Street with no Name
Wilson Kirker
As you are probably aware by now, I frequently advocate keeping things natural particularly
in Landscape & natural History subjects. Here we have a fairly normal street scene taken at
night and this photographer has thrown every bit of Solarisation, HDR, Saturation,
Liquify,Neon Glow and every other button in Photoshop which is strange. What is even
more strange is ….. I love it!! Bursting with vibrant primary colours bordering on going
nuclear – Fantastic Textures in cobbles – Terrific Reflections added to foreground – super
mixture of thunderous light in sky and street lighting and great curved lead in lines of
street. Technically very clever. Only have three suggestions 1) Detail Extractor in Nik to
bring out detail in shadows more. 2) Straighten downpipe on right hand side. And 3) Go to
a Psychiatrist because you are obviously troubled!!!! Super image
Fanciers Fancy
Chris Jordan
The strength of this image of course is the fantastic eye but I also like the presence of the
hand in the frame gently but firmly holding the pigeon. Terrific sharp detail throughout
allowing us to clearly see the plumage textures – the wattle above the beak and around the
eye. The skin textures of the hand wrapping around the bird sit well in the frame and the
hairs and tattoo on the thumb bring an interesting feature to the shot. It is the sparkling,
colourful eye that is the centre of attraction. That and the whole head are perfectly sharp.
The spoiler for me though was the background. The black works very well but the blurred
Tail or Wing grabs the attention and detracts away from the best bits of the shot. Keep it
simple is always a good maxim so I would definitely clone it out whatever it is. This would
reduce the picture down to its basic features which have been captured very well indeed.
Outstanding in it’s Field
Chris Jordan
Again we have someone who is tuned into the minutia of an overall larger landscape and
they have picked this lonely mushroom out and taken it in such a manner as to allow us to
admire the beautiful complexity of its form. By cleverly getting right down to ground level
and dialling in a large aperture, a shallow depth of field has been achieved where only the
mushroom is in focus. The blurred background and blurred foreground strip work very well
together and give the mushroom an almost 3 dimensionality. Lovely wee shot, well
executed to show detail of gills etc. With a botanical shots, flowers etc you should always
pick perfect blooms and as any blemishes show up clearly. Here I would clone out the wee
bits of moss around the stem. Only a small thing but has a big effect.
Nag Nag Nag
Sam Wilson
Super title describing perfectly the content of the shot. I suppose another title than springs
to mind is “Back Seat Driver”. Super shot I am assuming using a long lens as the
compression in the shot is super. Love the tolerant, unemotional look on the man’s face as
he has probably been listening to her talking ever since they left home. This image shows
the relationship between the two of them and it is great see them sharing a hobby.
Photographically everything has been technically captured well. The frame is filled nicely
with the windscreen holding in the left of the frame and what looks like an aerial on the
right of the frame. Wonderful mixture of leather, chrome, material & flesh tones. The biker
background works well and just to make the happy couple stand out a bit more, I tried
turning the background into mono so that they stood out even more. Super capture.
My Move
Harry Gilliland
This is another piece of excellent street Photography. The high incidence of this type of
shot tends to suggest that Peterhead have had a talk on this recently and it has worked as
the quality is excellent. Super mono with good range of tones – an absolute plethora of
detail to browse through and enjoy. The chess players (Is that Le Cler from Allo Allo?) –
great hand movement as he lights his cigarette (note tobacco on seat) – his opponent deep
in thought – The people inside the cafe are also interesting. The girl is watching the
photographer rather paying attention to her boyfriend – there is another chess set in the
cafe and the reflections from the window make this a great visual puzzle to figure out.
Maybe there is just tad too much stuff to process so maybe try SIMPLIFYING the content
by zooming into the main bits of content. Keep the chess players – Chess Board - Tobacco
pouch – Le Cler’s foot under the table – The couple and a few of the people reflected in
window. This still gives you plenty to look at but takes away any potential distractions.
Slightly worrying is the fact that the man on the left seems to have his underpants on inside
out ??????
