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Title - Old Stone Wall
January 2012 Image
How I did it - What I love about walking through Connecticut fields and woodlands is that you keep stumbling upon charming stone walls. This is a photo of a stone wall shot last spring in a Connecticut field. I used Photoshop to adjust the shadows and highlights and did some saturation to bring out the little flowers in the field and then sharpened. Is this photograph strong enough to enter in camera club competition or is my love of stone walls unduly influencing my perception of this photograph??
COMMENTS:
| Joseph Malkary |
Unfortunately the stone wall isn't really that charming. Most of it is not even intact. Had the wall created some interesting graphic design element, you would have had an image that could be used for competition.
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| Allen Gannaway |
I, too, like old stone walls. But here the tree seems to be the principal subject. To make the wall stronger, crop about half the foliage off the top and then sharpen the stones to taste. I’m not sure it has enough impact even then to make it a strong competitor.
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| Bill Provost |
This is a pleasant image. For me the impact of the stone wall is lost. Perhaps a different angle would have given it direction leading the viewer into some other aspect of the image. I wonder if the photo was taken from downhill looking upward if more emphasis on the wall would have resulted? I also think if the small white flowers could have added to the image and given the image more “life.” The image is very sharp and there is good contrast in the colors. |
| Ron Alexander |
Nothing wrong with stone walls as a subject, especially one like this which shows a certain amount of disarray. But when I first viewed the scene, I thought the tree was the main subject. The unusual trunk, to my eye, dominates the scene. Otherwise, a nice country scene. |
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| Don von Wolffradt |
A fence, no matter what it is made of, makes for a great leading line(s) and seldom makes for main center of interest for a photograph. The center of interest of this image is that great tree with what looks like a natural hole in the trunk. Unfortunately, The detail of the stones, contrast and color of the fence are competing with similar values from the tree trunk.
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| Al Swanson |
This is a good image of an old stone wall and it reminds me of parts of the Hadrian's Wall in northern England. You see these kinds of stone walls all over Europe, of course, and each one seems to have its own special character. While the trees seem to enhance the overall composition of the photograph, I think I might have shot this wall from a different perspective to emphasize the rocks and perhaps the weeds growing around it. This is a very pleasant scene however. |
| Member Bio |
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Lynne Royce - Biography
When I was a newspaper reporter I traveled on assignments with a terrific staff of award- winning photographers. They talked to me about how they went about their photo shoot, and then back at the newspaper they showed me the photographs they shot and explained why the pictures they selected to run in the newspaper did the best job of illustrating my story.
I never touched a single-lens reflex camera until my first grandchild was born seven years ago. Then when I lifted the camera to my eye all the advice I gathered from traveling on assignment with newspaper photographers flooded into my head. It's like my mind held a mini course on photography. How to frame a shot. What makes a good photograph. How to blend into the background so that those you're photographing forget you're there and act more natural. The newspaper photographers I worked with during my 27 years in journalism had given me a wonderful gift: A tutorial into the land of photography.
Now seven years and seven grandchildren later photography is my passion. But it's like Pandora's Box. I see so many possibilities. I tend to shoot prolifically like a photojournalist and during my film years – very brief – it was nothing for me to take 10 to 12 rolls of film to a lab to be developed after an hour photo shoot.
Digital saved the day but now I'm using 4 GB cards in my Canon 40 D and quickly amass 800 shots on my media card.
I hope this group's critiques help me focus. My photography is all over the place. I'm lucky to live near the Jersey Shore and love shooting the ocean's many moods, boardwalk life and migrating birds and butterflies. I love photographing my grandchildren and use my 75-300 zoom lens as a way to capture their innocence, imagination and curiosity as they grow up and explore the world. My husband and I love going into New York City to shoot street scenes and the view of Manhattan when coming and going on the ferry.
I've developed my voice as a writer and now I'm trying to develop my eye as a photographer. I tend to like to shoot abstract and try to find the unusual for my photographs.
I'm just getting started with Photoshop and find it a marvelous tool but even though I'm retired I don't seem to have the time to really sit down at my computer and explore all it has to offer. I prefer to be outdoors riding my bicycle or gardening instead of sitting in front of my computer.
I joined the Monmouth Camera Club four years ago to get critiques of my photographs in club competition. Six months ago I volunteered to do the club's newsletter which gives me a chance to give other photographers a forum to talk about their art and show their photographs.
I joined PSA because I wanted another opportunity to have my photographs critiqued to help me grow as a photographer. I'm looking forward to working with everyone in this group.
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