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Dave Stacey
{K:138306} 8/13/2006
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I think you've captured the mood very well here, Andre, with the darkness and grain! I hate to be bound by rules, but I think the composition would benefit by the grove of trees being not quite so centered.
Dave.
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/13/2006
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Hi Dave,
I did put this one in the centre on purpose. I think it kind of reminded me of those old Myst video games covers :) I understand what you are saying though. I'll bet the jury will be about 50/50 on this one.
Andre
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Fabio Keiner
{K:49368} 8/13/2006
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really very dark
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Fadel J
{K:13747} 8/13/2006
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Very strong image Andre! the fog and tones definitely achieved the dark mood you were after. I think it would even be stronger in square format, but regardless it's beautiful!
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Hakan AKIRMAK
{K:16337} 8/13/2006
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Great work Andre! Very mystic and beautiful! Congratulations!
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/13/2006
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Thanks Fadel,
We must have been writing at exactly the same time :) I couldn't make up my mind on the format. I almost went with Panarama, but I don't really like to force people to scroll through an image.
Andre
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Aleix Oriol
{K:869} 8/13/2006
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cool shot, nice grain and tones, congrats!
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Leo Régnier Я£
{K:66137} 8/13/2006
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WONDERFUL picture my friend!! Congratulations,
Leo :-))
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/13/2006
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Thanks Fabio,
Thanks for visiting and for commenting!
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/13/2006
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Thank you Hakan,
I think fog and mist stir us up emotionally some how. Beautiful, yet at the same time just a little frightening.
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/13/2006
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Thanks Aleix,
For visiting and for commenting!
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/13/2006
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Thank you Leonardo,
This one seems to have touched a few people. I can't complain about that :)
Andre
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Leo Régnier Я£
{K:66137} 8/14/2006
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You have reason... But I loved it, the tones and grains are fantastic my friend!!
congrats again,
Leo
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Jon O'Brien
{K:11304} 8/14/2006
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Grain and tones very nice. I think I might have cropped a bit off the right to make the grove of trees even more centered. Regardless - a dark and powerful shot. I like the Myst comparison, but it smacks more of something out of celtic legend to me.
cheers,
Jon
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Toshi
{K:11924} 8/14/2006
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If this isn't moody, I don't know what is ;) Love the darkness to this and the stark atmosphere you've created. The grain is an added impact for this shot. Since you are looking for critiques, the only thing I would change is a tighter crop at the bottom, or perhaps the top (don't know how much you have to play with on the original image). I think a crop on the bottom would suit the image better however, as there is a bit more character up top with the fog; just my opinion. Nice work nevertheless Andre.
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/14/2006
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Hi Jon,
I like your suggestion and have recieved a few other cropping suggestions as well. I think yours and Fadel's are along the same lines... more centred and squarer image. Thinking about this in hind-sight, this might have been closer to my actual "tunnel vision" kayak ride towards the peninsula than the image that I posted. In any case, I think all versions work fairly well.
I usually try a few different crops and/or tones before I settle on a post and sometimes have a hard time choosing the one I like best. I find myself posting a couple of versions in some cases.
Celtic legend is good... Or maybe Same and Frodo making their way down the river?
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/14/2006
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Thanks Toshi,
I was going for stark, dark and simple on this one. I think that worked out pretty well. I took a series of fog and mist images last week while up at the cottage, figuring at least a couple of them would show up here:)
Your cropping suggestion is almost in line with what I was originally thinking of doing in the Panarama format. I chose not to go that way because I really don't like the idea of making people scroll through an image.
Andre
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Andrzej Pradzynski
{K:22148} 8/14/2006
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Andre, seems like soon Madawaska Valley will not be Canada's best kept secret as you suggested earlier. Assuming you already put a lot of stuff from the area, me trying to attract or scare others with my moods and Mary (ID=82530) having plenty of nice creations and I wonder who else?.
Your picture is really rough, dark and eerie but stun creation. Deep down mood and strong expression. Mist on the lake again - cool and touching. You did great job, not only sure that grainy stuff works great here - not bad, but did your ever tried to keep id smooth. Cheers, NJ
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Hugo de Wolf
{K:185017} 8/14/2006
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Hey Andre,
Extremely moody photo, quite an ominous atmosphere.
