Armands Zāle

As far as telling bedtime stories to children is concerned, everything's fine. But I recall the author claiming that the quality of his work was due to using high-quality lenses, in a discussion concerning proper automated downsizing of photographs when uploading one's picture... Too much of heavy postprocessing work here to take the above assertion for granted.

A beachful of bokeh.

The one with the seller is excellent but the bear does not fit in at all.

Dear tourist! :) I find this interesting enough.
With love, from Riga.

An absobloodilutely nostalgic picture! Just think of it ... cold and snowy winters as a rare thing nowadays for the entire Baltic States. Don't we all miss a good old-fashioned winter badly?

I've seen this face before, and this pic may have been taken in Latvia, am I right?

Vsegda byla klassika

5

Excellent mood.

One of those pictures that instantly remind me of Bresson's style.

Something to think about.

Kā man patīk tavi ābolīši! :D

I'd prefer all brides to show their feminine beauty like this, but it remains to be seen whether the wishes of so many spectators will come true. :)
You Lithuanians are very keen on toning your pictures. This leaps to the eye.

Not bad, I think.

There's something wrong or missing about her hair, I mean, some quality inherent in the hair itself, or maybe I've been watching all those hair and shampoo advertisings on TV, before the night news, much too much, who knows. :)
I chose not to rate this picture.

Yes, this is something. What lens did you use?

Another picture that seems to have come from a distant past. The farmers are getting ever so modern nowadays that manual labour is a rare thing to see.

+-+

+++++

Q! Mūsu Venta! :D
Laba.

Zemgale LV? :)

5!

Apart from the uncalled for smile ...

O, Jezus, cik forsi :)

Šī gan patīk. Protams, ko tad te var daudz saskatīt un novērtēt.

Ko te vēl komentēt? Stils un bilde paši runā. 5+

5

5

All in all, good work. There's something lacking about the zipper and the boy's hands, I think.

Craving, as defined in many dictionaries, means wanting something desperately. Mostly used in relation to hunger, it still may refer to intense erotic need, by an analogy comparing hunger to sexual appetite. And this is something that I'm unable to find in the naive and pondering look of the model. The photographer was getting along without any titles for his pictures very well for some time. Perhaps, this time the hit and miss tactics didn't work.

Upper Row IV ... V.... VI
Lower Row: 6

yes! 5+

Five, but the postprocessing has resulted in unwanted and apparent layers. They leap to the eye on an LCD screen.

Something's been lost, the simple look of a child has been turned into something quite different but I still like the pic.

Initially I thought there was only one picture here. What a mess! This is a series. And when I finally did open the picture, I saw what I had to vote for. :) Pieci.

:) Arī lietuviešiem priecīgus vasaras saulgriežus no latviešiem.
Līgo, Jānīt, līgo!

Jā, labāka spāru bilde, nekā mana. 5

Patīk

Forša bilde un krāsas.

Yes, there's no knowing the mind and liking of Lithuanian photographers. Many modern Latvian photographers prefer technical perfectness to mood and sense, they'd be unlike to rate this picture as high as this, even if we suppose that voting really matters.

www.photography.lt :D

Forša bilde, tehniski - uz robežas. Pieci, vienalga.

O! Latvija :D
;) Pieci

!

Good as a standalone pic but a series wouldn't be amiss, either.

Jesļi oņi bi znaļi, čhto mi vo mnogom tože v zaķljučeņije nahoģimsja. Naprimer, svojevo voobražeņija.

Vitas ... ja predpočitaju plotnoje kadrirovaņije i ņe smotrju na drugih, no vsjo že hoķel bi uznaķ, počemu "cia ne fotografui". Spasibo.

Good. I like the mood.

Photo No. 3 evoked mixed feelings in me. As I was standing there, shooting, I suddenly wondered how these people felt whenever they heard the heavy thudding of railroad cars ... and the railroad was busy on this remembrance day, too.

Something's happened to my rating as a photographer recently, which is rather hard to explain, so my voting probably won't matter much. I like this, though.

Lithuanian photographers definitely like old motorbykes.:)

forša

nu baigi laba - ar perspektīvu

liuks

Not bad at all, with some points of exception.

Perfect! The face of a younger woman couldn't be self sufficient and so expressive, that's why I don't fancy taking photos of young girls. They're for fun and pleasure, not for photos with deeper meaning. So I highly approve of this DM's photo.

Thanks for your notes and votes. I think I love music much more than photography because it's the best creative thing coming from people that combines so many elements from other spheres, and perhaps it shows.

Is this intended as a high key photo? The background seems to be slightly overexposed and partially merges with the subject. Some contrast added to this pic would make it more appealing to my eyes.

