Diamond Head 01

You have posted 2 decently exposed transparencies. I have no knowledge of whatsoever about what you were trying to accomplish. Having insight into what you wanted to do makes offering a critique very difficult. My sense though is that you should pay much more attention to your foreground. I am imaging that thes to slides were taken with a handheld camera. I could be, as I so often am, wrong.

I believe that a tripod is at least as helpful in composing a photograph as it is in bringing stability to the camera.

I am curious about your identity "dried squid". Are you a former submariner?

The overexposure of the sky rather ruins this photo which lacks a point of interest.

cheers
TEX

Thanks Claire and TEX,

What am I trying to accomplish?

To show that a decent image can be made simply. The Diamond Head photos were my attempt to show that film. like Kodachrome, and a reliable processor, like Dwayne's, can provide a worthwhile image. With a minimum of effort between the camera capture and final print. I am self-taught and enjoy photography more for "seeing a picture" via film, shutter speed, aperture, and framing. I aim to accomplish as much as possible before clicking the shutter.

I have only recently returned to picture taking. In the last fifteen or twenty years, I suspect my two Nikon FE's have seen less than twenty rolls of film.

The two pictures at the top of Diamond Head are my idea of snapshots. Anyone could have taken them with Kodachrome, a reliable processor, and a plain-old SLR. Minimum effort with a well-known technology. For me, they are satisfactory. I want to believe anyone could have taken these pictures.

I also participate in the kodachromeproject.com Forums. Name is Brian Kim.

By the way, I carried a Gitzo eye-level tripod, GT2942L, with an off-center ball head. For my "snapshots", I refrained from tripod or polarizing filter.

With respect to the overexposure of the sky and point of interest, I can say nothing. Transparency film has it's limits, and this does not appear the venue to overcome it in my image editor, Ulead PhotoImpact X3. Although I admit I did use PhotoImpact "Light | HighlightMidtoneShadow, and decrease Midtone and Shadow by -10. Other than that, the only other manipulations were changing resolution from 250 px/in to 96 px/in, and resizing. [ If this is improper, and the images should be removed, I will do it. ]

With respect to the point of interest, I thought the stairs would serve.

Thanks Claire and Tex.

Brian,
Snapshots can be taken with any camera its all down to the person behind the camera how good the shot will be. A filter would have helped to retain the highlights.
The lady in red/pink graps the viewers attention because of the strong colour but she in turn is not engaging with the photographer and is in fact looking out of the picture. This makes it difficult for the viewer to rest on this spot. The remaining people are heading down the stairs with their backs to the camera again not engaging with the photographer or viewer.
Could I suggest that you place a card over all the people and what you have left is a nice landscape shot with an overexposed sky.
Good composition make photographs with impact.

I feel that you are in the right area to receive a lot of opinions on your work. Feel free to accept or reject those offered.
Good luck with your photography and welcome to APUG.

Cheers
Vincent

Thanks TEX.
For me, this photo is not intended as a stand-alone. In my little booklet, it precedes 'Diamond Head 02'. I'm not being mischievous; I wanted to hear responses. Somehow, one photo with two adjacent images just didn't seem the right way for a computer monitor across the internet.

This is a tough one, I felt the need to maintain the natural glare and brightness of the scene, but then one could say it was overexposed. This is 11:00 sun in the tropics with a blue blue sky. It's dry. It's hot. It's bright.

Take care. A thousand thank you's.