The grainy feel, as well as the subtle details in the foreground, the somewhat lighter fog in front of the trees on the other side of the pond, as well as the cloudy gradients in the sky create a very consistent overview.
My only nit would be that I'd like to see a bit more textures and details in the treeline. Apart from the few parts that show the branches on the left and the odd treetrunk, I think a bit of details in the foliage would've boosted the dimensional aspects, which I believe would have a huge effect on the impact of the photo, as well as dramatise the photo even more.
Having said that, I like this one a lot, very artistic feel, and a powerful image. Very nice!
Cheers,
Hugo
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/15/2006
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Hi Hugo,
Thanks for the detailed critique on this one.
I have attached a slightly altered version to this reply that takes into consideration a few of the suggestions that I got on this post.
I sort of liked the idea of going a little more square and a little more central. I think this gives a bit of a tunnel vision effect, very much like the experience of making your way through the mist to the shore. I tried for a touch more detail in the trees, as you suggested, but I didn't want to go for too much realism, if you know what I mean? My fear was that I might loose that artistic feel that you talk about and put the image right back into a straight landscape type of image. In any case what I came up with is not very far away from the first post. See what you think.
Andre
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River Dark (slight alteration) |
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/15/2006
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Thanks Andrzej,
The Madawaska Valley tourist association will soon have to pay us some advertising money... or maybe not, if we keep posting dark, foggy, moody images of the area :)
The grain in this one is actually just an effect from all the photoshop alteration of the mist. I wasn't really going for realism on this one. I do tend to like that sort of effect myself, so I just left it that way.
I have attached a slightly different version to Hugo's comment that takes into consideration a few of the comments.
Andre
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Rashed Abdulla
{K:163889} 8/15/2006
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This is very impresive Landscapes and with very anazing atmosphere.
I really like the mood and the compositin.
Wishing you all of the best my friend
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Marcus Armani
{K:36597} 8/15/2006
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Hi Andre how have you been, I took a little break from shooting, got a bit burnt out X(
This is a great moody scene, I like the fog surrounding the folage, beautiful, that kayak is really coming in handy, Take care.
Marcus
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Hugo de Wolf
{K:185017} 8/15/2006
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Hi Andre, I see what you mean, trying to stay away from making it too realistic, but I think a few (exaggerated) highlights, indicating the foliage might just achieve that.
I do like the closer crop on left and right, it increases the ominous presence of "what's lurking in the dark" type of feel even stronger. A subtle change, but very worth while the effort... Very good improvement!
Cheers,
Hugo
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/15/2006
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Thanks Rashed,
I can always count on you for some support! I do appreciate it!
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/15/2006
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Thanks Hugo,
I didn't want to change it too much.... I think the subtle changes were worth it too.
It can be quite humourous at times when we post a shot and the comments start to come in with suggestions. I find myself re-thinking the image so much. That's even when you know and understand the options before you post it.
I guess that's what the CC is for :)
Andre
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Jose Ignacio (Nacho) Garcia Barcia
{K:94480} 8/15/2006
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very creative. marvelous tones. outstanding.
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/15/2006
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Thanks Marcus,
I've been fine! A couple of weeks ago, not far from where my last couple of images were taken, we had a pretty good size tornado touch down! We were not up at the cottage at the time, and our property got away without any damage, except one cedar tree split down the middle. The little town of Combermere Ontario was quite badly hit. Luckily no one was killed, but the landscape has been drastically altered in the path of the tornado. The local lumber store was almost completely blown away because it was righ in the path. Some local trailer parks were also in the path. Why do tornadoes always go straight for the traliler parks?
On a lighter note. You would have liked to have been there in the bay on the right side of this image a couple of weeks ago. My wife and I spent about a half hour watching a Kestrel hunting down large Dragonflys. He would catch one and fly back up to an open dead treebranch and eat it. Once he was finished with one, he would scoop down near the water and catch another one. It was mesmerizing to watch him hunt them down and catch them in the air. He must have gotten about ten that we saw. He didn't seem too worried about us being near. I couldn't get any good shots of him because as you know, they are amazingly fast and hard to track down. We were in kayaks at the time. I'll attach a small low quality image below.
Andre
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Kestrel |
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/15/2006
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Thanks Jose,
I tried a slight change on this one attached to Hugo's comment. I took a few suggestions from other members and combined them for a bit of an improvement.
