51NAH

Thanks all for your feedback, its been interesting the comments I have gotten on this image, from the 3 forums I have posted it on.

Ballzafire I'm interested in your comment. It may help to know my resoning behind the shot?

My intention was to capture the ant without any distractions in the shot, keeping it simple. Such a little creture in a big world, so this shot was solely about the ant and his journey in life. That is why I cropped the way I did, giving him room for his journey but leaving a large portion of sunset sky to still portray the small size of the ant.

A lot of people have suggested cropping the image before I told them my thoughts behind the shot, what are your thoughts now?

Heres a ISO 400 shot for you, straight out of camera. 1/2 second at f/10 using 100mm Macro lens

Here is a 100%crop of the image, excuse the reflection!!

I like this one Vulc: lots of potential for good "captions".

Agreed, wonder what shes thinking?

I like this shot Vulcan, and the others of Halloween you took.

Looks like its bigger in Th than Aus.

Here is one I took late one afternoon of an ant on his journey along my fence as the sun was going down.

The shadow in the sky is a light storm cloud in the distance.

I have deliberately broken the rule of 3rds, this crop is the look I was going for, not having the ant taking up a larger portion of the image.

As always, Constructive Criticism is welcomed.

One thing I will point out now, as others have probably noticed, seems you have a pubic hair on your sensor.

How long since you had it cleaned?

i have been thinking a lot today about a considered and helpful reply to you questions regarding your peacock image but having seen the above post i am guessing that may be i have wasted my time......... do you think so ?

I'm truly flattered that you spent much of your day thinking of ways to be helpful, I think the peacock thread has run its course though, would you agree?

One thing I will point out now, as others have probably noticed, seems you have a pubic hair on your sensor.

How long since you had it cleaned?

This image could have been a stunner if you used a tripod and a long exposure instead of trying to hand hold it. As it is now, unpleasant to the eye. Good try though.

First of all, I don't think it's a good try at all. I think yumi is trying to stir things up. Beware.

Maybe, maybe not.

Having looked over the OP's previously posted shots it looks on par.

Yumi would you mind sharing your intentions on what you were trying to convey, so we can assist you with CC?

I like the composition of this one Fred. The expresions on their faces are quite emotive.

Is this part of a ceremony or something?

yes......Loy Kratong

http://www.demotix.com/news/khom-loy-thai-hot-air-balloons

Ah cool, never seen them release this size balloon!! lol

I like the composition of this one Fred. The expresions on their faces are quite emotive.

Is this part of a ceremony or something?

Critique or Insult

What constitutes an insult

If the idea of this sub forum is to critique a subject, whether comments are bad or good, surely you must accept positive or negative response no matter what, if the opinion of another is neither abusive or disrespectful and if the comment is made in plain language about the subject and not the person it is a critique and with this in mind I offer you the following pro active remarks

Its all about your delivery, which as you can clearly see, leaves a lot to be desired.

If you can give me specifics on what I can improve on thats great, everyone wants to know how to improve. Don't simply put my image down because YOU don't like it.

I will be kind and say that in your anger you have misunderstood my point. I was trying to help you understand the creative process of taking a photograph. We have a history of images based on our experience stored in our mind that we consciously or subconsciously use as a reference point to view a scene that we intend to record and make into a photograph. My point is that it is better to use your own development of ideas of images, the ones that you keep as your best, learning to edit and delete the ones that are bad, as opposed to that of others that have been taken by someone else. I was taught this by a genius, one of Australias most gifted composers of modern classical music who refused to listen to 'bad' music of any kind, and he taught me to develop my own view, unaffected by others

Now this is what irks me most.

You are making a lot of assumptions about myself as a person, and my thought process as a photographer.

Lets talk about the subject (Peacock) first. Can you tell me what experience I have had in the past that leads me to take this specific photo? I certainly can't! This was my first time photographing Peacocks, having rarely coming into contact with the (other than the zoo).

I cannot recall seeing a similar image in a mag before either (Sorry not a Nat Geo reader).

