* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #957 / Revived #177 on 2026 08 19 *

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 (18 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 camera brands (or even smart phone 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 or critical 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!

PARATY SUNRISE

Once more an image from our travels in Brazil (from which we have just returned home yesterday night).

This is in Paraty, around sunrise:

(Iphone 11 image, with some contrast and clarity adjustments on the phone)

The Perseid meteor shower

Maybe you saw them last week too?
The Perseids come every year, and it's worth staying up to see the show and make a wish or two.

I drove up to just below the Hochkönig mountain range and set up the tripod and waited.
I'm not an expert at astrophotography but it's nice to have a try.
I set the camera to take multiple shots, and as you can imagine, the best and biggest and most impressive meteors came in the short intervals between those exposures :-)
Anyway, still managed to capture a few.
The lens used was the Viltrox 16mm F1.8 on the Nikon Z7 and processed with ACDSee.
It's great how the trail looks green, as their tiny metalic dust particles and the air ionise.

If you look closely, you can see the Milky Way, a meteor or two, a blinking aeroplane, some satellites, lots of stars and even a distant elliptical galaxy.
Posted here in full resolution.

Four-legged bird

Amazing, well caught 😂

That is a really cool and funny animal image.
You caught JUST the right moment to create the illusion.

Could well be entered into one of those competitions for funny animal shots.

I see that you have uploaded the image twice (and with a slightly different file name, with one including "AI" in the title.
But I actually don't see much difference at first glance, apart from the impression that the greens look a bit more vivid maybe...
(Side-by-side comparison might be better than scrolling up and down between them).
Can you explain the reason for the double image?

Funny image. Good catch. On the second image we can see top of the second bird plumage and some feathers between two pairs of legs. These are not present on the first image which apperantly has been cleaned. Also the name of the second image contains AI. What is a purpose of posting second image?

One of a pair.

In the bull's eye

Alright now I see the differences. They were too subtle on my small screen.
Indeed it seems that AI was used to make the illusion more "perfect" by cleaning away some hints of the second bird behind the first.

In order to give my idea of an answer to Sagitarius' question :
I really like that Kumsal shows us the original, as well as the modifications.
It helps us understand (and appreciate) his processing concept and execution and that is always useful.
(It is also an "admission" that the original image was less perfect in creating the four-legged illusion. But that is not a criticism.
Instead it is proof of the good work done in perfecting the illusion (regardless of method used).

Iguana Bar

Since we have opened the conversation about AI, I will go a step further and post something that admittedly has a lot of AI ingredients. I never shared anything like this here, but do share them on another site dedicated to such stuff. I use AI often in this kind of work/play, but I don't call them photos. They are images, but are composites of elements from many sources -my photography, drawing/painting, open source from free stock and museum sites, and AI ( Adobe, Chat GPT, Night Cafe, or Gemini).

When we were on the way to the airport last weekend, I saw an abandoned cabana bar with the name "Iguana Bar" painted on the side in rainbow letters and got this idea in my head. We were not able to stop for a photo so I recreated it from memory, other sources, and then AI. Once I created it, I furnished it, built the setting, and peopled it with some of the different iguanas I'd met on the island - all with the help of my own photos, free stock, AI, and Photoshop brushwork.

I don't use much AI in my "normal" photo work, other than removing occasional wires and pieces of stray trash. I take a fairly conservative approach to that kind of work. But outside this forum, I do enjoy the ability to bring a fantasy like this to life. Do you ever play with AI? How do you incorporate it into your regular workflow? Does this creation make you smile? What would you call it? (I usually call them digital illustrations).

Ah, a black swan. Very good photo!
Your shot immediately reminded me of a book I read a long time ago from a mathematician, Nassim Taleb, called
“The Black Swan”
It describes how incredibly rare and unexpected events can suddenly and unexpectedly occur and change a whole model, or way of thinking. In this particular case it was known for centauries by Europeans that swans are, and can only be, white. Then in Australia a black swan was found and threw that theory completely out of the window.
It examines how we look at statistics in general and especially at the normal distribution of probabilities like in the “bell curve” that is used so often almost everywhere. We have the tendency to ignore outliers. But it is these unusual outliers that can sometimes make radical and lasting changes to “everything”, just ask the dinosaurs about that!

Minniev, what you’re describing is the fun factor of AI.
Obviously, many people will find your photo amusing.
I do too!
But when I think of overcrowded Istanbul: I could erase a lot of people and make it look like the reality of 50 years ago.
The more photos like that circulate, the more people will believe it.
And then, when they actually visit Istanbul, they’ll be disappointed.
That’s the problem with AI: one might be tempted to portray an idealized world, even as our planet is increasingly being destroyed.
It’s just like human beauty being artificially created—whether by software or surgeons.
Since reality and fantasy are becoming increasingly blurred, the use of AI should always be disclosed.

"Roses are rad, vio Let's hang out!" ... Really? by simple.joy, on Flickr

That judging look...

We are traveling and my posts and discussion contributions will be limited in the immediate future.
Meanwhile, here is one taken at dawn by my wife at LakeTyrell, Victoria, Australia - a few days ago.

I am going to take the opportunity to address both Minnie's image and Kumsal's comments.

The image is a fun digital visual creation, based on a number of sources (some of Minnie's own photos and other elements).
I think it looks really good and is quite funny : like a still from a CGI-created animation movie.
Very well done.
I also like Minnie's forthcoming explanation about this kind of work and her explanation of the inspiration and some of her method.
(I would like to see at least some of the source elements separately, because I believe that this will make me appreciate the compositing and processing effort even more.)

I also really like Kumsal's comments and want to thank him for these thoughts, because I think they are really relevant.
AI in image creation and modification can indeed be fun when the results are obviously not based in reality.
But the same methods do indeed constitute a real danger of manipulation when the results of these techniques is presented as reality.

I do share the view and opinion :
- that use of AI in the creation of images is fine (just like the use of paint is fine for creating art),
- but such use should always be disclosed (especially when there is a danger of confusion with actual reality).