Andre
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Kes
{K:19764} 8/21/2006
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Hi Andre, of course I like this grainy & moody B&W shot! That black water below the trees sort of draws you in...I get a sense that this is part of the trees - like the trunk, but not physically. Woo-hoo!
I've been slow to comment (slower than usual) due to PC problems. Well, I've just viewed two photos...more than I've been able to do for several days, so perhaps reinstalling IE did the trick. ARG!!! Too tired of tinkering on the pc to look now, lol.
Best regards,
Kes
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Virgis Dromantas
{K:4212} 8/21/2006
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Dear Andre,
This is exceptional landscape composition - I really like it very much. Dark tones create some gloomy mood, but in opposite a few white trunks are just what make this landscape piece of art.
Kind regards,
Virgis
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/21/2006
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Hi Kes,
I understand exactly what you are talking about. I think along those same lines. When paddling around the shore, on a calm day, the reflections of the trees, branches, and rocks. sort of become one with the "real thing" above the waterline. The whole natural scene becomes very cohesive. Okay, that's too much deep thinking for me for one day :)
I also understand your frustration with computers. I'm running on the edge with mine as well. Almost no disk space on my P2 dinosaur. Last week Usefilm was a little behind getting my donor status updated, so the banner ads came up again causing me to wait about 3 minutes to view an image. I'm back on with donor status now, thanks to Al.
Andre
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/21/2006
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Thanks Virgis,
There is another version of this one attached to a reply to a Hugo De Wolf comment. I tried for a bit of improvement. However I like them both equally.
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127014} 8/23/2006
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A very good one, Andre, and the intention of the mood is immediately recognizable. It creates a mixture of feelings - a bit of the curiosity of a pioneeer, and a bit of the fear of somebody lost out there somewhere. Especially the undefinable reflection on the water gives it the kick of the unknown, the undiscovered! And this combined with the inability to see a bit further away because of the fog, results in the mood of a secret world, which the observer is about to enter. Carefully! Very carefully!
In opposition to rules about sharpness, details and the like, this one doesn't need that. Quite the contrary! Add more details to see, and the atmosphere of the unknown would be lost!
Great study and implementation!
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 8/23/2006
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Wow!
Nick, That is one of the best explanations / critiques or defenses of an image that I have ever read about any of my stuff!!!
You saw everything and more in this image! If everyone interpreted my images that way, I could quit my day job and do this full time :)
Thanks so much!
Andre
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Nick Karagiaouroglou
{K:127014} 8/26/2006
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I did that with pleasure, Andre. And I'll try my best to give you a full time job in photography ;-)
You are very very welcome my freind!
Nick
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 9/2/2006
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Thanks again Nick!
Andre
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Nilanjan Mitra
{K:13653} 9/4/2006
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stunning.......... :)
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 9/10/2006
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Thanks again Nil!
Andre
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Mary Vareli
{K:15822} 9/17/2006
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You are a perfectionist...right there on the right time!! I want to dive in this mystery landscape...
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 9/18/2006
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Thanks Mary,
You can dive in if you want to.... But, it could be a long dangerous swim to the shore ;)
Andre
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chris d
{K:3046} 10/12/2006
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Hi Andre
you certainly dont need my comments on what is an outstanding image.You have obviously thought about this very carefully as the discussions attest to, and then produced a marvelous result.Well Done
I am interested in "Converted to greyscale, then back to colour for some moody, dark toning."
Clearly I am not a PS wiz, but in fooling around, cant find the value in the excercise. If you dont mind sharing, I would be most appreciative..
Could email me to avoide the debate raging here if you prefer... chris@effect28.co.za
Chris
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 10/12/2006
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Thanks Chris,
I'll email you later on today, with a bit more detail on the process I used.
Andre
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Stan Ciszek
{K:44451} 10/24/2006
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Hello Andre,
How do you like this version of your very interesting photo, I just applayed it to neadimage filter,
All the best my friend
Stan,
Andrzej has my pfon numb.
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Andre Denis
{K:61663} 10/24/2006
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Hi Stan,
I like both versions for different reasons. NeatImage seems to do a great job of smoothing out the grain effect. If that's what you want to achieve. I like it. But I like the misty, grainy version that I posted a little more. Maybe there is a bit more mystery there? No real reason.
Andre
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