3 for 3 on Assignment #5!!!!!!!! Reflections.

CRITIQUE: Linda Jeffers (Reflections)

BRUNCH
Wow. Very sharp, very clear, clean, crisp! This is
a case where you could have easily just blown out
the white gull, but you didn't -- we can still see a
lot of detail in the feathers. Your camera could
have seen all the darkness above the bird and
exposed for that -- meaning that the bird would
have been just a big white blob in your picture. So
kudos on handling a challenging exposure
situation.
I like the darkness up top, but I'm wondering
why. Usually I would say that so much dark space
is heavy and weights down a shot. I think the dark
area, however, is tempered somewhat by the
horizontal line of tan/white stuff, breaking up the
black and dark grey. So with that in mind, I might suggest getting rid of whatever that is in the
upper right corner of the frame (and its attendant reflection) to keep that upper line as clean as
possible.
You should be very proud of this picture -- well done!

(Since this critique I took out the stuff and the stuff's reflection that was in the upper right hand corner.)

LAKESIDE TREES

Hey, you're two for two! I like what you
did here. Your picture consists of a bunch
of triangles pointing this way and that,
giving your picture a great feeling of
movement. The wedge of blue sky moves
our eyes from left to right. The wedge of
land (and its reflection) leads our eye
from right to left. (But the trees
themselves have a sort of eastward slant
to them, which counteracts the previous
movement.) And then there's a wedge of
water which leads our eye from left to
right. (I hope that all made sense. Me? I'm
dizzy at this point.)

(I took a photo below of the photo my teacher had inserted in this critique showing the triangles.)

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that
you've created "arrows" that lead our eye
back and forth. It's a good effect.
Isn't it interesting how dark the
reflections are compared to the land,
trees, and sky? It's important to
remember this when we shoot.
Your exposure is good, and so's your
focus. The only thing that's interrupting
the flow of your picture (but really not
that much) is the mass of darkness on the
far lower right. I think maybe some foreground foliage cluttered up your clean reflection a bit,
but it's not overly obtrusive. Good eye for spotting this scene. You handled it well.

ME, IN A WINDOW, IN A WINDOW

And there you are, way down low, a tiny
little Linda peering out . . .
You had a couple of options here in that
in addition to this version, you could
have zoomed in tighter and filled your
frame with just the window. Would that
have been better? Not necessarily. By
moving farther back, by using a widerangle
lens, you're telling more of a story.
You've got that fantastic melaleuca (?)
leaning off to our left with a large branch
curving to the right, seemingly
embracing the window. Then you've got
the window with its echoing arching
element above it. And then there's you,
with the tree branch arching overhead
again, only in warmer tones.
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel . . . you're protected by a tree, by an arch,
and by a reflection of a tree. (Too bad the tree couldn't protect you from camera thieves, but I
digress . . .)
What's also kind of neat is how the surroundings are in shade, but the reflection is a sunny one!
Three good pictures, Linda. Kudos to you.
Carol Leigh