Hello, Silke.

This is Absolutely Wonderful!

An absolutely perfect capture of the fingers of the musician on his instrument. Beautifully composed (or cropped after the event - no matter) and with incredible detail, sharpness and clarity.

The ring finger, stopping the string being played, lies right at the junction of "thirds" in the composition and I love the out-of-focus "halo" of the bow in the foreground. The strings and fingerboard make a very strong diagonal right across the frame.

Spot-on exposure too.

Perfection!

Kind Regards,

John.

Hello, Bryan.

I quite agree with Bev (Royaldevon) that this is one of your very best shots. The composition, clarity, sharpness and exposure are superb. The picture is almost monochrome apart from some beautiful autumnal shades. Fabulous reflections too.

Unfortunately, I also have to agree with David that it's not quite straight: I think it could take one or two degrees of clockwise rotation. Other than that, it's a lovely picture.

Kind Regards,

John.

Hello, Dougie.

As I've commented before, there is absolutely no doubt that pictures of this superb quality do not come about by mere serendipity. They are, as with all good things in this life, the result of hard work, application and skill. You have carted your heavy Canon 5D, tripod and all your other photographic equipment up the treacherous path by the Grey Mare's Tail before dawn to reach this secluded spot and waited patiently for the right lighting for this shot. But it has paid off handsomely!

Sheer Perfection!

Nothing else to say.

Kind Regards,

John.

Hello, Dougie.

Another fine shot of yours. Again, just like your last one on TE, you have obviously put in some effort to capture this one. If I remember correctly, the place from which you have taken this one is pretty precarious, just downstream from the little road bridge.

Beautiful lighting and fabulous colours, sharpness and detail.

Funny thing about Talla reservoir is that it always looks tilted to one side: I've noticed this on a few of my own pictures of it. Here, although I know that this picture is perfectly level, it does look as though there is a slope downwards from left to right. Might be ideal for water skiing? :o)

Thank you for sharing this beautiful shot, Dougie.

Best Wishes,

John.

Hello, Alina.

This is Wonderful!

As always, it is superb lighting such as this which attracts me: the lovely shadows on that beautiful building and the roadway, and the beautiful moody sky. Fabulous autumn colours too.

Thank you for sharing this beautiful picture.

Kind Regards,

John.

Hello, Bev.

Now, this isn't an octopus at all: if anything, it's at least a dodecopus!

Still, with that minor reservation, I like this picture a lot. Good well-saturated colours and sharpness. I am very impressed by your processing too - something I could never achieve!

Best Wishes,

John.

Hello, Derek.

I'm not quite sure just to what extent you have processed this image in the way of colour saturation or colour changes but it is still a very impressive photograph and well deserving of all the praise it has so far received.

Also, I'm not overly impressed with HDR manipulation in general as I find most of the images seem to be a bit "overcooked" and also lacking in sharpness: I think if HDR processing is to be done successfully, then it has to be done gently and subtely otherwise the result is garish and unconvincing. But, even allowing for the wonderful range of strong colours here, this image is sharp as a razor with great detail and a perfectly managed exposure.

Excuse the use of a rather hackneyed expression, but this is Absolutely Fabulous!

Best Wishes,

John.

Hello, Bev.

Yet another of your fine "misty morning" pictures, this one with a very strong foreground interest and with the livestock nicely out of focus beyond. As before, it is again the lighting which makes this shot!

Excellent!

Kind Regards,

John.

P.S. Just out of interest, I posted a "critique" on your picture "Illumination". You wrote three replies on the subjects of "tripods" and "multi-tasking" but, unfortunately, I cannot see them and a page just pops up saying that the reply cannot be found on TL. Mmmm. I was looking forward to hearing your responses!

Hello, Bev.

What a beautiful line-up of post-war Riley RM's!

I can vividly remember, from the early 1950's, our dentist's having one of these cars. It was brand new and black and shiny and, even in those days as a young schoolchild, I thought it was one of the most beautiful cars I had ever seen and marvelled over its lovely curves. Even now, I still love the lines of these beautiful vehicles, the last of the "true" Rileys before they were taken over by B.M.C. I didn't care much for the dentist (he feigned deafness when working on my teeth, not responding to complaints of pain, but could hear a pin drop at other times) but I loved his car!

But I also love your picture. Nicely presented with the cars in a fine diagonal across the frame against a nice background of trees. I see another Riley just visible at the left and the split-windscreen of another behind on the right but what's that red car at the far right? Is that a rogue Mercedes that has sneaked in amongst this beautiful bevvy of British belles? Not sure.

A very fine photograph, right up my street! Thank you for this one, Bev.

Kind Regards,

John.

Hello, Bev.

Well, you're really going to town here on these wonderful "morning mist" shots! I love them and am jealous because I've had to be at work early (driving in in the dark) only later to gaze miserably out of my office window at the sun clearing the mist and wish I were somewhere like this to try to get some good pictures. Roll on retirement.

I like this one and, again, it's the lighting which makes it. But I have to agree with Peter (graffer). It's just so difficult trying to keep your eye open for a good picture and having to check and double-check the darn camera settings at the same time. Mind you, I thought women were supposed to be better at multi-tasking than men?

I also liked Peter's comment about looking a 'prat' when parading about with a tripod. I couldn't agree more. It might be all right in a quiet setting such as this but I recall taking a picture (on TE) of St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh late one weekend evening with my tripod set up with camera and shutter release, having to run the gauntlet of drunk young revellers debouching from pubs and nightclubs: in such a situation, there's nothing quite like having a friend or relative to accompany you, especially if you can find that rare individual who isn't always complaining of the cold, being fed up and bored or just wanting to go home!

By the way, Bev, I like your picture!

Kind Regards,

John.