It Was the Other Bike
Robert Montgomery
This is another fine piece of street photography similar to the fiddler we saw earlier. On this
occasion this photographer has gone a step further in the skill level inasmuch as they have
been alert, seen a situation developing and brought to bear the all important skill of
knowing your camera well enough to react quickly in order to capture the scene. Loved
grazing through this shot to pick up on all the content. We are in Gibraltar (Number Plate) –
Either the policeman is lost or the delivery guy is going the wrong way up a one way street
or he is say that a big boy did it and ran away in that direction. Additionally there are two
guys discussing it in the background and if you look carefully there is wee face looking out
just above the delivery guy’s head. Super shot full of interest and the only suggestion is
that the faces are tad dark so lighten the main elements of people involved
Five Finger Strand
Robert Montgomery
The Five Fingers Strand is a stunning, secluded and unspoilt sandy beach on the
Inishowen Peninsula, Donegal. They are embedded between high dunes, which reach a
height of up to 30 metres and are amongst the highest dunes of Europe. This picture is a
very competently taken landscape shot and the photographer has really caught the
ruggedness and beauty of the area. We have a super array of hard stone – granular sand –
white topped waves and luscious grass. This person has decided when processing the
image to go down what looks like an HDR or fusion process. To me this has resulted in a
loss of the essential natural look. You have to be very careful with HDR, it can be more
addictive than heroin. Use it sparingly on any Natural Landscape or Natural History images
as it is nearly always correct in these genres to let the normal colours shine in their own
right. Two Rules I was told by a respected photographer was:- 1. Beware of over
processing and 2. Never sharpen a sky. Back to this image – for me – the colours are a bit
over saturated – the rock bottom left corner could be cloned out and try putting some
lateral motion with the blur filter into the sky to give a feeling of being windswept.
Checkmate
Harry Bates
I don’t know what kind of brain came up with this idea for photograph but I must take my
hat off to them. It must have also taken quite a few attempts (and possibly tit bits) to
achieve the super postures and positions of the two brilliant dogs. Bottom right corner dog
is waiting for a reaction to his move and top left dog is looking down in puzzlement. I also
admired the attention to detail because as the King has been overturned as an admission of
achieving checkmate. This super shot has been well taken – it tells a great visual story and
more importantly it made me smile. On the downside I found the dogs to be a tad blue so
I tried converting the dogs and chessboard to mono – added a vignette to draw the viewers
eye to the main action as well as lessen the presence of the surrounding plants.
Autumnal Colours
Robert McKee
From the harsh, gritty world of grunge street photography, we now switch to warm
colourful genre of landscape. This image of a tranquil loch bounded by trees has, for sure,
captured all the rich colours of Autumn. The scene has been well found and chosen. The
viewpoint is very good with the height it has been taken at being just right so that the
marvelous reflections do not cross or overlap the water plants in the foreground. The colour
palette works very well with the blue sky harmonising perfectly with the green, browns &
golds of the trees. When you have a great sky like this it is easy to want to keep it all in the
frame but keep in mind that the composition needs balancing. To achieve this ask do we
need all the water plants in the foreground. They are a bit dark and therefore a trifle
dominant. So try trimming the frame so that you have 1/3rd sky and 2/3rds Water and Trees.
Additionally try lightening the dark foreground. This I think gives a more balanced
composition as well as better light intensity.
Pretty as a Picture
Les Barnes
Again, we return back to the skilful street photography of Peterhead. This time we can
admire this image of a street portrait artist at work as he sketches the gorgeous young
lady. Nice & sharp so that we can clearly see the two people and the variety of samples of
the artist’s work. The route decided on in processing this shot is to go down the route of
high contrast & grainy – it works to a certain extent and that is how it has been marked.
This type of processing is not the best for skin tones and I think a drastic reduction in
contrast results in a better look. Taking the downpipe as a vertical you can see a slight anti
clockwise rotation is called for. Think about content - what are the main elements to
capture? Head & shoulders of people – the artists work, easel and hand drawing – Samples
of work & umbrella. Cropping to include just these features A) Reduces unnecessary
background & foreground and B) Allows to see more of where the visual story is.
