Wednesday C&C * Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #918 / Revived #138 on 2025 11 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 (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 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!

FLAESTOREN (FRIENDS ON A WALK)

A few simple recent iphone images.

Last Sunday our tight group of Scotland hikers ("The Scotties") made a short outing just over the Dutch border, in the woods and heather lands south of Hilvarenbeek (Esbeek). It was rather gloomy weather, but we still enjoyed being outdoors together.

On our hike, we passed by the Flaestoren, a rather impressive wood & steel structure that serves as an outlook over the wetlands of a nature reserve that is off limits to hikers. The tower consists of one long continuous walkway up to a viewing platform, making ever widening circles round and round.

This is the image I want to put up for your comments: a group portrait of our hiking fellowship:

And these two images are mostly for context.

A view of the Flaestoren from a bit of distance ground level :

... and a view of its "interior", looking down from the top panorama platform:

I like the color contrast and the interesting unusual placement of the group. I think it works well. The dotted middle line (metal screws or bolts, I assume) is a nice graphical element as well.

It might be a cliché shot, sure... but when I saw that leaf and the colors all around (including my jacket), I just had to take it regardless.

Hands of time by simple.joy, on Flickr

The old lighthouse on the island across from Munising harbor in Pictured Rocks National Park, on Lake Superior, Michigan. It once guided boats around Grand Island and into Munising harbor. It was rescued from ruin and is preserved to some extent (though not beautified) by a private restoration group. It was built in 1868. I bet it would be pretty in dramatic lighting but of course when you're traveling, you get what you get.

... and what you got, is a beauty of an image.

Dramatic lighting is totally not necessary, when you have a structure that has a lot of character in its own right already, but that contrasts with just the most gorgeous of foliage backdrop imaginable.

In fact I would go so far as to say that the "objective" light does the image favours.
Make the light softer or more golden, and the lighthouse would be given a pastel glow that it does not need.
No, let it be the dull grey against the multitude of colours.

The lighthouse looks just fine: it is old and it shows its age, with weathered building materials (mostly weathered wood, from what the closeup tells me).

There is a story here about manmade structures versus nature.
The manmade structures, beautiful as they may be, are doomed to weather and fade to grey (literally).
While the living nature gets a renaissance every year, with colours of foliage going all the way from fresh green to deep red over pinks and oranges and yellows.
And then back again.
And next year again.

Perugia walkway.

Much of Perugia is built on a steep cliff face.
The city's solution has been to construct moving pathways underground.
There's a "but." It isn't easy for a visitor to know where these are.

I fully agree. It's a very effective and strikingly beautiful image. Nature's colors are VERY HARD (perhaps impossible) to match. And that's a great thing.

These are unusual and welcome variations on the much used "spiral staircase from above" shot. The spiderweb metal structure and sharp angles, being able to see though the scaffold plus having people on the structure are all not what we might expect. Add the increasing diameter of the spiral coils.
It works.
Your catalogue of walks for photographers is increasing.

Fan Dance

In a Little Park by the Drum Tower in Beijing, I saw these two women practicing a fan dance. They were silhouetted by the low winter sunlight, which shone through their fans.

Your description emphasizes exactly what is attractive and effective in this image.

The backlighting not only illuminates the blood red fans, but also creates a nice backlighting halo effect on the first woman's hat.
And the little highlight is crucial in making us understand and appreciate the scene.
Imagine in your mind's eye the image without that highlight: the human figure would be lost in the background.

The legs and feet are nicely silhouetted against the brightly lit pavement - and the shadows are nicely included in the image (no truncation).
But still I believe it would be a worthwhile experiment to crop this image radically.

Not as an improvement, but as a second version.
You could consider a square almost-abstract showing only the torsos, hands, heads and fans, cropped just below the horizontal fine white stripe.

*(That would be an image in true Frank Miller style - Frank Miller not a photographer but a graphic novel artist,
known from Sin City, 300 and other masterpieces of working with shadows and sparse light). *

Your title is a nice pun: not the hands of a watch, but a hand (with clear lines in the palm, indicating age) showing a leaf as a symbol of passing time and seasons.

The swirly bokeh is a feature we have come to expect in your images and it works well here.

But there are other attractions: * the fact that the leaf and the sleeve share a colour * the fact that the leaf itself is also hand-shaped, but with fingers pointing in the opposite direction.

Those elements elevate the image beyond the "look what nice bokeh" category.

Intriguing geometry in the structure itself, and nice job of positioning your "models" within the form, wearing their matching jackets. That particular image has an optical illlusion of movement in the surroundings that is both pleasing and eye catching. The autumn countryside surrounding it is colorful though not show-stealing from the imposing structure. Nice photo story.

Appealing image with lovely warm fall colors, the swirly bokeh your special lenses often produce , and an eye catching subject - a hand, holding a perfect and richly colored fall leaf (maple?). The bit of sleeve is a color echoed in the leaf and the background. But my favorite park is the weathered/shriveled skin texture of a hand well-used - in dishwashing, gardening, artistry of some kind. Both the hand and the leaf bear five-pronged evidence of life being lived.

An artful capture and presentation with the unusual effect of transferring the center of interest from the human figures to the backlit objects they are using. The red fans, which are the only colorful items in the image, become the subjects by virtue of the bold hue, the balanced shapes, the detailed form, and the positioning along the upper thirds intersection.. The human subjects take second priority because of the lack of detail and color, and their positions. Well spotted and well captured.

Powerful vanishing points that involve the whole frame help us create powerful images like this one. The human figure at the 3:00 point of the tunnel is a bonus, standing guard over the portal. There is a sense of speed and motion conveyed by the lines and light, which is enhanced by the alternating lights and darks within the design. Well done.

This is an image that triggered a personal memory that colours my response. It's a memory that dovetails with Simplejoy's title and also stems from the bokeh effect of his lens.
Something like forty years ago my very young son was addicted to watching the early Dr. Who.ie., The Timelord. It became a sacred shared pre dinner ritual. The circular swirly background here immediately took me to the visual effect used when the Doc time jumped and once more I heard the pulse quickening theme music.
Apart from that, The image is a homage to Autumn with the same colour shared by a human , a simple leaf and a background suggesting the broader stage. Symbols galore to kick off everyone's memories.

Glass cages - alienation

New housing development 50 km North of the city.