Instructor's comments

Well, when I got my disc back I found out that he does not put any written comments--only a number between one and ten, which is his grading scale. So I will try to remember the comments made in class when we looked at the photos together. (The photos will enlarge if you click them--some more than others, and they are also located in larger form at these posts--scenic and macro.)

On the ski lift picture, he liked the way it faded into the fog, and the fact that I included what others might avoid--the snow piled up from plowing. He did think I might have gotten a better shot if I had moved further to th right. I remeber why I hadn't--other than the lame excuse that I didn't have the right shoes for it. There was a big truck unloading kegs of beer onto a snowcat to go up to the lodge. Of course, that might have been a good picture in itself. He gave this photo a 9.

A picture from the student before me had a wide expanse of empty sky, and the instructor suggested cropping it out since there wasn't anything interesting going on there. His remark, similar to others he has made, "Now if an eagle had flown by...). So when this one opened up on the screen I said, "Didn't find any eagles to fly through the frame...".

He sstill suggested that I could crop a bit off the left top corner. I had tried and didn't like it. He had some other suggestions about moving in closer and repositioning. Some of these aI had actually done, but did not like the light poles and didn't want to get run over. He gave this one a 7.
Or maybe this was the one he gave a 9--he graded two of the three, and I'm not totally positive which he called #1 and which #2. Again the way the lift fades out was a positive about this one. I rather like it better than the first.

~

No for the macros--I will probably remember better since it was only yesterday afternoon. Most of the students did things like a ring or toy car. I had tried to set some things up, but they just seemed forced. I like photos to happen--and of course, they are happening all the time. Just not necessarily the ones you need for a particular assignment when the assignment is made.

He liked how well the arbed wire contrasts agains the background. He commented that this is how a macros should be--the focus on the item and the background out of focus. He commented on how the ice crystals stood out jsut clearly enough.
He was somewhat intrigued by this one, especially when I told him the size of the mushrooms. He suggested that I crop some off of the right side. I had already cropped it quite a bit, which contributed to the visual "noise" in the dark shadow. It is not as apparent in the small version here, but is pretty obvious when on the screen in front of the class. He had some suggestions for compensating for that if it were printed.
My friend here got quite a rise--almost as much as one girl's brother's tarantula. I had focus problems when I took this, and I knew it. I took several at the time--I think that is a key in the circumstances. The comment was that he looks like he is coming right into your camera. Everyone liked this.

I forget what was said about this, other than that it looked like something out of Dr. Seuss. Oh, there was something about underexposing it a bit to get more definition in the snow crystals. I may go back and take another look at the original. I had brightened it a bit, and that seems like the opposite of his suggestion.

No scores on these as this was jsut the class discussion.

The next assignment will be action. Oh, dear.