Spinning Wheel ~ Hi-Tech 700 Years Ago
by hyperfocal

Comment:
Wow, this is just phenomenal work. The motion capture is really good and the lighting, well, it's perfect. The texture on the platform is very important and helps my eye avoid seeing the spinning wheel as floating in midair. Very good stuff.

Lego of my ego
by Travis99

Comment:
Aww, reminds me of my youth. I think you overexposed by about 1.5 stops. I know that would darkened the blue piece too much, but the yellow piece is suffering from blown highlights. The 1:1 (or close to it) aspect ratio isn't really doing much for me, but I'm biased toward vertical portrait orientation in 4:3 ratio. The lighting is superb. The shadows are cast beautifully and seem very appropriate for the subject. I really do like this though and I seem to be nitpicking. 8.

"Ye Olde Nutcracker"
by Tressider

Comment:
Very nice, soft-lighted still life of the nuts. The placement of the nuts in front of the cracker seems a bit contrived. Also, it doesn't make a lot of sense that the bucket is full of unshelled nuts. Isn't the purpose of the bucket to catch the crushed shells? Your positioning of the subject in the frame needs a little attention: if this were shot vertically, I think you could've gotten all of the nutcracker and the nuts in the shot without cutting the nuts off (ouch). Overall, though the problems with the image are fairly petty. 7.

How does this work again?
by traser

Comment:
Very cool, nostalgic photo. I wonder though if it's immediately recognizable as a telephone. I think having the handset a little more pronounced could have improved the shot. The use of a high ISO or added grain in post-processing is flawless--I love it. The lighting is fairly good, with a little too much light on the right and not enough on the left. But not really bad. I give it an 8. Great stuff.

Breath of a Note
by DefyTime

Comment:
Wow, very nice and moody shot. Does her hair on the left really offer anything to the composition? I might have pulled it out of the way fo r the shot. The position of the flute (?) is great and very comfortable to my eye. I'm impressed that her ring is the same silver tone as the instrument. If it were gold, it would be distracting. Perhaps a good tip to others shooting musicians. Match your jewelry! :) 9

Low Tech Water Pump
by Intelli

Comment:
That is perhaps the queerest looking windmill I've ever seen (so many blades!). I think the inclusion of the house in the background is lovely and suits the windmill nicely. I wonder if you'd have use a wider angle and gotten slightly closer to the windmill would that have been better. Perhaps with a wider aperature as well to blur out the house, which would still be discernible. I think the trees on the left could have been cropped out to better effect. It's definitely low tech, and you get a bonus for meeting the challenge.

The Old Way
by digistoune

Comment:
You'll likely be voted down for not really having a low tech subject, but I agree with you. This is indeed on the verge of being considered low technology. Still, the idea of reading magnetic tape that can be rewritten over and over might be disputable as a low tech medium. Regardless of all that, you've got a nice composition with decent lighting (I like backlit subjects :). Perhaps a little bounced fill lighting to further flesh some of the details in the front of the tape. But leave the back light alone, it's good. Just bounce some into the front next time. The depth of field is perfect given the size of the subject. Dare I say you were perhaps too close to the subject? Maybe about 1 inch further away would've given me a little more of the scene (tape rolls, background) to ponder. Overall, a nice effort. 6.

Animal Tool
by palhoff

Comment:
This is sort of a bizarre photograph (not that that's always a bad thing). I'm guessing the elephant was carved out of wood, but one can only guess given that the sculpture is out of focus. The suspended nature of the chisel is weird. It's kinda twilight zone-ish, which isnt very appropriate given the subject. The shadow of the chisel on the back wall is distracting to me. I really don't know what to tell you to do to improve the photo. Perhaps recompose with a sculpture that is clearly made of wood...maybe partly completed. Also, I would take a more downward angle toward the subject. This sort of subject usually looks best when taken at a natural point of view, as from the eye of the woodworker.

Chopsticks
by Zap228

Comment:
I really enjoyed this. I love food photography and your choice of white rice here is perfect, as it tends to be less interesting that the chopsticks, which is the subject of the photo. There is a little noise in the image that doesn't really add anything for me. The composition is truly great, though. 9

Natural Light
by wkoffel

Comment:
I'm just having a hard time placing this picture in any context. I understand that the "low tech" portion is the use of a candle to read by, but you must remember that the image must stand alone outside of DPC as a memorable and meaningful image. I don't feel anything when I look at your candle, for instance. It looks like a candle I have on my coffee table. An old kerosene lantern would have improved it. Or maybe use the same candle but show us a warm mountain lodge in the background with a fire going and a dog curled up at the reader's toes. You are on to something with the topic being portrayed here (I would call it "Rockwellian" simplicity), but you need to tell more of a story. Technically, there's nothing wrong with the photo. Exposure, composition, and lighting are all acceptable. Just tell me a story. :)