* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #808 / Revived #028 on 2023 10 11 *

Anyone who's looking at this one without clicking on the larger more detailed version is missing a treat. The roses are so beautifully detailed and the colors so rich. I don't know that I've ever seen such different colors on rose blooms on the same bush. The ground beneath them might benefit from more blur since it's not that pretty. I might try to blur it more or crop in closer to focus more on those gorgeous and beautifully photographed flowers.

Believe me, I would come back more often but the day job has been crazy (in one part - amazing in the other two) this past year.

Well, I'm glad you were resourceful enough and determined enough to get back in! I bet if you email the admin AlanSh he will help you solve the login problem, but we are glad you're here no matter which Lou you come in as.

I am not sure what a pineapple cherry is but you have presented us with a fine artistic photograph of it. The featureless light background is the perfect backdrop for such a fragile botanical specimen. The berry or fruit itself looks as delicate as a soap bubble and the dried leaves curled around it and nearby are translucent but full of detail. Even the shadows become part of the artistic whole. The range of tones is complete.A really beautiful piece.

I want to go to an art show that has yours and Linda's offerings printed and framed along with other similar offerings in the same category.

(I am not crazy about the placement of your logo, though I'm sure you have your reasons for choosing that spot. I'd have relegated it to the bottom so it didn't snatch my eye from this lovely thing.)

You have having a bug week, Bryan. This one is interesting too, with all his iridescent greens, blues, and yellows. He is apparently extricating something (probably lunch) from the hole in the wood. He and the wood are well in focus, even the wings and the hairs on his rear end. Nice choice compositionally to have the lines in the wood running from the lower left to upper right corner, perfect for visual perception. You might could mitigate the "black hole" look beneath his head by raising the shadows a bit. That much blackness is a bit of an eye magnet.

That first image is an incredibly beautiful piece of art. It is well framed with subtle lines of warm light and shadow leading from upper left to lower right, and truly gorgeous color. The editing enhances without intruding. The framing by the nearer more distinct leaves at the bottom is brilliant. Print-worthy.

The second image of your pup companions is adorable. Well posed and full of personality. The little pup has lost a bit of detail in the lightest areas, or I'd be urging you to put this one in print as well. The expressions are priceless. If you do any mixer brush painting of photos, this would be a gem to turn into a faux painting and put on canvas,

Thank you for the kind words. The picture of Daisy and Dexter was alas a quick catch on a phone, getting one of them to pose is tricky getting both a miracle 😀

Thank you for the kind words. I tried to blur background more, but it starts to look unnatural. BTW I tried a new LrC Lens Blur feature.

This one is incredible - love the colors! Such a warm and nice feeling fall image!

Spirit Bear

Back again after an extended break. Good to see the group is still going strong.
I captured this image last week in the Great Bear Rain Forest of British Columbia, Canada.

Beautifully positioned to get the steep fall aways to each side. The decreasing human sizes give scale and the touch of mist at the end draws us on. I like wa lens use as done here where it makes possible details of the roughness of the track within the scale of the scene.
Looking at this and understanding when it was taken, I became aware of something in my response. It is something that comes from looking at many landscapes with humans over many years. It's me, not the photo. Strictly speaking, the red backpacks-or shirts or jumpers etc are positives. Any National Geographic "How to do it" guide will suggest that your companion should be asked to wear/carry something red for moments like this.
My problem is that I have seen it too many times. Finding an alternative is another matter.

I love photographing old textured objects like this. I like how the rusty hook and chain and the foremost part of the knotted rope are in sharp focus, with focus dropping off as you get further back in the frame. The texture in the in-focus area is very engaging. There is obvious physical tension that grabs our attention as well, in the chains and ropes leading off to the right, pulling away from the ropes and the metal hook. I like this a lot, but then I like almost all the stuff I find on docks.

The purples and greens are good colours to show off the golden brown tones of the bee. Lots of close up details on the bee and the flower for us to explore. Marvelling at that kind of detail is the pleasure of macro photos.
Just for the fun of it and to add, I think, a bit more impact, I might have tried a more radical crop. Take off from the top until that edge is just above the bigger bee's wing. Take off from the right so it almost touches the tip of the same wing. Maybe a small amount off the left? What do you think?

Don't you just hate to try and do serious editing on mobile devices? Give me my real computer every time!

The first photo has a very interesting old building with lots of cool detail to study. The mid day light isn't doing you a lot of favors and I don't think the blown out sun is helpful; I would either repair it or crop it out.

With the light trails, I think the first capture is preferable, because there are fewer blurry people included, but I do like the monochrome treatment in the final one. I still think laying a gradient over the overbright right lower quarter might help out, as that lighted area is stealing way too much attention from the part of the photo you were focused on (the moving vehicles).

It has to be viewed large to bring out all the details in the mid distance. Full of repeating horizontal lines that create joy in the expanse. The flat line running beneath one lot of cloud formations is especially noteworthy because we know this is transient. The photographer has positioned the foreground rock to contribute to those lines. The textures and lighter tones of the rock mirror the sky and create a satisfying sandwich of the mid ground.
One thing about the rock. Sometimes a little soft focus adds depth. I don't think you need depth here, it's self evident in the image. In this shot I think sharpdetail from front to back would be preferable. Off course, that's a lot of dof we are talking about and it may or may not have been possible to do this, depending on your lens and whether or not you had a tripod available, etc.

I love it, but you may not want to listen to me, because I consistently stuff too much material in the frame. Simplification is not my deal. The brightly clad dancers are shown in sharp detail and quickly establish themselves as the subject. The reflected building has lovely detail but its more muted colors tell us that it is not the star of this show. the spectators are bookends that help hold things together. For me, it all works. But for someone who prefers simple compositions, it may not.

A fall foliage fantasy shot, with orange trees swimming in a blue sky. Colors on steroids. But blue and orange will always work if you have a good composition.

I actually wondered about that new feature for this image. I'm sorry to hear it didn't work well. I was hoping it would give a more natural result than fiddling with box blur on layers the way I've always had to do it in the past. This looks like a perfect image for trying it out because it's so darned detailed (and pretty!).