Chat: Back Lighting Weekend Competition 18th Aug- 20th

[Nigel Powles]

Congrats to Sie on the win, great photo.

Ups. Dazler21 A shot that was a contender for my vote, great humour, well lit, a great astral feel to it, well done.

Downs. andydo. All the makings of a good photo but it didnt really do it for me. I feel that the angle you took it at to get the backlight lost some of the possible impact of the location. It would be nice to see the colour version as I feel the backlight might work better.

Middles. Me. Thanks for your kind words andydo When I first saw it on my monitor I thought, nice light, shame its boring. But after a bit I liked the serenity of it so in the mix it went.

What to do this weekend, its going to be a challenge and thats why we are here, thanks Sie.

[Paradise Lost]

Well done on the win Sie great shot and the one I voted for.

Up - Sunflower in the Sun

Nice shot and bang on theme, not much more to say really other than well done eysha.

Down - Perfume

I can see where you were coming from with this one Matt, but it really didn't work for me, sorry.

Would like to thank ARIANA1985, hedgehog, kentlass and Nigel Powles for the votes, appreciated.

[SieSmith]

Thanks again for the congrats and crits. Really appreciated.

My vote, (after much deliberation with Eysha's "Sunflower in the Sun"), went to Jimmyosram's "Good Morning Mary", wonderful landscape shot against the sun. I wish i could do landscapes like you Paul, I'm absolutely hopeless at them. Bang on theme and super sharp. Would have liked to have seen the path appear from the bottom of frame, but then you might have been in the wrong position for that wonderful reflection, so only a very minor crit. Well done.

Up - Jimmyosram - Good Morning Mary
(See above)

Down - Wotcars - White Lily
Good flower shot, nice detail and crisp white background. Was it a lightbox or similar that you shot against? My only crits would have to be the tear in the petal of the left hand flower and the untidy looking dark pollen on the flowers. There is also a bit of red/cyan fringing around the stamens on the left hand flower - I don't know if you tried to correct this during pp or not? Minor crits though in an otherwise very pleasing image.

Mine - Newly Emerged
Got to the pond about 6am to look for dragonflies. Found this one newly emerged from its exuvia which was lower down the reed. Took some photos of it in place and then removed the reed and placed it on a thistle so i could work round it. Got the rising sun coming through the trees to line up behind the dragonfly and took this shot (and many others). Got some macro shots as well and then replaced the reed together with d/fly back into the reed bed where it could continue to dry out and harden its wings and body. PP consisted of cropping, rotating slightly, levels, sharpening and one small bit of cloning to remove a distraction, all from the raw file.

Cheers, Sie

[lesrhar]

Congrats to Sie on the win, and thanks for another challenging theme!

It's difficult for me to crit pics because I feel that I don't know enough to really offer ways of improving the shots, but will give it a bash...

Up: Highlandscenics-Perfume
A great, well executed shot, and a good example of the theme. For me, though, there was just something missing... can't put my finger on what it is exactly. Sorry.

Down: DigDiva-Sunbathing
Also a good example of backlighting, and I like the way the sun lights up the feathers. I found the foliage at the right of the frame a bit distracting; it felt almost as if it were crowding the bird. That can usually be corrected by changing the camera's position, but then you might have lost the backlighting

Thanks for your comments on my pic, DD... you're right, more sofa and less curtain would have improved it immensely. We live and learn

Les

[DigiDiva]

Originally Posted by lesrhar

Congrats to Sie on the win, and thanks for another challenging theme!

It's difficult for me to crit pics because I feel that I don't know enough to really offer ways of improving the shots, but will give it a bash...

Up: Highlandscenics-Perfume
A great, well executed shot, and a good example of the theme. For me, though, there was just something missing... can't put my finger on what it is exactly. Sorry.

Down: DigDiva-Sunbathing
Also a good example of backlighting, and I like the way the sun lights up the feathers. I found the foliage at the right of the frame a bit distracting; it felt almost as if it were crowding the bird. That can usually be corrected by changing the camera's position, but then you might have lost the backlighting

Thanks for your comments on my pic, DD... you're right, more sofa and less curtain would have improved it immensely. We live and learn

Les

Thanks for the crit Lesrhar,it's great to hear other peoples take on your photo. I had no chance of crowding the cygnet as it was a fair way off and I had my biggest lens outwith a fair old zoom. Maybe I cropped a litle too tight. I tried to stick to the rule of 3rds for the cygnet, hence the reeds rather than a closer crop. It was the way the sun lit up the feathers that attracted me to this shot. I was limited to where I could take the shot as I had to avoid the dog walkers, catch the sun at the right angle and not get too close as to scare the birds away. Have submitted the photo to a local paper so hope they print it.

[eysha]

Many thanks for the comments on my entry, i appreciate them and enjoy reading all feedback as it helps me to improve my photographic skills, i hope, lol.
Both of my up and downs were really nice shots. The leaf was very well back lighted as were the below leaves, not sure what they were but they stood out nicely against the light.
Someone commented that they would have liked to see the little green on my Sunflower taken out but i left it in as i added a new colour and a flower without a leaf is odd,lol.
Again thanks to all for the feedback
E.