We Were Soldiers

[kobrien4]

This is a statue of a soldier from the vietnam war. The building in the background is the Arkansas State Capitol.

[daq7]

Dome seems half a stop bright or so, but the detail is mostly there I guess. Good shot.

[caleb]

great composition. not much to critique given the time of day/weather.

[Shebang]

Overall a nice composition, I think. The light is a little harsh, but my real nitpick is that his left side sort of disappears in the background. Good detail in the soldier.

[kobrien4]

Yea it always seems that I shoot at high noon or there close to it.

[kobrien4]

The thing that im mostly proud of this one is that it is accually pretty straight. Which is something Im going to have to work on with shooting without a tripod. I think the main thing is I wear glasses and they tend to get in the way while im trying to look in the viewfinder.

[daq7]

Look, don't let people give you that crap about time of day. Do a couple layers. Stop one down for saturation and blend them. Perfect light is SO last century.

[Shebang]

Hah, kobrien4, I have the fight with the glasses, too. It's a pain. You will see from daq7's photos tha he is accomplished in the PP department. Those of us (like me) who barely know how to find the shutter button are at the mercy of our skills SOOC (straight out of camera)!!

[gahspidy]

I think you have a pretty nice photo here. I would like to have just a bit more space at the bottom. Although it was middle of the day, it came out well.
daq, I'll have to disagree with you about good lighting being a thing of the past. Sure, we have HDR and lots of processing and editing capabilities now, but the angle of the sun is what brings about shadows, contours and details especially in landscape photography. you can still come out and "save" an image that was shot in high hard sunlight, but it'll never be quite as good as one where the light was casting its best across the image.

[BlueRob]

Agreed! sorry Daq but light is key! you can have a nice composition but if you dont have the light (and thus shadows) you pic is sterile IMO.

Ok...the pic. It would be nice to see more to the left...will make the composition stronger. Also I guess that if the shot was from a lower angle would aid.
Stronger DOF will make it better...most of these are pretty personal though.

If you can give it more space to the bottom of the crop (to the left too if possible) will improve a bit. :thumbsup:

[Lava Lamp]

This is a statue of a soldier from the vietnam war. The building in the background is the Arkansas State Capitol.

Little cluttered for me. If the background were blurred out a little more, the soldier wouldn't blend with the trees so much. Thanks for sharing and giving me an opportunity to think and learn from it.

[GB1]

It is a bit cluttered though the concept is sound. Perhaps if you blurred the background it might help, plus a lower angle. The jet trails definitely need to go.

There's always so many things we see or know after the shoot ...

G

[armando_m]

I like the image,
I would suggest as others say, a shallower DOF and perhaps a fill in flash

[chaman]

I think you have a pretty nice photo here. I would like to have just a bit more space at the bottom. Although it was middle of the day, it came out well.
daq, I'll have to disagree with you about good lighting being a thing of the past. Sure, we have HDR and lots of processing and editing capabilities now, but the angle of the sun is what brings about shadows, contours and details especially in landscape photography. you can still come out and "save" an image that was shot in high hard sunlight, but it'll never be quite as good as one where the light was casting its best across the image.

I agree. Lighting is still and will always be a basic skill to learn. Im all about the HDR and Photoshop capablities but when it is abused it ends up with "plastic" looking pics, over processed and never having the look and feel of a good, well taken photograph.

I agree with the critics give by the rest of the guys here though.:thumbsup:

[daq7]

For all those who commented on my comment about lighting. I agree with you. I was mostly joking in that comment, but only mostly. You can do a LOT with a high noon scene in photoshop, but good exposure and good light matter more than an imbecile like me even knows.

Just remember people, there are lots of strategies for getting better light. I don't even know a tiny number of the ones that exist I bet. But don't neglect post processing. You can paint the shadows if you have to and to hell with the sun. Am I good at it? No, but that does not mean you won't be.