It's a little sharp for my tastes, given the action involved. Some blur would make it a little, er... a little, er... unsettling? It's like she's floating, which I think is a tad odd. However, great colors and detail. I like yesterday's portrait better, not that you can directly compare the two. - Robert

Edit - a little blur would make it a little -less- unsettling.

-robert

I'm the first !!!
I'm taking this opportunity to tell you all my admiration for your work. One great picture each day ! Amazing ! This last one is perfect. Congratulations
Christian (France)

You're being a tad hard on yourself. When I look at this shot, I don't immediately think of any way in which it could've been rendered better. The angle you took, I think, is quite sweeping and dramatic.

Booh !! I've missed the first place !!!
Christian

You've got children that can float!

That's a nice shot! It's been great to visit your site everyday and check out the pictures. It's a moment in someone's life or in the lasting days of an object and it speaks volumes.

I was very much interested in photography a few years earlier. But when digital cameras started rolling out, it was hard to find good cameras for an affordable price (I see that you shoot with a 1400$ Camera). Well, your pictures have spurred up my interest in photography again and I am seriously considering in investing on a good camera. I'd like a camera that is not too complex, yet has space to learn and grow. Do you have any suggestions? I'd appreciate if you could help.

Thanks and keep em coming!

This is a wonderful photo. I think it picks up the idealistic childhood carefreeness even more than "Photo Friday: Childhood".

It's been compressed a tad too much around the hair though. Creates a digital glow. (Brand spanking new LCD screen means I'm seeing things everywhere now)

I think the colors & crispness are superb!... Did you have to adjust them alot? Love the blue... love the grass... love the left foot...

I like the sharpness of this one and the feeling she is floating in the air. That angle against that rich blue sky...a very appealing image.

Robert: I intially thought that a bit of blur might have been good too, but on reflection I'm glad I went with this one.

Scott: don't get me wrong, I like this one, it's just not quite what I was after (which doesn't make it a worse shot).

Vijay: I'd suggest a Canon 300D, 350D, 10D, or 20D or a Nikon D70 - all are good cameras and there isn't a massive amount to choose between them.

James: I can see what you mean but this is just the light catching her hair. In other words, it's not an artefact.

JK: this one was adjusted using a combination of the Channel Mixer, Hue/Saturation and Curves. Basically I upped the contrast and deepened the green, yellow, blue and cyan.

The photo looks like it is touchable.
I want to feel it, i love the colors!

the flashwork is really good along with the super-saturation.

constructive crit: I like it but I find it a bit disturbing how sharp the foot is in comparison with the face -- it depends on which you feel is more important I suppose.

Awesome shot!....i dont agree with some of the comments. I think its perfectly sharp...no oversharpness at all.......I think any type of blur would have ruined it also...I think its a great capture. Perfect color seperation.

Your photos have made me re-discover the meaning of breathtaking. This one is a beautiful example of that quality.

Thanks.

A very happy picture.

love this one dave, I like it the way it is.

Great shot. I'm surprised to read you used flash in this shot. I don't even see evidence of flash. Just looks like natural lighting. That 17-40 looks to be a great lens. Darn, I just bought a sigma 28-70 too.

This shot would be *perfect* if there were nice puffy clouds in the sky. The one to the right looks funny.

Stunning shot. I do think it shows some height from the jump.

I think this is spot on, great colour, great action (no blur needed imho) and great composition too.

this is one gr8! just a lil too sharp for the eyes.. coz the girl is in motion. but still. this pic is amazing!

I prefer this one to yesterday, I think its the three main colors between her, the grasses, and the sky. Its very nice. My first thought wasnt that she was jumping, more like skipping from a weird angle. It is a nice shot though, and I like the sharpness.

love the angle and the fact that even been sharp you can clearly apreciate the movement. Great colors too.

this photo produced in me an instantaneous dropping of the jaw followed by a "waaaaaaa!" simply beautiful. perhaps my favorite of yours yet.

hey, here i am again. At first i was talking to my friend about this picture if you took only one pictures or a few variations to choose the best. Then we read the caption and... How can you say it's a reasonably decent shot !? It's PERFECT! I love it! :D

i was wondering if you could give me some help... I study Design an i'm having photography now. So... I have this project... To make anything (with photos, of course) about "the poetry of the invisible"...

My head is really empty at the moment, all i thought about was to shoot some shadows against a really colourful wall, make lots of big copies, cut the photos in smal and equal pieces, and rearrange them on a black paper with a little gap between them... it's really crazy...

Well I don't really have to "do something" with the photograph. the work can be a photo, or a sequence of them... it's not necessary to do anything graphic with it...

Sorry about my english (i'm Brazilian) dunno if I explained it right, i guess so. If that idea (the poetry of the invisible) brings to your mind any other idea to use in a photo help me please :P

Thanks ! And congratulations on the photo again! I really like some other macro pics you have too!!

See ya ! I'll be here again tomorrow! Thanks

Very nice colors.

Great angle. I like the sharpness; her hair seems a little blury...almost a little like you pasted her into the picture in PS, but other than that it's very sharp! Blur would have been interesting too, but I have a feeling the sharper shot would be better. Wonderful job!

I really enjoy your photographs each day. It's such a treat.

This photo feels so dainty! I love the grassiness and the blues and the smear of cloud and all its vibrance. It's all so idyllic.

You and your camera go well together.

Love it Dave - To me it is full of life and energy. Sure some properly set up motion blur might have been nice (if you could have gotten the shutter speed) but no - I think it is spot on. Actualy it seems like a return to chromasia of old ??????

I like this one better than yesterday's shot. I can't even tell you why exactly. I guess it's because there is so much energy in her and in the shot and the colors are so vibrant... Very nice series...

WOAHHHH !!! Excellent work, as dynamic as an image you can create. Colours are oversaturated but add to the dynamism of this image... Jaw dropped and thankyou...

this is a wonderful image
grat colors, saturation
this is a perfect stock photo

This is amazing, great sharpness and the colours and contrast are spot on.

Were you lying down? Cant have been too comfortable with all that marram grass, its really sharp. :-)

Nice composition - the balance betwen the contours of theg grass the the jumping girl is just right.

beautiful action photo

how you managed to get this great exposure under those lightning conditions is amazing to me. i gues you must have measured at the sky and the let the flash do the work with the rest? still, your daughter seems to have more light from the back left than from the camera angle, so i am puzzled.

What a sky! Not something we see in the NW all that often... !

I really like it, caught in the moment. I also like the photo being sharp and the grass is just amazing, really nice colours, superb work, wish I could take such good pictures like you :)

Thanks everyone.

Jarod: I agree, the clouds are the one thing that's not quite right with this shot.

Fabio: how about slow exposures of flowers/grass in the wind?

SteveO: yes, I was laying down, but mostly on sand.

efraim: the 20D uses ETTL-2 which generally does a great job of not appearing unnatural hence the sun still seeming to be the main light source.

oh great, i have the 350d and from what i understand it uses ettl-II aswell. do you have any comments on wether i should go for 580ex or will a 420ex be sufficient for situations like this?

thanks for the response!

Fabulous ! Love the crispness of it.