Baby, hands up!
by alintatoc

Comment:
Interesting idea. I would have moved my light source between my subject and the wall to prevent that distracting hot spot in the lower right corner. Would have been nice if you had been able to do something to balance out the grain in the area of light falloff gradation which simply looks noisy and grainy rather than stylized. I realize that this was done intentionally, but because this is the only place that this shows up in the picture in any quantity, I believe it does not add to the picture. Better to find other ways to accomplish the gradation.

You may have been going for a 'halo' look, but I don't see anything notable there that specifically adds anything to the picture in my view.

I personally would also have taken a stab at darkening the shadows (via curves or contrast). This could have had an effect on the cast of the yellows, brightening and remvoing a lot of the warmth, so I might also have just left it in.

I've been doing a lot of experimentation on low-light photos and shadowy scenes taken with P&S cameras with terrible low-light performance, so I'm not entirely speaking out my @$$ on this. I am not an expert though, so feel free to take this with as much salt as you wish.

I would have given the pic a 4.

Game Cancelled Due to Rain
by gt7435b

Comment:
FWIW, this was one of two 10's I gave in this challenge. The other was in the top 10. You can guess where I feel this should have ended up...

Hammer Time
by graphicfunk

Comment:
Dude, I was astounded at seeing the shot.

At reading the illusion of it, I'm doubly blown away.

I've got a shot that I want to do like this for my eyeglasses (since spending a boatload of cash on laser surgery) and this is the ticket to my future modus operandum. Sweet!

Thanks!

Winter Wonderland
by ShutterPug

Comment:
Very nice! See what you can do when you leave the pugs out of the pic? :)

Me 2
by Chinabun

Comment:
Lookin' a lot like Kristin Kreuk there. Don't be offended, but I think she's the #1 hottest gal in television history. Ever.

Of course, haven't owned a TV of my own since I was 19 (by choice) and I haven't lived in North America for 3.5 years, so I could be a hair out of touch...

Time to work on that tripod technique...

Set up a tripod (even a table tripod works fine too... like a spot of tape on the table to mark your camera's center) and bring the camera to your posing area. Get in position and focus on the tripod (or something placed on the tape marker on the nearby table) and use the MF button to focus lock.

Now you can set self-timer (or intervalometer) and place the camera on the tripod (or spot) and pose/snap away. You can also use the LCD for composure.

I find that it helps to find a spot on the floor to reference my face to.

This works well in low-light situations or false low-light situations. You can get better focus by autofocus if turn on the lights to lock focus.

Remember too that if the camera powers down, you will lose your focus settings.

Hope it helps!

M 2
by Imagineer

Comment:
Holy *&#( you are GOOD!

Just came from M 4 based on the question raised by one individual whether this was the same as the rest of the M series or not.

I see that it is.

It's my personal goal as a person and a photographer to see the beauty in people. To find some way to capture whatever it is that makes them especially beautiful.

Now, obviously, I'm referring here to M 4, which is more of a polished shot by leagues, but what you have done for this woman by capturing her beauty and turning it into a famed pinup girl poster of DPC is something I hope she never forgets.

I hope you understand this is not meant in a bad way, but in the most positive way that can be expressed by someone whose critical eye misses few details.

I, Robosapien
by Imagineer

Comment:
Dude, this is THA FUNK!

Very creative and well conceived. Execution is on par for you.

M 4
by Imagineer

Comment:
*gulp*

I think you owe me for some new heart medication...

*flutter flutter* *faint*

wow is simply not enough.

Major memories
by Claya

Comment:
I like ccraft's comments here. The first thing I saw was the perspective. This seems like a person is looking straight down at it, and that can evoke some response as it mimics a normal human view.

On the other hand, I feel that the picture might be stronger overall if you made an attempt to keep exactly the same field of view of the home plate, but brought your camera down to ground level.

Next, you would probably have to move the ball to an appropriate position, preferably fairly prominent, with sufficient detail in the textures of the well-loved baseball, while maintaining the good use of the negative space of the plate (as mentioned by someone else).

It's a very nice picture.

Oh yeah, and I like how close the crop to the home plate is. :)

How do you think this is deceiving?
by Krisby

Comment:
Ok, I'm a bit at a loss here.

There's something to be learned here in lighting.

It definitely improves the image when you slice all that glare off the side with a crop. To my inexperienced eye, it looks like you rotated the camera to the right and used the on-camera flash.

Something that is worth a try for still-life is using constant lighting instead of flashes. It gives you a LOT more control over shadows and glare points. You can then use your camera's shutter speed and aperture much more effectively to control both Depth of Field and brightness.

Table lamps are really useful here for smaller subjects. I also use a trouble light (basically a normal light bulb socket on a cable that plugs into the wall) and a fluorescent bulb.

Further, it also teaches something about the background.

The background is close enough that there is enough definition in it to see that it variogated. I can see lines that go across.

Moving the BG farther back could avoid this.

I went to my local art supplies store and picked up some big sheets of plastic, both black and white (so I can use them as Backgrounds and reflectors. I then bought some colored paper that I can use as alternate backgrounds. These are stored between the plastic sheets to keep them straight.

Paper makes a good BG because it's very uniform. Also, it's very cheap.

Some people iron their paper to get it really straight.

You usually need distance to keep details from showing up on a BG. You need it to be out of focus.

Very little of my equipment is really expensive.

Keep up the good work! You've got more 10's on this picture than I think I've got on my 5 entries combined! :)