Finals Assignment pics for comments

[midimick]

I've just about finished my final assignment (just got the portrait to do). Here is what I have come up with for the other five pics. Any comments, hints, critiques, adivce, etc is greatly appreciated.

http://midimick.com/photos/assignment/kayaks.jpg
Action shot: Some kids in Kayaks. Was taken on a very cloudy day. Used photoshop to change the water from grey to blue.

http://midimick.com/photos/assignment/abstract.jpg
Abstract shot: The roots of a tree, coloured for effect.

http://midimick.com/photos/assignment/bushsunset.jpg
Landscape: A sunset through the trees in the Australian bush.

http://midimick.com/photos/assignment/alexpub.jpg
B & W: The Alex Hills hotel, lit up at night.

http://midimick.com/photos/assignment/newstead.jpg
City at night: Across the river to Brisbane city behind historic Newstead House.

[prochman]

They all look great to me.

[mvandenburg]

I'll take a stab at it.
Your farther along on the class than I but I hope this is helpful anyways.

The first shot I would crop in closer and take out the second kid. He just makes my eye wander and having his paddle cut off makes it look like the shot was not composed correctly.

The second shot is very cool. That must have taken some time on the PP but it looks cool. Maybe a little out of focus or that might just be from the effect.

The third shot I love but there are too many branches and leaves taking away from the sunset.

The fourth shot in B&W is absolutely stunning! I love the composition and the framing. This is my favorite shot in the series.

The fifth shot needs noise reduction and looks a little out of focus.

[coffee]

Did the images get taken down? Can't see any of them.

[mvandenburg]

I can see them fine, maybe down for a bit then back up.

Did you edit the last shot? Looks less noisy on my office computer (not calibrated).

[midimick]

No - I've not touched them since first posted. They link off to my own webspace, which as far as I know, has not been down for the last few months.

Mick

[Pat]

Hi midimick. On the firstI would have cropped (either in cam, during the shot, or pp, if possible) a bit to the left to include all of both boys (nice converging lines in the kayaks), and to eliminate the left paddle's bleeding off the pic. Aso a little tighter crop towards the stern of the right kayak, but inclusive of the water off the paddle, would assist in overall balance. Also, I would tone down the saturation in the water a little to a more realistic (believable) hue. Doing so would have the added bonus of bringing the subjects (the boys and kayaks) more to the fore instead of competing with the water for attention.
In the second (roots) again the colour is super-saturated but you might get away with it here given the abstract nature of the composition. More problematic here is the lack of sharp focus. I quite like the idea and the composition otherwise, though.
The third (silhouetted leaves), while potentially gorgeous, might have benefited from stopping down your lens a little more in order to bring the tree trunks into focus, When shooting silhouettes, it is generally important to have as many ellements of the silhouette in focus as possible. Love the colour in the sky .
I quite like the black and white. Nice tonality.
With the last, a couple of points, Again, the focus seems off. If you are relying on auto focus here, af in notoriously unreliable in low light situations, and sometimes just in general usage. I think I would have liked a little off the bottom and a little more on the top, crop-wise, too.
Hope this has been of some help. I see a lot of potential here and quite like your eye for what makes an interesting photo. Master a few remaining technical details and you're off to the races. Best of luck on your final assignment.

[Kaye]

Hi Mick,
I would like to tell you that I think that your shot of the Alex Hills Hotel is beautiful. I am no expert of black and white, but this is really nice. (I did have thoughts about cropping a slight amount from the top, but not sure).
Your next shot of "City at Night" does seem slightly out of focus. Did you use a tripod for this shot?