A well-spotted juxtaposition between the tangled hair of the visitor and Venus. There is a strong diagonal link between the visitor’s head and , through Venus’s body, to her head, which ensures we get the connection. It looks as if the two are comparing notes. How boring this photo could have been, if it had just been a photo of Botticelli’s Venus, fantastic though the painting is.
Pete
This is a fine shot of a beautifully coloured bird, with all the colours of the rainbow except blue, which is in abundance behind it. Other comments mention over-saturation. Maybe, but it doesn’t worry me. It is such an exuberant plumage, that saturation may even be appropriate.
What does worry me a bit is the composition. I get what you were trying to achieve, with the panorama format matching the pose of the bird, but, although I like the idea, I feel it doesn’t quite work, and that is due to the chopped feeling of the banksia and particularly the leaves. I have tried a crop as a suggestion, based on the other version you had as a thumbnail in your original post, which I assume is the out of camera version. Obviously the leaves on the left still need to be cloned out, but to me the composition has a better balance and the flower and leaves seem part of the composition instead of being decapitated.
Pete
I feel much the same about both shots. In one, it gets a bit muddled as to the distinction between mother and offspring. The newly hatched looks sort of like a protuberance on the side of the mother. Wonderful feather details. A subject worth trying again from a different angle.
Co-incidentally, I'm in Italy and in recent weeks I have seen far too many "Leda and the Swan" pictures. Consequently at the moment, I don't impress easily with swan shots. But Lou's second shot is a different story. The PP has built on the circular shapes of the image, the neck, wing , breast, edge of the nest. Outstanding use of high key vignetting to remove extraneous shapes and capitalize on the curves. The feathering of the vignette adds softness that is perfect for the subject as well as being consistent with the whiteness of the swan. The strong lines and the textures here make B&W an excellent choice.
Quite wonderful Lou.
I like the seemingly endless view into the distance, which is enhanced by being an IR shot.
I also like and empathise with Linda’s comments.
Pete
Thank you, Pete!
Rich
A shot that raises many questions about photography.
I like it because it surprises me on many levels. A bare room as a subject. The colour impact and the unexpected nature of those colours in that space. An image almost entirely formed by straight lines. It would be a very small step to see the image to blocks of Rothko colour rather than see it as a room. Even so, I'm fully aware of the classic perspective lines that mean we still see it as a room with depth. The image plays with all this.
It's a photographic vision you can't do too often with the same subject. As soon as you do, the element of surprise disappears.
That's fine, the challenge for the photographer is to find new ways to look.
One of the best things about the Weekly Critique forum is the variety of images being posted for us to think about.
Good one Rich42.
Really, I enjoy this on much the same level as I enjoy "modern" art where an image has been abstracted to the max.
Another outstanding travel photo. A location and costumes that spell travel. A situation where the viewer can reflect on aspects of a different culture as well. And all wrapped up in a visually satisfying image.
The men in traditional uniforms watch a tourist photographing a modern Indian girl.
The long tails/caps of the turbans wonderously are repeated in the many columns. Your tourist has obligingly colour coded herself to fit in as had the smaller figure. The sight lines from the group to the tourist continue to the distant girls so we absolutely can't miss her and use her in our interpretation of the image.
Your chandelier takes up the form of the large mandala on the wall and brings balance to the right side.
The exposure is worth noting. It isn't easy to have shaded interiors and bright exteriors. Pete has solved it with only a small burnt out area and some fading of intensity towards the background. It suggests heat and distance and so it works. The background girl is within shade so she isn't lost in a highlight.
This is driving me nuts. Not your photos Rich but the flat view. I'd have liked to have seen the second series of shots before I wrote my previous comment on the Magenta room. I feel that everytime I make a comment I need to look through all the posts to see what others are saying that I might want to consider in my response and then Ihave to do the same thing all over again as I look for any responses to anything I might have said previously.
Love it. Your pigeon is perfectly positioned with the sun behind it and the lines of the roof and apex of the gable. Simple but highly effective.
Fully agree - I really enjoy the simplicity and composition! Well done.
I meant to say. Pete's title for the shot is perfect. Full of appropriate ambiguity.
Here's another from the same day. Same idea but a different blonde. I prefer shot 1 because the pointing hand in shot 2 looks odd and the Boticcelli is too out of focus. At the time I thought the pointing hand would be perfect.
If you had not mentioned the pollen I would probably have missed it in the shot, thinking that the slight colorization on the breaking waves, was a trick of the light.
The yellow rivet anchoring the scene to the quai is a very good addition: this grounds what would otherwise be a fairly standard seascape.
This kaleidoscopic exercize is worth digging into.
It's not something I would consider making (unless I would shoot through the cylinder of an actual kaleidoscope (which I have done in the past).
But I like the pattern that emerges from your processing.
You've probably already gotten a lot of comments on this.
(I've not had sufficient time for the thread this week... especially no time to read all comments...)
Let me just add that I continue to admire your creativity with photographic tools.
This result here reminds me most of a velvety quilt. Really nice abstract effect.
These look so much like children at play, while in reality they are probably working hard to get a meal and survive.
The elegance of the fragile birds against the brutalistic architecture and rough textures of the dam never ceases to amaze and wow me.
Two wildly diverse images.
The first feels like a missed opportunity: an objective shot (in colour) of a bird that fails to face the photographer, with a little one huddled in front of him, barely recognizable as anything more than a ball of feathers.
The second feels like a work of art: tender, intimate, excellent expressions in both animals in an engaging, complicated looking composition.
I love how you captures a woman with fairly chaotic hair looking at the Venus that also has her hairdo swept sideways by the winds.
It's a fun catch for sure.
That is wonderfully composed image, like a jewel box that opens up little doors and drawers and goes deeper and deeper.
Three men under an arch, in traditional (guard) dress, looking at a woman kneeling who wears traditional patterns but on modern clothes (I think I see jeans there, under the shawl and below the white blouse) and she herself is looking like modern people do (through their screen) towards another arch when a final person is framed. Lovely.
The colours are a wonderful array of tints that go well together with all those reds, oranges, yellows and ochres.
(Imagine a tourist in a bright blue anorak here. But if I do that, it might also look good, but for totally different reasons.)
You've got yourself an instant classic here.