Nice try :D

I beg to difffer, Ignas. This is a full fledged photo, no tries, either figuratively or literally.
As to why such shots should be regarded photos then it's clear that this is an attempt to obtain a shot in an otherwise dull and uninteresting place. This is the same effect of panning that one uses in sports. No big difference.

By the way, this is probably one of my best photos so far.

Gendarmes and the Martians :)

Savdabīgi telpiski.

Something's missing but I can't put my finger on it right away.

fine

laba

Absolutely positive!

Ozols ir Latvijas ainavas simbols.

Very appealing to my senses.

clear and simple

5

wow

Like Japanese

Sweet

Good

Vytautas, a gde ne dostatki, dlja tusovki? Spirtnoje jestj, zakuska vrodi bi tozhe, devchonki - beri ne hochu. Veselje jestj, ustanovka i obstanovka tozhe. I ja ponjal, chto do 5 ne dostajuschije 0.5 eto nje litra a ocenka fotografu. Ja prav?:)

VarnasX, mozno skazatj, chto ja fotografiruju s avgusta 2005. goda. Nigde ne uchilsja etomu remeslu.

Iespaidīgi (= impressive)

Mindaugas ... perhaps, you like apples, don't you? Did I guess right? :D

The last picture in this series is largely indicative of the aftermath of this here, er, booze that I happened to shoot. A lot like shooting at weddings, I'd say. I enjoyed it and hope you enjoy these pics, too.

Yes!

We call this animal "krupis", and the name is used, alongside of "cūka" (best translated into English as swine, not pig), in an offending sense. The Latvian language is not suitable for swearing, that's for sure.
If one loves animals at all, one loves these amphibians as well. Good!

VarnasX, v principe da, za linijami, kotorije prohodjat cherez opredelonnije chastji tela, osobenno gorla i golovi, nado smotretj. No zdesj ne tot sluchai, i mne lichno dazhe na LCD (na kotorom ja ne rabotaju) eto ne brosajetsja v glaza. A v praktike - nachinajuschije fotografi (kak ja) ob etom ochen valnujetsja, daze poroi zabivaja o kartinke v celom, a profesionali ... delajut, kak schitajet nuzhnim. :)

A little bend, some curves, a dash of contrast, considerate use of the eraser tool, and voila ... simple tools, carelessly tossed on the ground, became like fossils.
If you have a picture based on an idea like this, please disregard this photo. On the other hand, if you don't ...

I tend to think that in Soviet times there was no such thing as real beer on sale. When in Latvia, try Piebalgas, Užavas, Bauskas, and forget all about Aldaris, Cēsu and similar drinks which merely taste like beer.

nagi/claws ... isn't Nature amazing?

3 musmires - znachit normalnaja kartinka. Vse moi kartinki budet prohoditj cherez Pelke. Eto kak zerkalo, no ne dlja menja. :)

Say NO to Butinge? :):)

Looking at this picture, you can even smell the fresh scent of the foliage. I'd note, however, that there could have possibly been more in such a picture at a different time of the day, for example, shades.

Lakonichno. Digitalno ozabochennije ne poimjot. :)

opaaa, a shto eto. Neobiknovenno.

Chem to napominajet pinhole.

Dorogoi Elektronnij Gospodi - Administrator. Gde moi 9 zagruzhennih faila? Vizhu tolko odin, pervij.

... uzhe ne vstretish takoje

:)) U nas

pastelis

Kraski na ljubitelja, a ideja jestj.

Priecīgas Lieldienas visiem!

kris, thank you. This phenomena in itself, in this case, does not worry me much, I have lots of other pictures; this is not to say that one may disregard it completely, for there must be something wrong with the picture. I think, on the one hand it's something in the picture (the model never complained about how she looked in this pic), maybe it's nothing out of the ordinary; but on the other hand it's so pleasing to find oneself in a situation where your vote (and voice) counts so easily. Just push the button - and you've shown your power over someone.
Do I write negative comments ... A good question, this one, indeed. No, but I don't vote 'thumbs down', either, when there is little that I like in a shot. And, when it's thumbs up, then it's the voting that matters more rather than my note under the picture that I actually voted so. This seems fair to me. So, it goes from here that one only rates pictures that he/she likes a lot or dislikes intensively.
An acquaintance of mine once said that if someone takes a bad picture of a house, then it's left completely unnoticed, as opposed to a bad picture of a girl which results in a disaster to both the model and the photographer. I'll have to swallow it down that this is the case of a disaster, then.

Robis, are you sure? :) You see, 8 mušmires may mean that both of us might be wrong about the picture and the girl, too. Vox populis, but why they are so shy to comment their dislike then? :D