Wilson Kirker
As you are probably aware by now, I frequently advocate keeping things natural particularly
in Landscape & natural History subjects. Here we have a fairly normal street scene taken at
night and this photographer has thrown every bit of Solarisation, HDR, Saturation,
Liquify,Neon Glow and every other button in Photoshop which is strange. What is even
more strange is ….. I love it!! Bursting with vibrant primary colours bordering on going
nuclear – Fantastic Textures in cobbles – Terrific Reflections added to foreground – super
mixture of thunderous light in sky and street lighting and great curved lead in lines of
street. Technically very clever. Only have three suggestions 1) Detail Extractor in Nik to
bring out detail in shadows more. 2) Straighten downpipe on right hand side. And 3) Go to
a Psychiatrist because you are obviously troubled!!!! Super image
Fanciers Fancy
Chris Jordan
The strength of this image of course is the fantastic eye but I also like the presence of the
hand in the frame gently but firmly holding the pigeon. Terrific sharp detail throughout
allowing us to clearly see the plumage textures – the wattle above the beak and around the
eye. The skin textures of the hand wrapping around the bird sit well in the frame and the
hairs and tattoo on the thumb bring an interesting feature to the shot. It is the sparkling,
colourful eye that is the centre of attraction. That and the whole head are perfectly sharp.
The spoiler for me though was the background. The black works very well but the blurred
Tail or Wing grabs the attention and detracts away from the best bits of the shot. Keep it
simple is always a good maxim so I would definitely clone it out whatever it is. This would
reduce the picture down to its basic features which have been captured very well indeed.
Outstanding in it’s Field
Chris Jordan
Again we have someone who is tuned into the minutia of an overall larger landscape and
they have picked this lonely mushroom out and taken it in such a manner as to allow us to
admire the beautiful complexity of its form. By cleverly getting right down to ground level
and dialling in a large aperture, a shallow depth of field has been achieved where only the
mushroom is in focus. The blurred background and blurred foreground strip work very well
together and give the mushroom an almost 3 dimensionality. Lovely wee shot, well
executed to show detail of gills etc. With a botanical shots, flowers etc you should always
pick perfect blooms and as any blemishes show up clearly. Here I would clone out the wee
bits of moss around the stem. Only a small thing but has a big effect.
Nag Nag Nag
Sam Wilson
Super title describing perfectly the content of the shot. I suppose another title than springs
to mind is “Back Seat Driver”. Super shot I am assuming using a long lens as the
compression in the shot is super. Love the tolerant, unemotional look on the man’s face as
he has probably been listening to her talking ever since they left home. This image shows
the relationship between the two of them and it is great see them sharing a hobby.
Photographically everything has been technically captured well. The frame is filled nicely
with the windscreen holding in the left of the frame and what looks like an aerial on the
right of the frame. Wonderful mixture of leather, chrome, material & flesh tones. The biker
background works well and just to make the happy couple stand out a bit more, I tried
turning the background into mono so that they stood out even more. Super capture.
My Move
Harry Gilliland
This is another piece of excellent street Photography. The high incidence of this type of
shot tends to suggest that Peterhead have had a talk on this recently and it has worked as
the quality is excellent. Super mono with good range of tones – an absolute plethora of
detail to browse through and enjoy. The chess players (Is that Le Cler from Allo Allo?) –
great hand movement as he lights his cigarette (note tobacco on seat) – his opponent deep
in thought – The people inside the cafe are also interesting. The girl is watching the
photographer rather paying attention to her boyfriend – there is another chess set in the
cafe and the reflections from the window make this a great visual puzzle to figure out.
Maybe there is just tad too much stuff to process so maybe try SIMPLIFYING the content
by zooming into the main bits of content. Keep the chess players – Chess Board - Tobacco
pouch – Le Cler’s foot under the table – The couple and a few of the people reflected in
window. This still gives you plenty to look at but takes away any potential distractions.
Slightly worrying is the fact that the man on the left seems to have his underpants on inside
out ??????
