Hi again! I've decided to put up some more pictures. Like always, critiques are eagerly welcome. Encouragement is awesome, too! Let me know what you think.
Stump
Spoiler
Mushroom
Spoiler
Ground Squirrel
Spoiler
Fence Through Trees
Spoiler
Train
Spoiler
Fern
Spoiler
"The grasshopper!... Mind the grasshopper!... A grasshopper not only turns, it hops!... It hops!... And it hops jolly high!" ~Erik, The Phantom of the Opera
Hi phantom of the potter! I am so glad that you put out more of your work!!
1 Is a bit blurry, but i like the idea of it. I like dead old trees that are twisted and broken.
2 I love how good the camera is focused on the mushroom!
3 so pretty! I love the background, but it's a little blurry.
4 This one is really cool, with all the brush and branches by it.
5 I like it, but the green fence is too new for my taste. It would of been nice if it was beat up a bit.
6beautiful, the ferns look so real!
You have so much talent! May I ask where these pictures were taken? I would love to live where these pictures were taken! Keep up the great work!
Jungle
Charlie Bucket: You can eat the grass? Willy Wonka: Of course you can! Everything in this room is eatable, even *I'm* eatable! But that is called "cannibalism," my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.
Hi phantom of the potter! Well these are just amazing!
Stump
Well, that is just one phenomenal stump! I love the color quality of the greens and browns; they make it seem so misty, almost like something you'd find in the movie Avatar.
Mushroom
This is an excellent view of a mushroom! I love the white dots of light in the background. I detest photography when it is of a very pretty item, but taken in such a bland, direct manner. You managed to scoot around that and make an ordinary object extraordinary! I applaud you!
Ground Squirrel
Wow. I can never manage to capture photos of animals; they scatter away the moment I hit the shutter button and just before the camera reacts to my command. Man, you must have one awesome camera!
Fence Through Trees
The first time I saw this, I thought that that branch in front of the left-hand tree was part of the fence. Somewhat of an optical illusion here.
Train
Beautiful! Such a classic-looking train! I might recommend cropping out the house; it distracts the viewer from the train.
Fern
Quite frankly, I wasn't too crazy about this one. Yeah, it's a fern. Coolio. Maybe you could try photographing it at some cool angles, like you did with the mushroom.
These are really amazing! You have a lot of talent. I love the detail and quality of all these pictures.
My favorite is the mushrooms. I don't know why, but they just look really professional and nice. Though, if I had a relatively bad thing to say, the Fern picture seemed a bit normal and didn't really come up to par with the others. It was still very nice and crisp, but something about it just seems plain.
Again, you have a lot of talent and I wish I could be half as good as you in my photos.
Wow! These are incredible! What camera are you using? Did you edit these at all? They're beautiful!
Stump: I love the colors of this photo. The greens and browns are gorgeous, and they're not too dull or too bright. The sky seems a bit off, though - it almost looks yellow? It's not that big of a deal, but it just caught my attention. The angle on this one is nice, too. It's not head-on, but it's also not too abstract that it distracts from the picture. Great job!
Mushroom: My favorite. This picture is absolutely stunning. The angle is amazing, the colors couldn't be better, and the focus/clarity is brilliant. I have nothing negative to say about this one. It's beautiful! The circles of confusion in the background really help bring it together.
Ground Squirrel: Hehe, this is cute. The water in the background is lovely, and the squirrel itself is adorable. My only suggestion with this one would be to crop out the bottom right corner, so that we don't have that large black thing just sitting there. It's a bit distracting. But otherwise this picture is lovely.
Fence Through Trees: This might be my least favorite of the group, but in no way does that mean I dislike it, exactly. It just seems a bit busy to me, and perhaps a bit plain. The colors are nice, but the angle isn't anything special and it's a bit hard to really focus on any one thing. But your clarity is great, and again the colors are beautiful.
Train: I'm not a huge fan of this picture, either. I do very much like the smoke/steam coming from the train, and the train itself, but the houses and poles in the background are distracting and take away from the beauty of the train. Maybe had you gotten closer, or zoomed in on the train it would have been better. This isn't a bad picture, but it's just not my favorite.
Fern: I do like this one. Quite a bit, actually. The colors and lighting is spectacular. The angle is good, and the fern isn't centered. My only problem with this one is the wooden fence/railing? behind the fern. It's distracting and doesn't feel like it fits in with the rest of the picture. It feels like it's all about the beauty of nature, and then you see the fence, which is clearly manmade. But otherwise, I do like this picture.
All in all, these are truly wonderful. You have talent! I'd love to see more photos from you in the future!
-May
Be the cartoon heart. Light a fire, light a spark. Light a fire, flame in my heart. We'll run wild, we'll be glowing in the dark.
I love these! the mushroom was amazing and the angle made it great. How did you take it? I personally dislike the train the most, because its a machine. It just gives me a different mood. I liked the fence through trees, though i think you could have tried to get more of the fence and less of the trees and ocean. My absolute favorite was the squierrl. He was so cute and the contrast between the post and the green plants is very appealing.
Keep it up, you are an amazing photographist. P.S- have you ever tried people? I have, its really interesting what you can do with figures. You should try it and see if it is fun.
When all you have is nothing, there is alot to go around.
To answer Maybe's question - (I think I mentioned this on my other thread, but I should have said it here as well. My mistake.) I have a Nikon D3000 SLR camera. My pictures may/may not have been edited in Picasa. It depends on the picture, really. There's a couple I know I didn't touch, a couple I know I messed with a little, and a couple that I really don't remember.
To answer Emmylou's question - I literally stuck my camera into the grass and pressed the shutter button. I have a couple different angles, but this was the one that looked best to me.
"The grasshopper!... Mind the grasshopper!... A grasshopper not only turns, it hops!... It hops!... And it hops jolly high!" ~Erik, The Phantom of the Opera
Okay.. so for once, I think I'm going to attempt to say something for each one of these. Something I don't think I have ever done before. You should feel pretty honored. You get to listen to my rambles more than anyone else.
STUMP
So.. I think that this could have had better focus on it.. it's not quite clear, and so does not stick out as much as I would like it to.. it fades just a little bit into the background. Next time, make sure the shot is crystal clear before you take it. Maybe if you play with the exposition a bit more, it will help bring it out as the focal point. Perhaps also some play with the colors.
MUSHROOM I really like this one.. I think it could have been better if the focus was rather on the mushroom than the grasses though, as it's supposed to be the focal point. Also, I find the pieces of blurred grass over the entire picture rather distracting. The blurred circles in the background (I can't figure out what they are, haha) are great. I love them. They're like.. little bubble of happiness. c:
GROUND SQUIRREL I'm going to be very blunt with this one.
I love this. Colors, contrast, focus, framing, lighting: Perfect.
FENCE THROUGH TREES I'm honestly not crazy about this one. Again, I think it could have been more in focus, and overall.. I dunno. Just not feeling it. I DO love the fence though. The angle is great. I think you could have omitted the trees.. they're distracting and out of focus.
TRAIN I like this photo, but I think it could use some more editing. Perhaps some exposition/color/contrast play, some sharpening.. this just looks like a photo for playing. Nice shot.
FERN Not crazy about it.. there's nothing in this photo that really grabs at me. It's kind of bland. The framing isn't excellent, the subject isn't very interesting, the colors are rather dull. Photography is about making people see things in different ways, about making other experience emotion. This doesn't do either of those things for me. Sorry.
Overall-- realllly good job. LOVE THE GROUND SQUIRREL. Seriously.
