Walter Lustig

@caimi , @camerasinger, @tomdinning, @fidelito

Now how difficult was that? I included two pieces of constructive criticism about what works in the photo and one about what does.

It’s like teaching kindergarten with you princesses sometimes.

Hi @fidelito,

Thanks again for your helpful suggestions and comments. I didn’t even notice those two tiny leaf elements, but now that you have mentioned it, they are distracting. Yes, I used my 100mm Macro lens, with a shutter speed of 1/160 and an aperture of f/18. When I added a levels adjustment layer in Photoshop to set the white and black…[Read more]

@fidelito, I shot at 1/60 and the lens I used was a 18-55mm lens (Canon EF). I do have some other similar shots but I wasn’t happy with those because the focus is off in areas of the flower.

@redmustang: I see what you mean about the green and white areas being distracting. Thanks for your feedback.

@fidelito: I uploaded 4.5MB; 4000×2300; 300dpi; That’s the biggest file I have of it. What else can I do?
Yes, the watermark is too obtrusive. I like the idea of hand signing and would probably do so on the side of a canvas print.

@mike88: thanks for your 2 cents too! I’d gotten so many positive comments from my post on facebook but I…[Read more]

Hello all,
thanks a lot for your valuable input.
@fidelito: the dull colors were by intention to underline this melancholie. It was a summer day, but I waited until some clouds had covered the sun to avoid a to harsh light. As well the very strong geometrie was fully my intention to focus on the loss of any individuality. The image for me shows…[Read more]

@fidelito – thanks for the suggestions. I have tried all of them. The only fail was getting a shark in the tank – I tried a circling dorsal fin along the edge of the tank just with a bit of dodging (my most sophisticated editing tool is LR4, so options are limited), but it was not convincing. I think your suggested crops were useful. I could not…[Read more]

@fidelito,

Too right about limited time. I was happy enough that the bloke gave me permission to take his portrait from the doorway, so I didn’t want to take too much of his time.

That said, the one thing that I’m not 100% satisfied with is, indeed, his trousers. I had a go at doing isolated exposure increase in ACR, but I found that even a…[Read more]

Pretty much all of what @fidelito said I would agree with. You might also like to fake a gradient filter – you can do that in LightRoom too – just to get a bit more detail into those clouds. Though I suspect you may not need to after following the tips above.

@fidelito The expression “close but no cigar” comes from the practice of giving cigars as prizes in games involving good aim at fairgrounds. It basically means a person failed to attain their objective.

@caimi, I am not sure you CAN separate the technical from the feeling and message of a photo, and how well such are communicated.

This image feels muddy and unclear due to the lack of brightness, and that detracts from the messages you are trying to deliver. (For other messages or in other contexts it might make a photo work).

I think the…[Read more]

yes I agree it does seem a small circle and one with rather specific tastes from what I am getting feedback on and what pictures are posted.

Seeing what the current trends are processing and technique wise I am trying to find what I like and what would have longevity, I don’t want to look at my photos in 25 years time and be able to pinpoint…[Read more]

The lens flare is as occurred naturally in lens, Canon lens coatings try their hardest not to allow flare… had the coatings not done that it would of left me with another leading line or would of ruined the picture entirely we shall never know…

I was trying to recreate some of the canvases that I had bought that are on my walls as they are…[Read more]

More good ideas. I debated about a bottom crop before posting here but I wanted to make the trees seem as tall as possible to emphasize the height of the roosting birds. I will try several different crop combinations to see if any one jumps out at me. I’ll also try cloning out vs cropping the topmost clouds to see if that makes it any easier to…[Read more]

Much prefer the second image as the building on the right tends to balance the shot. Plus I like that extra detail. Pretty much agree with @fidelito on the rest of his points.

It is a different cook, but I notice they pretty much look alike. I will try toning down the wall. Thank you very much, I’m glad you like it @fidelito

You are right @fidelito , it was a candid shot. I approached him and shot from the hip when I got close enough, taking advantage of my wide-angle (28 mm). I totally agree with your comments about the composition, it would have been better to include more background on the right side… Thanks again for your great advice!

Thanks very much for the comments. @fidelito I appreciate the specifics, and applied those to get a different image. Very helpful.

Interesting aside, I put the hi-res version on Flickr so you guys could access it. It was picked up on explore. It’s my 3rd photo to get onto explore, but is far and away my most viewed and most liked photo on…[Read more]

Thanks a lot @stuart54 and @fidelito for your feedback. Your suggestions are very valuable to me. In fact I took this picture as a street portrait with the subject not noticing, so I think a more planned picture would have spoiled the moment. Again, I am thankful for your comments and I will keep them in mind!

Thanks for the feedback guys!

@camerasinger, when you say sharper palm trees do you just mean have a steadier hand (believe I used spot focusing on the trees) or a wider aperture to differentiate between the sharp tree and a out of focus (and hazy) peak?

@fidelito, I don’t really take too much stock in friends and family opinions unless…[Read more]

the big spot is from a dried splash and the other tiny spot is from the dust on the lens and filter, indeed first thing in my mind when i see this is yes just like your thought is a sensor dust, but then i took some picture with different lens the result was bright and clean no spot detected, so I’ve clean up the lens and filter and then take some…[Read more]