Matt's Selects

I like this, a much more specific object in the plane of focus. You might move the lock to the far left side of the composition to include it completely instead of leaving all of the blank space iin the left side of the photo.

I like the sun star. The trees are a little blurry. Be sure to pay attention when on auto focus and looking into the sun. It can sometimes give the auto focus fits so maybe you would choose to manual focus.

Focus a little soft, but a better depiction of a broad range of focus. If possible, I would re-position to get the leaves in the foreground out of the image.

Alex, this is the strongest image you have submitted. Good use of the large depth of field to get everything in focus and to create the blurred water. I like the strong use of thirds in the composition.

Alex, I am curious if you review your photos full screen before submitting them? Though I like the mood of this photograph it is blurry and out of focus. Compositionally, I would have tried to zoom in and capture more of the road moving diagonally across the frame.

Nice image. I would love to see your F-stop number on this and then compare it to your specific plane of focus. If you had a high F-stop (F22 or higher) your plane of focus should have been just beyond the first white dot in the composition. That would have allowed better focus in the foreground while keeping the background adequately sharp. Another though would be to have the person on the steps stand and fill the white space for a nice compositional element.

Billy, this might be my favorite photo. The composition is great. Nice detail in the gravel in the foreground while leaving just enough of the people's legs to make us wonder where they are going and how they relate to the scene. Nice.

Billy, nice composition, but I feel like it would be nice to see the entire top of the grass stem. Maybe it was too tall to include in the composition, but it looks like it might be able to include the upper arc of the grass that is cropped out of the top right of the photo.

This is a great image. It effectively uses a narrow depth of field to capture a neat moment between the girl and the horse. Nice work.

I like this image. There is a surprising amount of rich detail in the road surface. I would love to see both pairs of shoes included in the composition.

Some really neat elements in this photograph. I like the contrasting light and color and the diagonal lines of the grass. Don't be afraid to "harvest" elements like the two small strands of grass that are out of line with the rest. Also, it might be nice to shift the stalk with seed pods into the left third of the frame.

Nice shot. I like the composition, especially how it keeps the purple rope/buckle in front of the other (through blurred) ropes. It is too bad we didn't have more cool rope and leather work to work with.

Nice shot, good use keeping the depth of field narrow. I think it would be stronger is the entire ATV was shifted to the left (this can be accomplished with a little shift in the photogs position) and the legs to the right. As it is there is too much hay bale in the photo, kind of distracting. I really like how the girls legs are cropped. It implies a story about girls versus boys that is up to the viewers imagination.

I like the composition. The narrow plan of focus might be more effective on the leading edge of the wall...? But the subtle colors reflected in the water are pretty cool.

Better depth of field. This is a good example of how the 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind really works. Assuming you did use a narrow aperture (F22) your natural inclination was to focus on Devon's face. That, however, didn't allow for all of the rings to be in focus. Instead, pull the focus back a few rings. Devon should still be in focus as would the rings in the foreground. I like it!

Like. The only change I might suggest is to play with a more diagonal composition (might require twisting the camera more) to bring the ends of the thorn shaft more into the upper left and lower right corners. Good use of narrow aperture to focus the eye and blur the background.

Focus issues, but that can be hard to pull off. I really liked the color and possibilities with this scene (you were not the only one to shoot it in this manner). It would work much better if you were able to isolate the middle stalk into one of the thirds, and use the yellow background to bring out the muted colors. The far right stalk is just distraction and should be cropped out.

I like the abstract nature of this image. Ideally, the horses mane would be well groomed to augment the flowing nature of the hair lines. You can see, however, that having the main focal point in the distance can make is feel a bit diminished. If you had focused on the dark hair, a larger portion of the image would be in the narrow plane of focus. Claire's picnic bench photo is another example of this.

Nice framing, depth of field and composition. It would be really fun to have a whole lot of well used leather and rope to play with.

I like this also and think your plane of focus pulls the eye to the most interesting point. I would crop out more of the left side of the image bringing the cross-hatched leather work into the left third. Overall focus is soft which might be due to a slow shutter speed, especially if this was taken in your tack shed. That is always a challenge. You can brace your shoulder against things, and hold you breath when pressing the shutter button to help with this.

Nice abstract image. I like it.

Devon, this is a great photo. Nice depth of field and composition. It would be fun to play with developing the image further in Lightroom or Photoshop.

You know, I never actually read this graffiti until your photo. "Think Good Thoughts" A nice message captured well.