Submitter's name:	Andrew Fildes
Title:	Bird's Land.
Gear used:	Olympus Wide S.
Diaphragm:	f11
Shutter speed:	1/250
Film used:	Fuji Superia 100.
Technical information:	The Wide-S is a 1957 meterless rangefinder with a fixed H.Zuiko-W 3.5cm F2 SC lens and Seikosha MXL leaf shutter. It was a premium version of the earlier 'Wide' model.
Subject information:	Unremarkable landscape shot in local park - a DOF test for a new-to-me old camera. Seems sharp from foreground grass to the chicken sheds on the far hill. Submitted for interest's sake - very early version of the popular 35/2.
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Comment left by: Eric Pederson (epederso@darkwing.uoregon.edu)

The colors on the jpeg and my monitor almost look hand-painted. This is the type of shot which would look very nice as a hand-painted shot if you could get a decent monochrome print on non-glossy paper....

Comment left by: Wayne Harridge (no e-mail specified)

I like the clouds

Comment left by: bbbean (bbbean@beancotton.com)

Actually the colors don't look as saturated as most of my Superia 100 work. I wonder if that was the result of exposure or scanning?

Comment left by: Jim Caldwell (jamesfc@gte.net)

Has a very interesting look - there is a lack of sharpness, but there is still enough detail. The road tends to lead into the shot, but there isn't a clear subject. I rather like it!

Comment left by: John A. Lind (no e-mail specified)

I wouldn't call it "unremarkable" as it is a nicely composed pastoral scene. The road leads the eye into the scene to the trees in the distance. I recommend working with the printing and scan post-processing to see if slightly higher print density and better color balancing can be extracted from this one. Although sky can indeed look somewhat cyan, this one looks too cyan in combination with the foliage colors; the grass in particular. The clouds also look blown out. If you can, look at the negative with a loupe to see if there's detail where the clouds look blown out to pure white in the print. I'd bet dollars to donuts there's more detail in the clouds than was printed and a slightly higher print density combined with more care by the printer in color balancing will gain cloud detail, inherently increase its saturation some, and give you a photograph that's more remarkable than you think.

Comment left by: Bruce Hamm (bhamm@magma.ca)

I agree with John. There is nothing unremarkable about this. You have a really solid composition here...and if can't bump up the saturation and detail using post-exposure methods, I suggest that you try to reshoot this under less harsh lighting. I really think that you have the makings of a real winner here. Nice work.

Comment left by: Mike Lazzari (watershed@interisland.net)

I like the composition. My monitor shows it a bit too warm

Comment left by: Chuck Norcutt (chucknorcutt@attbi.com)

I wish you hadn't mentioned the chicken sheds on the other side. I thought this was so peaceful and restful that I just wanted to be there... until you mentioned the chickens that is.

Comment left by: Mickey Trageser (no e-mail specified)

I think the picture has a painterly quality about it. The colors are a little surreal. The sky looks like it could benefit from different scan settings. The road needs two boys walking with fishing poles! I think this is place to come back to again, and again. Seasons and weather will bring many moods to capture. This photo stands as an invitation.

Comment left by: Jez Cunningham (no e-mail specified)

I agree with Mickey - it needs a subject on the road or in the water. Given the title, what about a bird? Otherwise I like the exposure balance between sky and ground - well done.

Comment left by: Brian Swale (bj@caverock.net.nz)

I like this picture just the way it is. I knew from the trees that it was Australia, but other than that I was bluffed as to the origin. The colours, forms and composition are ideal in my view. Anything such as a bird or kids fishing would distract from the overall emphasis of the shot by focussing attention to just one part. The colours are what I would expect in that part of Australia when the weather was not going through a dry spell. Thin clouds can easily be rendered totally white in the silvery light of the southern hemisphere.

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