* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #860 / Revived #080 on 2024 10 09 *

Lovely peaceful portrait chock full of well-aligned compositional curves that enhance each other. Well done.

I love this kind of found-composition made up of ordinary things. A metal chair, some fall leaves, some shadows. Permanence vs impermanence, with subdued colors and contrasting textures. Also the opportunity to mull over symbols - the bars suggest confinement, the shriveled leaves suggest the end of life. Lots to think about inside this one.

An unusual choice for a portraiture subject but indeed you have done it a favor by capturing this well, with all its intricate details. It tells a story of its own travels and travails - the scars and cracks of a life lived unprotected, and in a way representative for any life shaped by forces outside itself. Nicely done.

Nice fall colors in a well captured public outdoor cafe scene.

Another beautiful bird I don't have here. All sharply caught with nice detail and color in the bird and even in the nice texture of his chosen perch. The first and third are my favorites for expression and posture. The last one might benefit from raising the shadows just a bit (more?) though sometimes that can create new problems to solve. Well done.

Nice shots but they all look better when the shadows are lifted a little.

Thank you Chris.

Thank you minniev.

Rainy Day in China

I have been sorting through scanned slides this week and this was of one taken in Suzhou in 1984, whilst sheltering from a heavy shower.

Pete

Bird photography is tricky, especially as here when you are shooting a mix of a bird at rest and other moments where the wings are beating. Often it becomes a choice between feather and eye detail, freezing motion or having some blur that conveys motion. The photographer's eternal choice.

Then there is the size of the image that the viewer looks at. Viewing the image at a larger size often fills in the details. especially fine details like plumage, that are lost when viewed at smaller size. Take shot two. Seen at the smaller size, yes it needs the shadows raised. Seen at large size, no. All the needed detail is there and the deeper shadows give more drama to the uplifted wing. While talking about shot 2, the repetition of shape between the wing and the top of the stump, plus the joint diagonal line, is visually pleasing.
Shot 1 would benefit from a small amount of shadow lift. The bird is stationary and I feel there is more expectation from the viewer to see those details. This is where the dilemma of camera settings happens. From the exif, you are set up to catch movement. As the hawk is stationary, more light in exposure could have fixed the shadows. That's easy to say looking at the images later but it isn't realistic for the photographer in the field at the time so therefore, yes, shadow raising PP is the way to go. But not much, you are already at iso 800 with an APS-C sensor.
Shot 3. I'd leave as is. The shadows give roundness and when viewed large, still have plenty of detail. As well as the wing like stump end, I like the hint of movement along the wings while the head remains steady.
Shot 4, perhaps crop in a little as there is a lot of space available. I'd raise the shadows a little but only on the top of the stump, not the bird.
Shot 5. You are at 1/1300 sec and your bird has decided to remain stationary. This is a candidate for a little shadow lifting as well.
A series around a hawk being harassed by a plover has loads of promise. It's nice that your hawk has developed a measure of trust with you.

It depends to some extent on how the shadows are enhanced.

All the bird shots benefit from raising the shadows, even when viewed at full size.

Some of last night's Aroura.

Does an artist look at your picture and say pass me that brush and I'll fix it for you? Damn right they do, at least one I know of was famous for it. Plus you can't expect to create 1000's of digital copies and not expect at least one person to draw a comedy 'tash and glasses on it.

Help yourself... I'd let you have one of the RAW files but have no way of posting it that I know of.

Cool self-portrait. Say hi to Suzette for me.

My oldest old slides are from that same era.
I like this one a lot.
It is all about atmosphere more than subject.
My first-glance, sideways superficial look at it (scrolling down the page rapidly) was, strangely, that it was a completely different scene than a rainy street.
That initial impression was of an operation room / surgery theatre, where a patient was lying (bottom left), waiting for the doctors and nurses (just above him/her) in their surgery robes to get going. And then I saw the umbrella.

Lovely abstract that somehow says rain, colours really work well in this.

I have had a closer look at the "spekeldy" stuff you mentioned but being on the bottom edge of the image, it doesn't really concern me. I didn't even notice it until you mentioned it in your post.

Thanks for pointing it out though 😊

Yeah, and he was damn good at it if we are talking about the same artist 🙂

Just to be clear, those are my feelings regarding only how you may treat my images in my post. Just as valid as any other photographers opinion about their images which should also be respected.