Rays through the Darkness
by eyeimagine

Comment:
::: Critique Club :::
Greetings from the critique club! Is the subtitle "Scenes from an Italian Restraunt?" :)

First Impression - the most important one:
It's clearly relevant to the challenge, but I don't think it has enough emotion to be a ribbon winner.

Composition:

The composition of this photo is definatley one of its strong points. The candle is nicely off center. The rays of light lead the viewer's eye through the center of the photo and out to the corners. Rule of thirds and off-center composition are very much "in vogue" these days, and your shot is right on target. I especially like the crop around the candle. Any more of the candle would have been unnecessary... we know what it is already, and would have detracted from the lines of light radiating out from it.

Subject:

The subject of this photo is not particularly emotive, nor does it tell a story. That's the major weakness of this photo, and it's hard to correct. If you had used a candle, instead of a flashlight, you might have been able to get some of the fire, which would have at least created some action. As it is we are left with the beams of light, and we are forced to imagine some action in, or personify, that light.

On the other hand, the lines in the candle are strong and interesting.

Technical (Colour and light):

The color is strong. The reddish-orange emotes warmth, exactly what you would expect from the candle. The lighting is very well done, from that standpoint it's better than many in this challenge. The temptation to do a silhouette is nearly irrestistable, but you've managed to light a scene.

Aha, but is there a scene, or is the light itself the point of this picture? I wonder if it would have been a stronger picture if you set out a salt and pepper shaker, a plate with some pasta on it, even a couple paper placemats with rings of wine stains in them from the bottom of a glass... Then you'd have a scene and given the voters a setting they could imagine themselves in.

I digress. My other technical comment relates to sharpness and focal point. There isn't a single part of this photo that is critically sharp. What do you want the viewer to look at? Highlight that area with focus. You didn't leave any exposure information, so I don't know if you chose an aperature with depth of field in mind, but that can be a powerful tool to make the viewer center on a particular part of an image.

To get a Ribbon?:

The voters seem to agree that this is a nice image, but nice images don't win ribbons at DPC. You've got to make a strong impact on them, which this photo just doesn't do.

Summary:

You shouldn't be disappointed with the finish for this shot. It scored a strong 5, which is about right, and in the middle of the pack for the challenge. About right for this shot... it's well executed but doesn't leave the viewer breathless like the winners usually do. Keep shooting pictures, with a focus on conveying an emotion, and you should do well.

Finally, I'd like to ask you to consider "critiquing the critique." A lot of effort goes into these critiques, and I enjoy learning how I can do them better. Does what I said make sense? Is it way off base? Did I enlighten you? Offend you? Please let me know via a private message what you think of this critique, so I can give better ones in the future.

Thanks, and good luck at DPC!
---Livitup

(Out)sourcing - Burned out light lit by another light
by tmhalling

Comment:
::: Critique Club :::
Greetings from the Critique Club.

- First Impression - the most important one:
My first impression on seeing this photo was a bit of a "what is it" reaction. This can be a good thing if the image itself is compelling enough to hold the viewer's interest, forcing them to spend more time examining the picture. It has a very industrial, grungy kind of feel, which is an appropriate interpretation of the challenge. You didn't leave any photographer comments, so I don't know what kind of a reaction you were going for, or what your motiviation was.

- Composition:
The initial focal point is the shade of the lamp, which is nicely off centered. From the shade, the line of the lamp draws your eye up to the top, around and back down to the bottom, where there's some interesting texture in the lamp to look at. When you're done there the eye naturally flows back up and around to the shade. At this point my eyes get hung up on the brown area of the background... "what is that back there," I ask myself. Unable to figure out what it is, I go back over the top following the lines of the lamp again, but I leave a little more frustrated by the undistinct object in the background. At this point I feel like I've seen about all I can see here.

