some of my new favourites

Couldn't agree more.

Although if the seventeenth twig up from the left was a bit darker it would be better too. And lose the bloke on the right's bald patch while you're about it...

... oh, and he should be wearing Gap jeans, not FCUK.

Joking apart, I do think this raises what must be a very old debate, but one that I'm only just coming to now that I'm firmly in the digital world.

Where does composition stop and painting begin?

Does competence with Photoshop negate incompetence with the camera?

Excelent point Chris, but the stuff I suggested doesn't really come about from incompetance with a camera, and the OP has clearly demonstrated a capability that probably exceeds my own, (thats why I was having a go at his pics )

I agree totally though, relying on photoshop is not the way to go, getting it right in camera is. There are members of my camera club that will spend hours manipulating an image, and probably win competitions with the end result, but like you say, where will they stop?
I suppose its all a matter of preferance but the debate of how much manipulation constitutes "cheating" will rage for a long time to come.

We are allready seeing the "injustice" of it all in slide competitions, ie those that are straight transparancies competing alongside those that have obviously been made from digital negatives.

PS I must be losing my touch I missed the highlight on the guys head

Nah! Too fussy. He needs to clone out the tree and that inconsiderate attention-seeker on the right. Then we're getting somewhere. Maybe the dog and the houses, too. But nothing else.

Nice moody picture, just as it is.

Spot on. I like nothing better than a nice blank page, myself. Cuts out all those silly arguments about soft JPEGs.

G

My jpeg is soft,

But some kind person sent me an email telling me there is a solution!

But it costs money

But I'll be able to shoot like a porn star!

But I don't know what sort of pictures he takes.

:

I just love your mono shot AJ and have to agree the third figure is a must, to me it adds another dimension that is interesting to the image.

I adore Henri Cartier Bressons work and after getting a new book on his past portraits from the library it inspired me to start taking portraits with a space above the sitter.
It felt odd at first instead of going in an cropping tightly at the top of head as usual, but it works well I think.

Any comments gratefully received too, need all te help I can get I have not yet been calibrated so let me know if its a bit on the dark side

My type of pic . . . . . . . . . nice ! ! !

Should have added, looks perfect on my screen, 20" Apple iMac.
Good colours, well defined black and whites, can even see shadow detail. Superb

...must resist mucky joke...must resist...must resist

Lilly, thanks for the comments.

The portrait looks good on my macbook. Detail is good too, but are the highlights in the forehead blown out?

The tall format works well. Does Cartier-Bresson always use a similar format for portraits? I'm not at all familiar with his work.

Three very nice images, I like them all for differnt reasons.

Like George the Severn Bridge pic is nice and punchy, has a monolithic style, could be mistaken as an outake from an 70's SF movie.

The B&W one looks like a 50's smog pic, I wouldn't change a thing it's great as it is.

I'll echo Galoot's thoughts, Lilly's portrait is fantastic, exhibition quality.

Yes, the HL are blown, even on the original before I PP it, have tried every way to retrieve detail, but if it aint there? unless, anyone has the answer? Just wished I'd bracketed at the time, but it was one of those opportune moments and I grabbed it.

Yes, Cartier uses that format very much, check out this book, has wonderful ideas for portraits:
An Inner Silence: The Portraits of Henri Cartier-Bresson

thanks for your comments, good to know I am heading in the right direction and also that my TFT is displaying OK, but I must get calibrated!

Lilly,

Were you shooting RAW or JPEG?

It's too late now for this picture, but RAW captures a lot of highlight detail that would be blown out by a JPEG.

G

I was shooting jpeg George, so can't blame it on that.
I am going to set the default to RAW from now though, it's shots like this that could have been so much better ....if only.....I....Hmmm