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12/14/2012 12:41:41 PM · #1
was my entry so bad?

I was just going to move on (still am, actually) but as there is another Minimal challenge up now, I thought maybe I'd better find out why my entry in Numbers was worse than 78% of the other entries? I know I got a lot of 5's. You can tell me those are average, but if a 5 was average, I'd have been at or just above 50% with my score, so they obviously were not being used as "average" votes in this challenge.

I'm thinking this was too "cute" for most but maybe it was technically inferior, too. Thanks in advance for any insight you can give me.
12/14/2012 12:58:44 PM · #2
It just has absolutely no "pop" to it, nothing's happening. It's the photographic equivalent of a list: "Books? Check. Bear? Check. Blocks? Check. Good to go..."

The challenge of minimal editing is very much in the light; you can't use post processing to enhance and separate things, so you're back to the good old days of finding (or creating) and working with good, luminous light. OR a genuinely interesting or compelling scene or arrangement. Preferably both.

Another think that may have hurt this image is that the challenge was "numbers" and the numbers, in this shot, play second fiddle to the bear, which dominates. I'm sure you'd have done better if you'd made an arrangement of the blocks only.

For some reason I thought my own, perfectly exposed and aligned shot of PO Boxes would be a contender, but I think I fell into the same humdrum trap as you, and fared scarcely any better:

12/14/2012 01:11:42 PM · #3
I didn't vote this challenge or I would explain my vote to you. Offhand it seems kind of flat and uninteresting. Nothing grabs my attention, it's a decent still life but nothing that would cause me to pause and look longer.

My own that I thought was pretty good was in the same low 5 zone. I thought the light was interesting, as well as the subject, but it didn't click with many people for some reason. I'm thinking the compostion was awkward, it was hard to get everything I wanted into the scene. But that's just a guess. Minimal is tough.

As long as we are comparing our mediocre finishes...



Message edited by author 2012-12-14 13:13:55.
12/14/2012 01:13:26 PM · #4
Don't feel bad my shot was 4th from last.
It's hard to take and interesting shot of numbers admit it, it sounds simple but it was a hard challenge.


Your shot was nice but do you think it was creative?
Like Bear said the subjuct was numbers.
Maybe if the numbers were up front and the other objects were in the background simulating a childs room.
No harm in bringing it up and asking.

12/14/2012 01:21:46 PM · #5
Since I also had blocks with division, multiplication, addition and subtraction symbols on them, I actually started by setting up a math problem with the blocks (still had the bear and books). I thought that was too cutesie but now I'm thinking that might have moved me to 33% LOL Good thoughts - keep 'em coming. Thanks.
12/14/2012 01:30:15 PM · #6
i gave it a 4 and on reflection that was fair, to me its boring, a snap shot the colour is flat the detail is ok but not crystal sharp, its just not something id like to look at. maybe it had some deeper meaning to you but that wasn't conveyed to me,

brown teddy on brown wall, random books at least have books with isbn numbers on the spine etc to further reinforce the numbers theme, as on a quick glance id say play time challenge, not numbers or memories of youth

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