GB111

It has been awhile since I posted. A 2020 morning pic of the Imperial Sand Dunes in SE California. Yes, I did swap out the background with a better one since I didn't find the sunrise lighting very exciting that day. Does this image pop enough? gb

It is scary how shots can be ignored like that, esp with digital photography! They're free to take and we come home with hundreds or thousands - who has time to review them all?

It's funny how we can take photos and not even process them for 7 years. Joshua Tree California, 2013. It was a bit overcast but I was able to get something out of it via use of HDR. A nice side story is here is put down my camera bag while hiking and paced a bit to get some shots, then couldn't find the bag. I eventually found it, but not until I spend about 20-30 min walking in circles and calling myself an idiot. A few years later I did the same in AZ, only much worse! I will write on that one some other time.

Interesting shot. The composition works, neither too close or too far away. The bee adds to the image. Suggested improvements: - A flatter angle. This one may be too close to straight down which, while it can work, usually isn't the most interesting angle. - the lighting is a tad harsh. Shoot with the sun a little lower on the horizon, or with more overcast. I like the darkness in the back, which tends to bring the flower fwd! The pink works.

Extremely artistic. Looks like a painting. Good job, and consider making a metal print. GB

Thank you Luc. I know... sometimes I find myself snapping for the sake of it, taking obvious images that bring nothing new to the table. I think part of it is digital photography where the shots are essentially free. If I were shooting film - which is crazy exp now - then no way Gb

Atpaula, these are spectacular. I think the black and white works. You can see where the ones with some clouds in the sky are superior to the ones with the plain sky. I get that here in S. Cali in the summer, no clouds and very plain. My only suggestions are perhaps not posting a large number like this, because it takes away from the critique if you can't really concentrate on a single (or maybe 2 or 3) images, and, some of the images have humans or man-made objects in them. Rather than this being bad, I welcome it. It provides scale and shows how the mountains are so dominating compared to them. But my favorite of them, 2nd from the top, feels less than perfect with their backs to the camera. It doesn't provide any connection to the viewer in that regard. Still good, just not a 10/10. GB

Chris - Thanks, interesting advice! I will try it... and try not to whine to myself that I don't have my favorite zoom lens Will let you guys know how it goes. I will need to do expts.

I like how they make me dizzy! Great effect

Thanks btw, Dallas. I'm not sure I like it though. There's something about it that bothers me: I want to see more, so that it tells a better story. This is actually a problem I've had for awhile with my photography! It seems like, when I go back and look at them, I always think my images should be either wider or more cropped in. It's like there's two completely different images there but I compromise and go for the middle, leaving the shot 'meh.' Seeing if I can break out of that. Gb

Went for a hike in the mountains about 60 miles east of the Pacific ocean last weekend in S. Cali, and got these. It was mid day so the lighting was nothing special, but I do like the new spot I found. You can also see fire damage in the vegetation, but it's created a nice 'texture' that is probably better than how it should be in some ways. I think that fire was almost 10 years ago I did process them to darken the sky a bit -- what do you think? Comments welcome.

So stands the new wall on the US-Mexico border. This was taken in Campo, CA on May 16 2020.

The backlighting is indeed excellent. My favorite is #3.

Wow! That is an intense orange!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 The bike itself is OK, but the background makes it. I wonder if a better foreground subject could be thought up (model?) Technical wise, the exp is spot on and the sharpness is good. But I somehow detect a very slight bit of distortion; is it my imagination? [Edit] Just performed a careful check of the lines, and with the exception of a very very very small imperfection on the left side, they all look right. Maybe it is my imagination 😕

interesting shots, a big grainy and a little soft, but they are great from both journalistic and editorial perspectives. I'm sure the scratches/dust can be easily cleaned up. I have a stack of slides I dug out and need to scan. My Nikin Coolscan, while working with Windows 2000 before while running in emulation mode for XP, decided to stop working. Driver issue. So I just purchased VueScan and am playing around with that.