I like the "grid overlay" caused by the wire mesh.
But I wonder if experimenting with shots from different angles (down low looking up for example) could make a more compelling image through the use of the perspective aspects of the mesh when viewed from different vantage points.
Below is just a basic simulation of what I mean which might give you some ideas to experiment with next time. I can't push the simulation too much because too much of the image would be lost in the crop.
My wife was trimming Sea Lavender in our yard. She came in the kitchen and plunked these trimmings in the bud vase. She started washing her hands, saying she was going to trim and re-arrange them.
"Don't touch them!," I said.
I put the vase in a shallow wall alcove and photographed it with available light coming down the hallway.
Rich
I respect that you could conceptualize the picture in your mind before arranging it.
A tree. In a glass. In an alcove...
I like the first one much more. It has more depth and punch than the second one which has fairly flat low contrast light on the lower half in the foreground.
This version below looks much better on my screen and more closely matches the depth and punch of your first image.
Anyway, as usual, just some food for thought.
The statue of Pinocchio in its own right is interesting.
But your angle and how that includes that specific background, is for me what elevates the image from "just a shot of a statue" to an image filled with possibilities of interpretation.
The background building is not exactly known to me, but it is the kind of building that one probably associates with big business or high finance or maybe government. Combining any one of those interpretations with the image of a perennial liar who seems to even relish his status as a liar, infuses the image with meaning.
Coincidentally, I also like how the red-leafed tree nicely fills the area under Pinocchio's right arm, almost as if he is leaning down into it, while the other tree further behind him, almost gets a continuation in the reflection on his pants. It is a very odd effect, but I helps bringing harmony to the image.
I like the upward looking angle of the photo. It creates more interest than I think a straight on photo would have created.
However, the sky has a reddish cast to it making it a sort of bluish/purplish colour on my screen.
The version below looks much better on my screen with a bluer sky. Sky adjusted using a luminosity mask.
Agree that the sky looks better here also on my screen.
There you go, this is a good illustration on how we all pay attention to different aspects of an image, and that the sum of all our remarks is worthwhile.
I just found the name of this statue. Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels. Though I shot the wheels out cause I thought it distracted.
It is in Gateway National Park by the St Louis Arch. A point of hope where people migrated into the American West and found reality. The last 10 years I've traveled around the Midwest for work and so many of the small cities I've visited appear destitute and have a Grapes of Wrath vibe. I think of what settlers had to do to claim those places. And here is Pinocchio, arriving in Pleasure Island or Tim Robbin's character in Hudsucker Proxy arriving to the city, at the beginning of what would be their lives.
I wanted it to be a faded or pale dream. I lack the editing skills, plus I did it on my phone.
I shot it at the end of winter/beginning of spring. The sun made a paler light and it was dry so the sky looked (faded?) more black than blue. The camera picked it up as blue though and I tried to edit it toward black and ended up with purple. In other versions of this image, I've tried to desaturate the colors to give it the vibe I wanted, but I can't seem to figure it out.
If you would like help with how to achieve an "old-fashioned" or just desaturated look (maybe with a hint of sepia thrown in or some vignetting), I am sure that there are very competent regular contributors to this thread who could help you with specific guidelines and/or steps and/or an example of possible end result.
I don't count myself amongst the best PP artists here.
My skills are mediocre at best.
I have a few Lightroom "formulas" (presets, mostly selfmade but also from online) that I use as semi-filters (like your phone also has).
And then I just improvize until it looks approximately like I want it.
So I will let others have a stab at it.
They will be better at giving useful guidelines beyond just improvized messing around with this image.
What an amazing piece of architecture! Love this type of art deco. The fish eye lens is just great for this one, and as you know, I'm not always a fan - but this image makes me want one! It turns the pool scene almost into an abstract. Colors are great - turquoise and yellow work so well for almost anything in this era. Of course all those strong leading lines converging to the vanishing point in the apex of the Y shape is compositionally so visually engaging. Excellent image.
These are very pleasing images with a soothing visual quality. The rays are subtle but easily spotted, and carry my eye up or down so that I discover the water and clouds. The first is a little more eye-catching due to the detail in the water and the sun-path as an extra leading line. Both of them have lovely gold light-islands where the rays ground themselves in the distance. I would not change a thing. I have similar photos and have never found any way to improve much on this set of colors and details and shapes. With some similar images I've been able to coax out more drama in a monochrome conversion, but pushing or changing the colors would ruin these. Well done.