It Was the Other Bike
Robert Montgomery
This is another fine piece of street photography similar to the fiddler we saw earlier. On this
occasion this photographer has gone a step further in the skill level inasmuch as they have
been alert, seen a situation developing and brought to bear the all important skill of
knowing your camera well enough to react quickly in order to capture the scene. Loved
grazing through this shot to pick up on all the content. We are in Gibraltar (Number Plate) –
Either the policeman is lost or the delivery guy is going the wrong way up a one way street
or he is say that a big boy did it and ran away in that direction. Additionally there are two
guys discussing it in the background and if you look carefully there is wee face looking out
just above the delivery guy’s head. Super shot full of interest and the only suggestion is
that the faces are tad dark so lighten the main elements of people involved
Five Finger Strand
Robert Montgomery
The Five Fingers Strand is a stunning, secluded and unspoilt sandy beach on the
Inishowen Peninsula, Donegal. They are embedded between high dunes, which reach a
height of up to 30 metres and are amongst the highest dunes of Europe. This picture is a
very competently taken landscape shot and the photographer has really caught the
ruggedness and beauty of the area. We have a super array of hard stone – granular sand –
white topped waves and luscious grass. This person has decided when processing the
image to go down what looks like an HDR or fusion process. To me this has resulted in a
loss of the essential natural look. You have to be very careful with HDR, it can be more
addictive than heroin. Use it sparingly on any Natural Landscape or Natural History images
as it is nearly always correct in these genres to let the normal colours shine in their own
right. Two Rules I was told by a respected photographer was:- 1. Beware of over
processing and 2. Never sharpen a sky. Back to this image – for me – the colours are a bit
over saturated – the rock bottom left corner could be cloned out and try putting some
lateral motion with the blur filter into the sky to give a feeling of being windswept.
Checkmate
Harry Bates
I don’t know what kind of brain came up with this idea for photograph but I must take my
hat off to them. It must have also taken quite a few attempts (and possibly tit bits) to
achieve the super postures and positions of the two brilliant dogs. Bottom right corner dog
is waiting for a reaction to his move and top left dog is looking down in puzzlement. I also
admired the attention to detail because as the King has been overturned as an admission of
achieving checkmate. This super shot has been well taken – it tells a great visual story and
more importantly it made me smile. On the downside I found the dogs to be a tad blue so
I tried converting the dogs and chessboard to mono – added a vignette to draw the viewers
eye to the main action as well as lessen the presence of the surrounding plants.
Autumnal Colours
Robert McKee
From the harsh, gritty world of grunge street photography, we now switch to warm
colourful genre of landscape. This image of a tranquil loch bounded by trees has, for sure,
captured all the rich colours of Autumn. The scene has been well found and chosen. The
viewpoint is very good with the height it has been taken at being just right so that the
marvelous reflections do not cross or overlap the water plants in the foreground. The colour
palette works very well with the blue sky harmonising perfectly with the green, browns &
golds of the trees. When you have a great sky like this it is easy to want to keep it all in the
frame but keep in mind that the composition needs balancing. To achieve this ask do we
need all the water plants in the foreground. They are a bit dark and therefore a trifle
dominant. So try trimming the frame so that you have 1/3rd sky and 2/3rds Water and Trees.
Additionally try lightening the dark foreground. This I think gives a more balanced
composition as well as better light intensity.
Pretty as a Picture
Les Barnes
Again, we return back to the skilful street photography of Peterhead. This time we can
admire this image of a street portrait artist at work as he sketches the gorgeous young
lady. Nice & sharp so that we can clearly see the two people and the variety of samples of
the artist’s work. The route decided on in processing this shot is to go down the route of
high contrast & grainy – it works to a certain extent and that is how it has been marked.
This type of processing is not the best for skin tones and I think a drastic reduction in
contrast results in a better look. Taking the downpipe as a vertical you can see a slight anti
clockwise rotation is called for. Think about content - what are the main elements to
capture? Head & shoulders of people – the artists work, easel and hand drawing – Samples
of work & umbrella. Cropping to include just these features A) Reduces unnecessary
background & foreground and B) Allows to see more of where the visual story is.
