Hi everybody, this is Craig Tanner for the Mindful Eye and the photo of the week on the Daily Critique. This week’s photo of the week was submitted by Eddie who is an intermediate photographer from Charles’s Spring Florida.

Back story here, Eddie says he just love to shoot war life and he actually send us a whole port for you of war life images from three different war life refuges in Florida and this was one of my favorite such as a photo of the week. We are going to look at some more in just a minute; most of this shot are really beautiful birdshots. I am going to give you the locations here in case you leave in Florida or maybe you want to visit Florida. Want to find out more about this location.

All this images were created at either at the OX Hatchery National Wildlife Refuge in Palm Bridge County in California or Green Cay wetlands in the same Country Palm Bridge or at Long Key Natural Area in Bay View Florida.

And most of the shots I am not going to give you the media data on every shot, but most of this shot were shot a very long effective focal links. Ed was shooting here with Pentax K20D, so there is a conversion factor and a lot of these images were made with three hundred so I am not sure exactly what the conversion factor in that camera. That could probably gets most of to this shots up to 400 and 50 mm in the couple of the shot it is 600 mm, after the conversion were talking of a very, very long telephoto.

And lot if these images were shuttled so as around 400 or 800 and a lot were shot around F8, it makes me think the lance is maybe working here; maybe it is an F5 or 6 lance. Would be interesting to hear from him about that, maybe he is just stopping down just a little bit to get more sharpness but it is long focus link even if it is F8.

Particularly on subjects like this were Ed’s close, we still going to have a very, very shuttered dept of field, which is one of the things I love about this image right away. I just love the way that focus is falling off on the blades of grass here, just gives us a wonderful second of sort of dimension into the image, even though this can feel a little bit flat in the images. You still see a flow focus even in the dragonfly. Sort of amazing technically, here to capture this moment and get this part of a dragonfly sharp. Have a flow focus here. Creates some dimension have the focus going away on the grasses. Really beautiful in terms of the simplicity of the background, all the things that are seeing here, either repeat of rhyme ideas color quality of line or implied positive and negative space shape, either repeating on that aspects of the dragonfly or just incredibly simple.

It just gives you the idea of the negative space of maybe water or sky that is how to focus, just awesome background here. It says a lot of things to me; they are really interesting about this image. A lot of times, people there are beginner and beginner’s intermediates that are maybe talking to me about composition on the workshops. So you know Eddie really like this particularly image and the subject was just centered. When we can sort of get away with centering, you can get away with centering any time. You know it is all subjective, but if you are trying to work traditionally and you are trying to appeal to people at the level of basic design theory, which is base on natural law. The thing that we see all the time, then one of the things that you can do is something that Ed has done here.

If you centered your main subject, but you have any other ideas in the image that are very dynamic, but then you get away for the feeling of static. And this is the classic example of that, you got about a third of the image in the background that has all of this quality of line. There is quite a lot of visual energy in about two thirds of the backgrounds that is obviously very, very simple. That is just a negative space and that is it. You also have a very powerful element of design that makes things dynamic. Which is both of the major diagonals have been played here very dramatically with the framing. And the main subject positions, main subject does centered and the image almost bulls eye. But you have a real powerful feeling of moving on both of the major diagonals.

Now when you look at the other qualities of line related to the main subject being centered, and naturally beautiful. Quality of light cannot be ignored here. It is just really beautiful even though it is settled; there is a powerful feeling of dynamic flow to light. You see it on this feeling of sort of accents specular high lights on the wings of the dragonfly and the specula high lights here. You get a really beautiful sense of that on real powerful filling of dimension, form on this blade of grass, and let us say the high light side and he shutter side.

Last thing that I mentioned here, I mean there is so much to talks about in this image are so many beautiful things from designs standpoint. I just love the detail in the dragonfly and how this quality of line thing just sort of keeps getting smaller and smaller and the image when you see kind of hairs here on the legs. And that is one of the things I want to mentioned, this is such a powerful part of the image. Were the lights come in very high contrast connect to play of the grass to the main subjects here, so this idea of the shape. This negative space shape in front of the legs very powerful is just so cool how it repeats over here in the image and also really beautiful he got the feeling of almost broken bladed grass back here. How does that the same thing repeats this kind of L shape bracket shapes in the image. Real beautiful, very, very beautiful image on this.

Let us have some fun, and look at the rest of that so really stunning and beautiful portrait, another insect shot here, gorgeous butterfly shot. Just an awesome combination of subjects. I mean look at this image, I just got lost in it. The flow focus creates all this different sort of dimensions in the image and that gives a lot of adopt. But I just love the fact that, as I look at this different dimensions in the image, I had an experience where things are tied together, really gorgeous this subject until back in here.

The color of it, and the quality of line and how that is rhyming the butterflies. I love rounded sort of ask her of over here how that place in the image. It is just a really sort of neat job of the potions of the framing on this side and the more sort of this liner framing and I think it is place just stunningly just beautiful of the main subject because you have that feeling of inside of the butterfly. This is really sort of lending your ideas that were seeing play out in here on this side. But then you also have this really gorgeous wing shape and the stunning sort of movement and that place over here.

Just technically amazing too when I look at any kind of a war life image to get, even to capture anything sharp and get anything if focus. Then we start to see images like this that helps such a powerful sense of design. I know that I am looking at a body of work that someone has spent in the enormous amount of time on and there has been tons of tons of shot, lots of work lots of patience. Great job amazing all kinds of technical things to just have these two images.

Some incredible averting shots here, really powerful moment here with the feeding and it just a beautiful quality of light and simple framing stunning, just gorgeous lining or taking of images here. A really beautiful quality of light again is really beautiful gloom of scent were glow it is out lining to shape of this bird. So just really soft but still powerful quality of light in terms of creating dimension and just fantastic moment. You know, this is a really great example of the image where hard white is just working great. Just absolutely stunning, so you know quality of light is totally relative to you subject. I mean not only is this hard quality of light really beautiful on the bird in the way that the colors and the background, the colors and the bird are playing in the hard light but just a graphic quality of the shadow of the bird and the rhythm that creates really stunning in any other incredible moment here just absolutely amazing.

Just stunning fantastic. Love the feeling of the movement of energy in this image and another really cool moment in the image, just in terms of a pair of birds and the inter actions. Beautiful isolation to these next two shots and even more isolated here. Just really powerful graphic shot as a moment. I love the framing just love the centering and the simplicity of it, another incredible moment in terms of a feeding in interaction with an adult and a Juvenile bird, lot of intension on this great move in the diagonal. I love the way the lines and the background or just playing of the bird, you know were you get that from those all of starts to blend and it becomes more abstract and you got close, comes a more a literal shot. It is really beautiful reputations and a rhythms and I love the atmosphere.

The reflection of the sky, in this waiting bird shot, I love what is happening with just some of focus things in the four grounds. To just get a little bit more environment and a little bit dimension, stunning portfolio or for Ed I want to say big thank you to him for sharing this images with us on the Mindful Eyes photo of the week on the Daily Critique. Hope everybody has a great weekend.