I see this as a semi abstract silhouette image, and as such it is much like those drawings where you see either a young woman or an old withered crone depending on how you interpret it. My own first impression was of an embracing couple, and now I can't get that out of my head. A bulked up fisherman is visible only after looking twice again, and an enlargement of the download version didn't help get me there, only the title did that. So it has become hard for me to assess the fisherman picture because I'm attending to the romantic couple. But in truth, an image with some ambiguity is, for me, a successful image. The lines and shapes and light provide setting and context, but the story is in the figure(s).
Either story, I think I would tend to remove all color since most has left already.
Whether
These are delightful. Rich colors, fascinating textures, interesting design elements mixed with what came before them. The third one is my favorite but they are all engaging. And yes, just as engaging as the water abstracts.
I have a photography friend who has spent the last decade of his life (he's in his 90's and can't get around much now) creating amazing abstract art by photographing garbage dumpsters, and he's still doing well-received gallery shows of them. Art subjects are everywhere, as you and he are proving. It just takes the right eye to spot them.
It's cormorant week (Bryan has cormorants too)! I love cormorants, with their haughty postures and spooky green eyes. In the Mississippi delta they are called Katrina Birds. They were uncommon there until hurricane Katrina blew a bunch of them into the swamps and they stayed and flourished.
Nice choice (and skill) to get the head in focus and the wings all a-flutter. It captures the sense of movement (and Katrina Birds do a LOT of flapping) really well. I like the look of this one.
Nice set, held together by their shared location. They are all winners. The birds, both in flight and sailing, are caught nicely. The cormorants are in my favorite cormorant pose, beaks up and showing their lovely turquoise eyes. See Pete's cormorant for my notes on why our local cormorants are sometimes called Katrina Birds.
Your damselfly is as well caught as your dragons and the reflection makes it doubly engaging, as its rear meets the reflection of itself to form a sideways heart shape.
The dog shaking off the water after a swim made me smile. Makes me feel I should step back to keep from getting soaked.
Something about the reflection in the one of the flying cormorant worries my eye, and I wonder if you tried to correct for the grassy growth along the edge, but had to tilt it in the process? If so, I don't know which is more worrisome, a tilted grassy growth or tilted trees in the reflection. I can't see a way to easily correct both. You will have to decide. Perhaps you already fought that battle and decided on this version.
Nice waterfall shots. I prefer the first one because of the detail in the rocks and the flow of the water in the upper level of the falls. The rendering of the summer greenery is another plus in the first one. The partial shadow in the second is a bit of a distraction and I know from experience that shooting waterfalls is hard enough as it is, without Mother Nature throwing you a curve ball with mixed shadow and sunlight. Looks like a lovely place to visit. I looked it up as I'd never heard of it, and it seems like a great photography location.
Excellent choice of angle to make the most of the outstretched arms and upturned nose, and that hand pointing right at the upper left corner. You've got some color shifting going on, which others have pointed out and demonstrated fixes for.
As for editing, the learning experience and investment were well worth it for me. I enjoy editing just as much as I enjoy the camera work. My best pal would rather stick a needle in his eye than edit his photos. Most people fall somewhere in between. It also matters what software you use. There's a variety of free software but it tends to be more limited in what it can do than paid versions. Phone apps are the same, but all phone apps seem to have some limitations. So - not sure what software you are working with. Once you tell us, there's probably someone on here that is familiar with it and can offer more helpful advice to help you get where you're wanting to go.
I use the Adobe photographer's suite, which includes Lightroom and Photoshop, and their companion phone apps. I have a few add-ons, including the NIK suite. On the phone I have Snapseed (free) which is pretty good for a phone ap.
A lovely and simple composition that looks like it could have come from a flower show - clean, simple, white background, totally focused on the specimen at hand (with the extra perk of the X marking the crossing of the branches right at the waterline, and the lower waterline running parallel to the tabletop line. Many subtle compositional devices in this one. Love the comment about "tree in a vase", once you see it you can't unsee it!
