 |
| Train
Spotting |
| Mark says:
When I first saw this shot, I was a little surprised! But it was a pleasant
one! It’s a great capture, exposed well, with a good depth of field around the engine. The lamp in the foreground is perhaps a little distracting, but non the less I like this shot. |
| Ron says:
Nice idea with good colour, but a little more depth of field would have
helped. The signal gantry is a little bit of a distraction and I would like to have seen it cropped out. |
 |
| Yellow
Magnolia |
| Mark says:
Another super shot, that is very well exposed and a background bokeh (Blur)
that is first rate, making the flower separate from the background beautifully. It’s a shame the leaf in the top of the image is just behind the top most of the flower. |
| Ron says:
Good colour with just a slight distraction from the leaves at top left. The way the background colour changes in line with the stem is a neat touch. |
 |
| Calla
Lilly |
| Mark says:
Another excellent shot, this time low key. I might have been tempted to
clone the last remnants of the green at the bottom of the shot to make
the background uniform in colour. I also noticed that the very top tip of the flower is just out of focus, but the rest of the flower is very well exposed, leaving the white of the tips of the flower still with detail. |
| Ron says:
Great shot and it is difficult to give any crit. On this but, here goes. There is a blob of green at the bottom right that would be better out. This photograph has the wow factor. |
 |
| Squirrel |
| Mark says:
A delightful shot of the squirrel which is obviously very tame. The is
quite a nice diagonal line running from bottom left through the squirrels
body and eye, which helps the composition and makes it work for me, despite
being fairly central. Colour and detail are very good, with the fur being well defined. A good effort. |
| Ron says:
Good focus and colour with only a light crop to remove the horizontal
part of the railing to make it better. There is nice separation of the foreground and the background. |
 |
| Through
a drop |
| Mark says: The idea for this shot is first class. The detail down through the drop, of I assume the path is very good, unfortunately the house is not in clear enough focus, and the chromatic aberration on the bottom of the drop is excessive – though I’m sure it could have been removed fairly easily in post-processing. |
| Ron says:
A great shot but spoiled by digital noise and fringing . The focus is
very soft . It is a shame because I wanted to like it. |
 |
| Chilled
Beer - WINNER |
| Mark says:
This is another great idea, but this time has been very well done, with
perfect exposure and with good depth of field, only just starting to go
OOF after the large water droplet. The only criticism is that unless you are a lover of beer, would you know what it is without the title. But that is very minor and is nit picking! Good shot. |
| Ron says:
Good colour and focus with just the right amount of depth of field. It would be better if the lettering at top right was cropped out as it distracts the eye. It is hopped the cold contents of the can did not go to waste. |
 |
| Skirlaugh
|
| Mark says:
Another well exposed shot of the house and the sky. I think I would have
cloned the lamppost out of the shot, top left. I would also have liked to have seen the house vertical! It is learning back too much for architecture, and not enough to be deliberate. This is another easy correction during post production. |
| Ron says:
A good range of reds and browns from the brick work with the road leading
the eye into the scene . The shot has one or two distractions that could be sorted. Remove the lamp post head at top left then straighten the gable end of the house. |
 |
| Goose |
| Mark says:
A good technical shot of the head of a goose. It might be the resizing
for the web, but the feathers lack a little detail, particularly around
the neck. The bokeh is quite nice on this shot, although the light circle
(Well hexagon!) below its beak is a little distracting. The eye looks to be nice and sharp though, and that is the important bit to get right in this sort of shot. |
| Ron says:
If a goose can look aristocratic and bored at the same time this is the
goose. It seems to be posing but resenting it so lifting this from just
another goose. The highlight in the eye is a little distracting and some of the beak a little soft. A good soft background with just the right amount of hue. |
 |
| Boating
Lake |
| Mark
says: An excellent shot of the boats moored up on the side of the lake.
