Amazing whites and all!!! Great!!!!

totally amazing. a fave, for sure.
though I did think there was a spot on it... and it's my screen.
better get to cleaning that. :)

This is founderful shot. Amazing details. I love these seagul ;) I am glad you use B&W

@misu, Thanks, I like this one a lot, but check out:

www.clydebeamer.com/?p=144

2 Beamer: Yes, these one is also great... but I like B&W more :)

A bit tight on the sides (or not tight enough, depending) but wonderful light and colour. Very appealing shot.

great shot! the background is too sharp imho, but the darkness make the job

Beautiful! I have a similar photo here, but yours pops out more.

Very nice capture. They almost look like they are hand painted. Well done.

the light is incredible in this shot

very nice job

Nice that the children are still and the rest in motion.

On what to improve, I would say that the colors could be more exciting. There is some noise in the photo. The composition could be a little better, maybe by going closer to the children. And there is a foot or something in the lower right corner which is distracting.

I have to agree regarding the colours - seems a little bland! Which over all lets the image down for me.

A tighter crop on the right would have given you some interesting foot play and a dynamic that is presently missing. Nice work overall!

Best,
Jon

Thanks to all of you for your comments;
For the crop, that's right, I hardly ever crop and when I do, I always try to keep the regular picture format... but I should have cropped out the right part. it's useless and I agree that the knee on the lower right is disturbing...
Concerning the colors, what exactly should I do ? I'm not really good with post processing as you can see ;-)
Most of my picture are pretty much straight from the camera...

CouCou33,

the simplest way to make the colors "pop" is to try upping the saturation a bit.
I would use either photoshop or gimp. Gimp is free so it is a great solution to do so.

The other thing that you can try is an S curve and that along with the saturation should really make the photo speak!

Beautiful and very dramatic! Love the direct shot into the snow! Excellent work.

I love the composition of this image.
Also, great job with capturing the detail of the snow.

a very dramatic view and i like the low angle and the composition. nice toning!

Because of the lighting and color it's almost like it could be the moon or the sun. I really like the exposure. It gives a very unique feeling.

Thank you for all your nice comments. It is highly appreciated!

Nice action shot - whilst it is a little blurry it doesn't take away from the action.

Nice work!

agreed with the above comments: too blury (or may be too croped?).
And it would be nice to see the entier sail of the flying guy...
But I do love the waves and the water movement :-)

Hey, thanks all. This was taken with a very long VR lens and my bad, but handheld. So yes it is a bit soft. The upper left guy is attached to a kite that is 50-60 feet above him, so at this framing impossible to get the kite in the shot. I know the depth perception is compressed through this lens, but it looked to me like the kite guy went right over the head of the sailboard guy!!

well composed, but for me it would bebbetter with more sharpness and the focus on the first person.

My bad for the flying guy... should have seen that it was a kite surfer.

Excellent! Love the voyeuristic feel to this! I take it this is the UK - makes me feel home sick a little looking at it like this!

Actually this was shot in Bruges, Belgium :D

The love the tone in this photo, everything fits so well together and the subject is lit beautifully.

Is he playing dead? Its good colour and detail, I maybe would have preferred to see the face of the seal, if that was possible of course.

Over all its a good image.

Elephant seals at the Piedras Blancas seal rookery near San Simeon, CA. They are in their molting stage where they just seem to lay about like dead fish. Once and a while one will scratch herself like this one or toss some sand up in the air or "bark" a bit. One guy in the upper left is also scratching. The males are gone for the season and only the females and juveniles are left. They will leave after molting. They come back in the late fall and mate, giving birth in Dec. or Jan.

Fascinating creatures, really interesting shot, but maybe I would have tried to change up the composition a little bit. Nice detail on the wrinkles though.

Ahhhhh! California!!! What a great representation of a state I'd love to live in! I remember this scene well as I drove down the coast! Life is good!

Well.. nice subject, but the composition is not very interesting imho.

- the background is very disturbing,
- subject completely centered
- we can't see her eyes/face...

would have been better with a bigger aperture, too blur the background AND the subject face in the frame, OR, a wider angle, with a graphic repetition a the seals.

I like this; the color is subtle but clear, and the transition out from the center is gentle, flowing smoothly "through" the darker ring. I am not at all fond of the highlight/reflection in the center, though, and think it detracts. It's not uniformly shaped, being not quite round and having an extra shape in it that sticks out a bit. I might have tried to clone the whole highlight out myself; the center seems to have enough consistency to use either clone or heal in Photoshop (or something similar) and make it one block. If you want to keep it (it does add some character to the block of color in the center), I would at least make it perfectly round.

Great abstraction, I think the highlight in the center adds to the shot, it gives it an imperfect quality that enhances it.

kind of reminds me of hal 9000 from 2001: a space odyssey

Hi Rob, I actually like the center part if the candle like this. But thanks for the ideas, gives me more to think about.

very nice ! good idea, well executed... breaking the rules, for a purpose: winning combo!

square crop would maybe improve the impact ?

Nice picture !
I really like the composition and the tone.
Only problem imho: the subject is not sharp enough.
Did you try to sharpen this picture ?

nice composition and color,
i agree that the subject could be sharper however

Love the feel to this image, the colours and subject placement work well.

Three's company and all, but I agree that the picture could be a lot sharper.

Beautiful composition and this looks like it was a tough one to light. I think it could go a little darker and the drama level would go up a little. Very nice capture!

Best,
Jon

the shoulder is sharp, the subject is nice, but classical. I thing tha kind of picture need a lot more work to "pop up"

Thank you, everyone! Yes, this was shot from my very cramped coach seat on a commercial airline. I just managed to be in the right seat (behind the wing) on the right side (actually the left) at the right time of day (just after dawn) and managed to get the shot as we circled around over the ocean after takeoff. After the last time I'd had an early morning flight out of LAX I swore I'd never fly without my camera again! I got some other nice shots during the flight, but this was the magic moment.

Thank you, everyone! Yes, this was shot from my very cramped coach seat on a commercial airline. I just managed to be in the right seat (behind the wing) on the right side (actually the left) at the right time of day (just after dawn) and managed to get the shot as we circled around over the ocean after takeoff. After the last time I'd had an early morning flight out of LAX I swore I'd never fly without my camera again! I got some other nice shots during the flight, but this was the magic moment.

Great shoot truly magic moment reflection of sun in water and partially on wing and cloud on the wing.
That the way to go never leave you camera. you didnt miss that one

This is an awesome photo!!

Awesome photo. Favorited!
How did you get that crystal clear shot, from the window?