I like this as well. I love the tones. Gritty fits right into the theme.

@goodlife,

This is a bar in downtown New Orleans that never reopened after the storm (Katrina).

Here's another holga shot looking up from the same location:

www.seekingfocus.com/photo/archive/bar-lounge

@everyone

Thanks for all the comments!

I do like Holga shots. I love the high contrast and vignette. The only thing I would consider is getting the entire door in the frame and trying to get the vertical lines more exact. Great shot though.

What is different with a Holga? I don't have any experience with them...

Great work - a little straightening would help, i guess - regardless, however, this is a strong comp. and perfect for the category.

Cheers,
Jon

Cool shot...seeing it just from the thumbnail is deceiving.

This is a great shot. Thats a good eye and I too thought it was a real background for sure. Nicely done.

I really like this. You got us all with the wall, but it works wonderfully. I love the enclusion of the pink branch and the words to the far left gives you the knowledge that the background isn't real. It's good you left that in. No critique on this one, in my opinion, it's perfect.

thanx a lot for your fairplay ;)
This photo was a game to me, if I tricked you I enjoy it!

Very clever and a big instant fave! Wonderful - if you haven't seen it yet, do check it out.

Best,
Jon

very cool idea. I like it a lot.

I love it!!! Very clever.

Great idea, I really like it

Very well done! I remember a portrait of Picasso using the same concept

Excellent job of painting a bicycle - love the originality and work that went into something like this.

Best,
Jon

Nicely done. I love the graceful curve. I do wonder though if it would be more powerful with a tighter crop.

I agree, I think that cropping the sky a little bit would really emphasize the nice curve of the road here. Nice shot.

thanks, I apppreciate the comments - cropping does make a picture. thanks again.

I love the sky and the curve of the red light

Very cool shot. Well seen!

Best,
Jon

It seems to blurry to me, higher shutter speed would have given it sharpness.

Nice capture for the topic. I am not a fan of the selective color!

This seems a little blurry to me, and I don't think the selective coloring adds anything to the picture. But it seems to fit the topic nicely.

The blurred background gives this skater a good sense of movement and I like that affect in for this topic. Though I don't like the selective coloring, I believe it takes away too much. Also, instead of a portrait crop, a landscape crop with more space in front of the skater would give the picture even more forward motion.

Well done. I'm not a fan of selective color either but the caracter would have certainly been a bit lost in the background. Nice photo

What could I have done differently?

If you're interested in making the colors pop more, you could just increase the contrast a bit... that usually does the trick.

My primary bit of criticism, though, is that the head and feet are very close to the top and bottom of the frame. In other words, if you took a few steps back (or zoomed out a bit) you would give the whole composition a little more air. Right now it feels a little cramped without much sky and ground.

I think it would also be nice to see more of the rider's face.

Just a few thoughts.

Thank you, that's why I wanted to upload photos here. I really love taking photos, but want good quality along with it.

I love the movement in this and you've captured the tension wonderfully in the rider and horse as well. I do find the background buildings a little distracting though. Also, since the colors seem a bit muted, maybe up the contrast as Brandon suggested, or even make this black and white.

I'm new here and just saw this great action shot of yours. The horse and rider make a good subject, but as you have been told other factors detract from the photo. You've probably have played around with the picture since you posted it several months ago but I'll offer a few comments anyway. First I would nutralize the blue background some to warm that area. With a photo editing program select the background and apply a blur filter. At this point you may want to desaturate the background slightly. Inverse the selection so horse and rider are selected and up the saturation and sharpness. Doing this will keep attention on the figures and lessen the distraction of the background. Finally crop a little off of each side so the tight space on top and bottom are porportional to the rest of the picture.

Handsome looking horse.

super work, looks like it come straight out of a glossy lifestyle magazine!

This picture is framed perfectly. I love the lighting and the color. PERFECT!

Fantastic Hi-Key commercial look! Other than the rest of the glass...it's perfect:)

I agree about the whole glass being there, but what a classy shot! Something very 80's about it too :-)

Nice shot,High-key,minimalism. A photo for a magazine.

Excellent picture, especially zhe light!

Very nice work. The colors are very interesting, but I like them.

great colours!! Maybe crop out some of the top part of the sky that doesn't really add much for me.. and see if a longer pano ratio gives it even more impact..

nice clouds
could be more threatening...

I like the idea and colours but I think more foreground or cropping the top 2/3s of the dark sky and turning it into a panoramic would have improved this image.

awesome matt-pity about andrews' un-ironed shirt-LOL

Cool shot, it reminds me of a GAP commercial.

Smodel... great shot Matt

congrats on the feature Matt!

very nice, could also work in the symmetry topic as well.

a very nice shot..... framing is pretty good