My thought process when taking this photo was to capture the beauty and symmetry of the plumage, which IMO I did very well, and uncropped I might add.

So yes there was thought that went into the shot, based on what I wanted to achieve, not plagiarising or using someone elses ideas.

Yes this is my own view, which this particular photo exemplifies.

It has got to do with mind set, you ask if you can not photograph an animal without being labeled a plagiarist, that's a bit silly is it not and highlights your misunderstanding. You can take any picture of animals you like as long as it comes from your own view of things and not from someone else

Look at Max Dupains work, not to copy but to understand his view and how you can develop your own, its obvious that you have not looked or even tried to understand my previous comments and have been too swayed by others on these pages who rant about insults to cover their own unfortunate view

Good luck I wish you the best

I understand your comments completely, I do think you are making assumptions about myself, my thought process, my life experience in photography.

I first picked up a DSLR 5 months ago having no prior experience or studies in photography. I am studying techniques, reading up on current and past photographers, and generally learning what I can.

In the future please don't respond to my threads with disparaging comments.

Most importantly try not to treat other novice photographers this way. Unfortunately its discouraging comments like this than can crush someones desire to persevere with this medium.

If you can help me improve by giving me specific details on what I could have tried on a specific shot (ie: "try using a faster shutter speed to........") thats great.

Thanks for the well wishes.

the first shot is not nice at all....... blue and green should never be seen

the second is surreal

Having said that, I have seen your second shot of the frontal peacock before, a national geographic mag of some time ago perhaps.

What you have exhibited is called as plagiarism. Subconsciously or consciously we take the next picture from our memory bank of pictures that is stored in our mind, if we have a full and bad collection stored some continue to take bad pictures as has been well demonstrated by certain members of this sub forum who continue to loose the point of a subject being important in landscapes, as an example

You can choose to delete these bad images and search for new and refreshing ideas as did the likes of Max Dupain who looked at the aussie surf and its icons and captured images not previously seen before on any chocolate box

Its up to you, copy some trite image of the past, or forget what you have seen and launch into the unknown and expose a new way of looking at things

Yumi you seem to thrive on giving derogatory comments, if you have nothing worthwhile to say then why bother??

The fact that you liken this shot to a Nat Geo mag is great, but plagiarism?? Get a grip!!

To say someone who takes a frontal shot of a peacock like I have, is solely mimicking another photographers work, now come on!!

Does that mean I cannot photograph an animal without risk of plagiarising? Heaven forbid a similar shot has been taken in the past by someone else!!

Also refering to a Nat Geo image as trite?? Perhaps you should think before you type??

Assuming you are now down from your soapbox, do you have anything proactive to say??

Thank you Kan Win.

Happy to share!

I only remember seeing a couple of Peacocks during my travels in Thailand, and from memroy they weren't as stunning as the ones here.

I would love to photograph a pure white one but I fear they are quite rare.

I got one when they first came out here in Aus, personally I love it!

Previously was using the 450D (which I still have) and the 7D is a much better camera in every way.

Have not used a full frame before so cant comment on the likes of 5DII, but IMO the 7D lives up to the hype.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

not bad overall, would be nice to see an ant or spider (i know not easy) to add a sense of scale. it's just rain drops and needs something more to make it 'wow' IMO.

cheers

edit to add, I did a little crop and now in my eyes it almost looks like the tree is crying

Yeah where are the ants when you need 'em!!

I do agree a little critter would have added to the impact of the shot, they were nowhere to be seen unfortunately.

Interesting "crying crop", what about this version??

Yesterday we had our first real rain for many months, during a small break I popped out to the garden and snapped a few shots.

Shot with my new toy 7D, 100mm Macro lens, f/8, 1/200 shutter, ISO 1600.

As always Constructive Criticism welcome.

Thanks for the feedback, appreciate the comments.

the first shot is not nice at all....... blue and green should never be seen

the second is surreal

Ahhhh well perhaps you should tell the peacock??

