake Bled in Slovenia for a first stop on our way to Istria (Croatia).

This image is from my early morning walk before breakfast.

Surprise Concert

On my trip through Poland we also visited the town of Oświęcim, where the Auschwitz extermination camp is located. For our stay we stayed in the German-Polish Youth Outreach Center, which does a lot of rememberance work. It's apparently also well known for being a frequent host of alternative music scene concerts?? When we came back in the evening we were greated by a stage, the metal bands Wszyscy Toniemy and Weedcraft, as well as Oświęcim's entire goth population (about 30 people). I ended up photographing them on a whim and talking to the leading lady of Wszyscy Toniemy and buying some merch. Very fun and very unexpected.
The last picture was the entire teen goth population of Oświęcim calling for an encore. It was delightful.

Very nice, well framed image !!

I hope you managed to try the famous and delicious cream slices in Bled while you were there.
...they say they are the best in the world :-)
I will be going back to Slovenia for a hiking holiday, starting next week :-)
looking forward to that.

The first shot is great, good lighting, especially with the smoke and she looks so expressive !
The last one speaks of fun all round :-)

Fence and Approaching Fog

I posted a similar image here before. This is another from the same shoot. I think this works better. I've included some white space as I don't know how it will be viewed and its colors need white space around it. I also posted this on DPreview a few days ago.

We live 10 miles inland in Oceanside CA. The California coast is known for its frequent "Marine Layer." (" . . . Hates California, it's cold and it's damp . . .")

Oceanside gets more fog than San Diego, 35 miles south or Orange County, an equal distance north. It can be bright and sunny driving down through the gorgeous Camp Pendleton Marine Base area, only to have tangible gobs of the stuff blowing across the road by the time you get to Oceanside Harbor.

It gets quiet as fog banks roll in. Not as much as in a snow storm, but noticeably so.

It's nice.

Rich

Glitz

This is a slightly flawed attempt at a pano shot with phone camera in the Arte installation in Las Vegas. I kept it because I kind of liked it, with the lone guy watching the dizzying combination of animated projections, walls, partitions, mirrors, reflections. It was hard to stay oriented to your own body space in this museum, which I think was one of its intents.

Hello and welcome.

I’ve done quite some concert photography in my time so I can appreciate these shots for how good they are, in undoubtedly difficult lighting conditions.

You really worked well with the stage lights and timed your shots excellently.

The first two are obviously good, with the stage lights caressing a singer in concentration and with a pleasant expression, almost like a staged portrait.

But the silhouette, backlit, and using darkness to define the subject against the background lights, is equally good.

And you caught a very good audirnce shot that shows enthusiasm.

I can offer not much more than praise here.
These shots would have made me proud if I had shot them.

Sometimes the flawed ones become the favourite images. Gotta love a “happy accident”.

Hi everyone my first posting here....

These photos were taken in Little India, Singapore during an evening walk. I sometimes have difficulty deciding which one is the best shot in a series of similar photographs... Let me know which one is your favourite! Marleen

love this image!

Lovely image, I like the framing of the tower.

I agree with @Fireplace33; first one is my favourite image of the concert and last one gives out a great energetic vibe!

I like the combination of the muted colours of the fence and the fog. I can see why you decided to photograph this scenery. I am a little confused about the red flowers though, because red is such a powerful color and take up a lot of attention but they are so low in the bottom of the frame... maybe 2 other frames would have been possible here - going lower and shooting the flowers against the fence with the misty background above or going more to the left and shooting the tree over the fence against the misty background... just my 2 cents ...

Hello Marleen and welcome!

I saw your private message and will try to send you a few words on our forum mechanics (explanation of the buttons for uploading and embedding images, difference between quote and reply) when I get back home and on my normal computer. I am a bit limited now by using just my smartphone to participate.

Maybe Minniev can already help you sooner. She’s probably better at teaching that kind of stuff than I am - and such an explanation would be helpful for all new participants!

For now just this:
If you hit “reply” on a message, you will just create a new message without reference to what you are commenting on.
With the option “quote”, the message or image you are replying to, gets embedded above your comment. That is easier to follow.

I clicked on your thumbnails to view them large in a new window, and I have appreciated (in all three) the black and white processing, and the general composition with good depth-of-field, isolating your subject crisply against the background.

Between those three, my favourite is Tekka-0897, for compositional reasons. Let me explain why.
Tekka-0890 is the least of the bunch, for me, because the pose with the phone to his ear, hides the man's features and makes it feel less of a portrait and more of a random snapshot.
Tekka-0893 and 0897 show the man in a very similar pose, but the difference between the images is mostly in the background.
I like (and prefer) how in 0897 the blurred silhouettes of passers-by approaching, add another layer and a bit of mystery.

PORCH

I know I’ve posted an image already but I could not resist one more this week.

I must confess that I was kinda surprised to find that one of my favourite pavillions of the Venice 2025 Biennale on Architecture was … the USA one.

While many countries (including Belgium) chose a conceptual approach and submission (Belgium about micro biospheres in buildings), the USA present a historic narrative on the importance of porches in architecture and social life.

There is a website and a book/catalogue will follow.
www.porchusavenice2025.org

Here’s my shot:

[![IMG_1472.jpeg]

I'll come back to commenting on your interesting photo set. Welcome to our little interchange!

The best way to learn how to use the forum is from those who built it! Click on the word Website at the top of any forum page, and it will take you to our accompanying webpage that offers shortcuts to various spots in the forum AND most importantly to Admin's (AlanS) posts about how to do stuff on the forum.

Then of course post or message any of us with things that are still a problem after you try all those tricks. But those posts should get you started.

Again welcome!

Marleen,

Thank you for looking and commenting.

I rather like the (tiny, but bright) splash of intense color in the otherwise very muted color scheme. I think their mass on the lower right balances the mass of the tree on the upper left.

I had very little "wiggle room" in this composition. What can't be seen in the image is the wall of my house just inches out of frame to the right and a support column out of frame to the left. I essentially was looking "down a tunnel" toward the fence and had to accept that narrow perspective with the (then) flowers in their position.

But as I said, I like them there. I didn't like any of the (very) slightly different angles that I was able to shoot.

Rich

I think the third image is the strongest composition. It's the best image of the foreground figure, showing his face and eyes and concentration of body posture regarding his interest in his phone, shows wonderful perspective lines all over the place and adds the interesting, but not distracting background figure to give indication of peripheral human activity.

Rich

Beautiful image, Roel. All the necessary elements, color geometry of the tower and foliage, its reflection in the lake and the framing of the foreground trees.

Rich

This is a great sequence of shots. Each one captures the energy and activity of the event, the exposure, colors and details are excellent. The drama and power of the performance comes through beautifully.

Rich

Psychedelic!

Great capture of an assault on the senses. Can't know what it was actually like, but you have certainly conveyed an exciting and overpowering experience!

Rich