Very strong diagonals which take the eye nicely through the shot. The exposure is spot on, and compiled with the excellent, vivid colours make the shot for me. Has to be one of the top contenders. |
| Ron says:
I like the composition of the boats and the colours of the wood but, what
a fussy distracting background. If most of this was removed and the emphasise placed on the boats it would make a stronger picture. |
 |
| Swan |
| Mark says:
An interesting, tightly copped shot of the swan. I’m not sure it
wasn’t a bit too tight at the bottom, as there appears to be a little
bit of reflection that would have been nice to see. Possibly my monitor but the leading edges of the wings seem to be a little over exposed, which is a shame as it’s a beautiful bird. |
| Ron says:
A good action shot but just not sharp enough. A little more shadow would help as well. |
 |
| Road
Bridge |
| Mark says:
It’s a shot that certainly has a strong line for the eye to follow! I do have a slight problem deciding what the author was trying to show. The bridge under belly is a little too dark to see it in its full detail; and the boat has no room to sail into. The shot has a lot going for it, the sky is well exposed, but I think that has fooled the meter into under exposing the bridge slightly. |
| Ron says: A good crisp bright shot with a nice sky. If the shot had been taken a minute later the ship would have been out of shot then you would see the bridge in more isolation and in all its splendour. |
 |
| Grasmere
- THIRD |
| Mark says:
Good composition and good depth pf field. I like the subject and has been
well thought out. A little bit of purple fringing on the trees over the sky, but almost any lens will suffer that under the conditions. May have had a better sky with a ND grad filter, to balance the exposure of the sky with the foreground. Overall though a pleasant shot. |
| Ron says:
Ideal country setting, house, river, bridge but crying out for an interesting
sky to be added. There is good foreground, mid-ground and background just darken the blacks to real black. |
 |
| Causeway |
| Mark says:
An interesting shot that would have suited the Perspective competition
last month! This shot has a nicely detailed sky, well balanced with the rest of the shot. The diagonals do lead the eye into the picture stopping at the people – which a really too small for a focal point. Good effort though. |
| Ron says:
I know this causeway but have never photographed it. The low position the shot is taken from gives it a nice feel. There is a nice sky that is mirrored in the rock pools which is nice. I would crop the space between the uprights on the right then the eye has no place to go but into the scene. |
 |
| Street
Scene |
| Mark says:
Another shot that would have been worthy of the Perspective competition.
It looks like the shot was taken through glass, which has left a few marks.
I’m not sure the green sign on the left was planned to be sat on
the thirds, but it keeps drawing my eye to it. The buildings are pretty much vertical, which is good, with just a little barrel distortion, which would be easy to correct. I find the glare a little distracting in some ways, but in others it does make the picture more interesting. |
| Ron says:
This looks as if it is taken through glass so suffers because of this. There is a lot of distraction by the sun glinting from the cars and the rather large road sign. |
 |
| Batphone |
| Mark says:
Its good to see a fun picture in the competition! Mind you I can’t
help thinking the guy in the middle looks a lot more worn out than the
other two in the suits! The shutter speed has been nicely selected to give a sense of movement with the feet being a nice blur. |
| Ron says: Great fun photo that would go with a thousand great captions. Take out the phone and the striped tape and then it could be a be even more fun. |
 |
| Shield
Bug - SECOND |
| Mark says: This one is mine, so I’ll say nothing, except it was taken in the garden! |
| Ron says:
Well done on this one, the colours are great with a nice dark background. I Hate Bugs. It just feels a little of balance because of its antenna thingy. |
 |
| Packwood
House |
| Mark says: My second entry. Taken at about 4:30 in the morning. |
| Ron says:
A good subject but it seems so flat. I so wanted to add more contrast
, more shadow to give it a lift. The path through the grass on the right leads the eye nicely into the scene. |
 |
| Banking
Spitfire |
| Mark says:
I would have liked to have seen a little more plane and a little less
sky in this shot. The plane is also a little blurred, which might be due to the shooter not panning through the shot. |
| Ron says: It looks a bit lost in all that sky and there is no sensation of movement. To get it as clear as it is against the sky is great. |
 |
| Wing
Vapour |
| Mark says:
I prefer this shot to the previous one, due to the size of the aircraft
in the frame. I would have preferred the plane lower down in the frame
and it does also look as if the shooter has again not panned through the
shot. I do like the way the afterburners can be seen to be powering the plane upwards. |
| Ron says:
The angle of the plane and the glow from what I take to be the after burners
suggests lots of speed. One mainly for the enthusiast I would have thought. |