great shot! beautiful colors, and this play of gradation and backlighting is very well managed!

a beauitful shot and the silhouettes makes a interesting image. i like it!

Beautiful image and capture. I would agree however that this image would improve with a crop of the lower dark area. I would also remove the spot (sun spot or dust?) above the sun because it is a little distracting.

Very nice silhouette and lovely colour in the sky. I would make more of this by also cropping some of the bottom off as has already been suggested.

great shot and i agree the crop wouuld make it greater...lovely tone and detail thouugh

I really like this picture. The contrast of the white flowers on the black background. The detail in the petals. It's all great. The only thing I would have changed is try not to cut off the flower on the left.

Really nice photo. I like how they tulips guide the eye all the way to top of the photo.

Beautiful use of black and white with the flowers. I've been trying to do some of this but just can't master the knack of the black, the gradation in tones and the brilliant white. This is an excellent example for me to study. Thanks!

Simply beautiful, I love the diagonal balance of grey to white to black. My only comment would be the rather strongly defined shadow outlines. For me, softening the shadow detail just a little more would make this a perfect 10. Again, beautiful.

Fine picture!

Clouds look like a halo. I think the light might be a bit harsh overall - which distracts from the scene, but I think the framing is well done.

I love it! Strong use of the rule of thirds. If I could nit-pick the focus on your eyes might be a touch soft. A sharper focus would bring you out even more in the picture, but as is my eyes still look at you first.

I agree Jodosh (the focus on your eyes).
Nice idea and good composition !

thanks for the comments jodosh and kamaki. i agree that the focus is a bit soft and i wish it was sharper on my eyes.

I know this one and have vague memories of mentioning the soft focus myself, but still it's an image I love to be looking at - probably because you have a rather soothing look.

(But... one hand holding the camera. Looking in the mirror... I hope you took this one while standing at the red... :)

you're right biolarzen....i posted this one on weeklyshot for the last self portrait topic.

and yes...i was at a red light... :)

Awesome color. Good cropping and DOF. I really can't find anything negative to say about this very colorful, abstract photo. I personally like it...a lot.

Heh...I have a very similar photo cued up for posting.

Nicely done.

I like this picture. It also could fit with the "solitude" topic

I like this lightless picture. And whitout the light (different frame without the streetlight ?)

I like this image -- it's very graphic and put a stange mood, the compo with all these lines is also very subtle..- really nice
there 's nothing i see that could/would improve your image !

Face is dark and menacing...am I going to be mugged?? Nice broody atmosphere.

Great mood; the foggy breath is a nice touch. Cropping in to lose the trees on the right might give you a stronger image - your subject's head wouldn't be right in the middle of the frame. For what it's worth, I like the street light; I think it adds to the atmosphere.

I agree with Willie. Seems like the focus could be tighter... more on the central rust and machineery of the wheel and track. Maybe the exposure was averaged which might account for the slight overexposure on the right. But cropping might be the answer.

I agree with two comments above. That big rusty wheel is where my eye goes, but it's hidden in shadow and there is just too much going on elsewhere.

There is certainly lots of rust in this image. The rail, the wheel, and other parts of the train. As others have mentioned the composition on this shot is such that the image doesn't have much impact. I think the wide view could have worked if you'd approached it straight on from the side and eliminated the gravel.

If you wanted to play with the processing of this; and assuming you have Photoshop or Elements. Create a layer copy of your image, then go to the Shadows/Highlights adjustment. Fiddle with both the shadows and highlight settings until you are happy with the results. Watch that you don't introduce too much noise though.

@uncommondepth - thanks a lot, that was a really helpful comment. I tweaked it in photoshop a bit and this is what I came up with.

andrewsankey.com/images/train2.jpg

I still don't think its perfect, but maybe a little better? Let me know what you think.

I agree this image lacks a true focus. I don't know if I like your PS'ed version - it looks too fake to me. I would offer you the suggestion of desaturating the photo. Pull the saturation down to B&W and then slowly move it back up - you will likely see the rust comes out more and the other colors are toned down so the rust wins.

Nice shot but maybe in "symmetry" topic it will work better ;)

On of the best so far

great street image - great how you just colored the umbrella !

Terrific use of selective saturation to draw attention to the subject. Well done.

Thanks to everyone for all of the nice comments and the feature.