Looks like both shots are blue and green to me.

Oh... and thanks.

critique

noun

a critique of North American culture analysis, evaluation, assessment, appraisal, appreciation, criticism, review, study, commentary, exposition, exegesis.

Both shots are "chocolate box" trite

trite |trīt|

adjective

(of a remark, opinion, or idea) overused and consequently of little import; lacking originality or freshness : this point may now seem obvious and trite.

You seem to be missing the point....

Constructive criticism is welcomed, dejecting comments are not.

But not to worry, your comments are taken with a grain of salt.

Nice use of light Vulcan and good use of DOF.

I have been conpemplating getting a 24 L down the track, I imagine it would be the perfect indoor, close quarters lens??

I like it very much, and I'm not particularly a fan of B&W, but it works here. And, I think it's great that you snapped as everyone's focus was a common thing -- the food boat.

Since the title is Lunch Along The River, you could almost miss the river aspect. Slightly different cropping?

Agree about the crop to allow more of the river in the foreground, but as I was in boat as well things were happening fast. Also I use a 50D which is not full frame, so it reduces the wide angle on my Canon 24-105mm lens by a crop factor of 1.6. Dear Santa, can I have a Canon 7D for Christmas?

Nice shot, works for me.

Hey the 7D is still a 1.6 crop, but dam_n fine camera!! I'm enjoying mine!!

Nice photos.

Wimpy waves.

Thanks mate, lucky for me the waves were small, any bigger and there would have been too much shadow in the shot and possibly blur from more speed in the surfer

I like the first shot best. Beautiful colors, very good focus, sharp!

What camera, aperture, ISO ?

Cheers.

The first shot was taken with my 450D using Canon 70-200 2.8 (non IS) handheld, f/2.8, 1/100 second exposure, ISO 200, at 135mm.

Thanks angiud for your comments, #2 is my favourite from this series I did, I have a framed 20"x30" metalic print hanging on my loungeroom wall.

Thanks James, I was pretty happy with it.

Here are a couple more recent shots from the Gold Coast.

These Peacocks roam free in a park between a main highway and the beach, they are clearly not worried about human presence.

Before anyone asks, no they arent stuffed! lol

Thanks for the Welcome back Kan Win, has been a while

Glad you like the shots. When my knowledge of post processing tecniques improves I will revisit the Raw files and see what I can do

PS. was no need to remove yumi's post, I have no problem with self public humiliation

I liked both the photos.

No need to stick to rules once you understand the basics (which you clearly do) and are looking for your own shot... They both convey a lot of atmosphere which is good considering the subject matter can appear boring (due to over exposure ).

Actually, coming over the river tonight I saw the most spectacular sun I've ever seen in bangkok. It was bright red with a thin layer of cloud floating across the center - truly spectacular, so I was particularly in the mood for your lovely shots this evening...

Thank you jasreeve, yes I have my head around the basics now, 5 months experience with my DSLR now.

I hope you had your camera with you to shoot that sunset!

nice lighting. for the first one, it needs some cropping and something to bring out a little more detail in the shadows, really hard to see the swimmer / surfer.

For the second one would have changed the angle to have the surfer directly in line with the sun's reflection. Anyways, I gave them a little crop for fun... see below. cheers

Thanks for the feedback and CC.

I do agree having more detail in the first and the surfer being sharper works better but I found it difficult not to blow the highlights and lose detail. Next time I will bracket and see how that goes.

In the second I deliberatly "placed" the surfer just out of the suns reflection as this was the look I was going for. Having him in the reflection would have worked equally well IMO just wanted this to be a bit different.

Cheers

Kurnell I hadn't even thought about the similarities you can see in this shot, but hey that was a great movie in its time.

Cobra thanks for your feedback, I know what you mean re rule of thirds and putting the surfer slightly more left in frame would balance. I chose to place him where I did in the frame as it gives him room to move, having him closer to the left didn't quite work for me. Cheers

Yumi, you truly are in a league of your own