"Shooter"

February Image

Photographer's Comments -

     This shot of a hunter was taken in Montana. Let me list the ways I altered the shot:

     The sky was added because of the blank sky in the original,

     The face was sharpened and burned in,

     The background was blurred to keep the interest on the face,

     The hat was burned down,

     In this shot I had 7 individual levels that were adjusted.

Other than that , the shot is as taken

 

COMMENTS:
 

Stuart Caine	I like it. The detail stands out and your blurring the background keeps your eye on the subject. You did a nice job.
Dean Hellinger	You did good, made all the changes and ended up with a clear portrait story.
Eleanor Helper	Nice portrait. That’s one serious shooter. Gun sight has the right exposure, but face is too dark, at least on my monitor (Larry told me long ago my monitor was reading too dark, but I thought I had fixed it). I find the yellow thing in his ear way is too bright and highly distracting—a hearing aid? I got it! An ear plug! Needs toning down—or even color changed. I would prefer to have the whole image cropped less tightly, I would especially like to see all of his hand.
Burt Hesselson	The shooter aiming is a good portrayal and sharply taken. I feel it plays better flipped, so I did. I copied and pasted the telescope name to keep it reading correctly. On a big image you probably have to do the same for the numbers on the gun or perhaps just erase them. I also find on my monitor the face is too dark, so I lightened it slightly.
Donn Miertl
Tim Christoffersen	My eye goes from his eye with the glasses to the scope. I think the sharpness draws my eye there. I find that aspect of the image really effective (I also peek at the yellow ear plug.) The ‘clouds’ creeping onto the edge of the hat is unfortunate as the hat is quite sharp and it really detracts from the image. The face seems too reddish to me but that might be because you mentioned you burned it in. I don't know.
Larry Beller	Good people-interest image. I was admiring the stock of his rifle (it's much fancier than mine) so much that I almost overlooked the sky melting on his hat. I think that, if you had used the sky as the background layer and moved the shooter and middleground onto it, instead of the other way around, you could have avoided some problems.

Member Bio

Donn Miertl - Photographic Biography I have been involved with photography since 1948. I began with an Army Signal Corps field photographer kit and an adjustable 35 mm camera. I graduated from Purdue in 1958 with a BS in aeronautical engineering. In 1962 I moved to Detroit, Michigan to work for GM. I joined the Photographic Guild of Detroit and got deeply involved with art photography. Most of my photographic education was the result of my association with the Guild. I was a member until 1996, when I retired from GM and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where I now live. My interests in photography are varied, and included B&W and color printing, salons, nature, color slide, and experimental photography. I have been a scuba diver since 1952, and began underwater photography in the mid 1960s while diving in the Cayman Islands. My equipment was a Calypso UW camera and flash bulb unit. (The Calypso is the original Nikonos V outfit.) I began a lifelong affair with UW photography. I still dive and have a Nikonos V outfit. I am in the process of converting several thousand UW slides into digital images with my Nikon ED V scanner. My other equipment includes a Mamiya RB67 outfit, 4X5 cameras and lenses, several Cannon 35 mm cameras and lenses, and a complete darkroom. I am still shooting film and converting it to digital with a scanner. I still find it hard to work on a photograph in the computer without having all the lights out and tanks and trays all over the place, but I will adjust.