- Subject:
The subject itself is a rather clever one. Photograph a single light source, being lit by another single light source, and as far as lamps go, I imagine this one is about as interesting as it could be. The shot is imaginative and simple, which is a good thing. However, I wish for a few things on this photo. I wish for more definition of the bottom left part of the lamp. I think there's some interesting texture there, and I'd like to be able to see some more of it. Also, I don't like the brown object in the background. The feel here is industrial and dark, but the brown object brings some warmth back into the photo. I feel, based on the composition and lighting that the lamp is in an old abandoned warehouse somewhere, which is at odds with the clean and new looking object in the background. You also could have gone with a more home and warm feel, using incandecent light to illuminate your subject, giving the feel of a study or library.

- Technical (Colour and light):
I assume that the high ISO setting was to compensate for a week light source (dimly) illuminating the scene. I'm suprised at the lack of noise in the photo based on that ISO. I wonder why you didn't use a tripod and a slower exposure to make up for the light, which would have allowed you to lower the ISO some. I agree with the commenters that the whole image looks soft... my eyes want the lamp shade itself, as the main focal point, to be in focus.
This is a very high contrast image. There's black. There's (overexposed) white. There's very little in between. I'm not sure if I like that or not, but I think the photo could have been improved if you changed perspective to the right a little bit, and maybe reduced exposure a little bit to allow for some detail in the lampshade. Between the soft focus and the overexposure it's very close to just being an overexposed white blob. Again, I bet there's some detail in the texture of the lampshade that would be interesting to explore.

- To get a Ribbon?:
I looked at your portfolio and I see that you have several other "dark" photos, so this seems to be (at least part of) your style. That's fine, and there are some really good "dark" photos here, but for this particular subject, for this particular challenge, I don't think it works, at least not to the extent that you did it.
I agree with the other comments on your photo, It's a good idea, but it just seems like it's lacking...something. Try different perspectives, sharpen up the focus on a point (like the lampshade), and clean up the background. Finally, I agree with the commenter that the title is a bit too discriptive. I would have left it at "(Out)sourcing" and let the viewer figure out the rest of it. I wouldn't have taken a point away for that, but if there had been a tie, a simpler title would have gotten you the extra point.

I hope you found this critique helpful, and I would be interested in any feedback you are willing to give me. I am interested in improving my critique skills, and would appreciate your comments about my critique, good or bad. Good luck in your future entries!

---Livitup

Message edited by author 2005-11-28 13:46:15.

Just after the wedding
by srugolo

Comment:
I love the pose of the model for this shot. It captures fun, joy, everything that a bride should be. This photo tells a story. Great job.

Ghostly Thief
by dw_photo

Comment:
It's a pretty picture, but I don't think that shutter speed type ghosts are really transparency. Too bad you couldn't have known that the shutter speed challenge was coming, this would be a very strong entry there, but it doesn't meet my definition of this challenge.

Colour Abandoned
by Coley

Comment:
Very pretty, but not quite as well done as the other "picture frame" entry in the challenge. Still, it's something to be proud of. Good capture, and I like that the house is in focus, instead of the frame.

"Message in a Bottle"
by tfarrell23

Comment:
I can't help but feel the perspective is wrong. The bottle looks like it's about to fall off a cliff, instead of being washed up to shore.

brook water
by dragonlady

Comment:
What beautiful water. Good caputre!

Looking through Rain Drops
by bobdaveant

Comment:
The water drops are getting old, but this photo is so incredibly goregous that I'll forgive them. GREAT colors.

Choosing a frame
by TUBORG

Comment:
Absolutley brilliant. I love the choice to go sepia instead of B&W, I doubt I would have thought of that, but it really makes the photo. I love the photo, but I also wonder what it would be like with the house in focus, instead of the frame...

thru the lens
by hopper

Comment:
Brilliantly executed, but in reality the image would be upside down through the lens. Either you pasted in a printout, or you rotated the image 180 degrees... I rather wonder if it wouldn't have been even cooler if the photographer was upside down.