Day 113
by hanneke

Comment:
Really cool shot, grats!

Cobra Charmer
by TOY

Comment:
Captivating. Hope to see this ribbon.

Deep Toughts
by iceMan71

Comment:
I like this and I'm interested to see how it fares. Love the dof, you caught a great expression, and I think the noise gives it a good look. Good luck.

The Essence of Winter
by JunieMoon

Comment:
Hmm the burning on the snow is porrly done I'm afraid. It looks like ash has been rubbed on the snow. I can see what you were going for with trying to enhance the shadows on the snow, but as this was advanced editing you would have gotten a better result from applying different contrast masks to different areas of the photo.

Regarding the snapshot comments - Standing there pointing the camera down at something goes a long way towards making something appear like a snapshot in the sense that there was little to know thought put into finding the best angle to take the picture from, etc. Walk up, point down, click.

Part of the score is due to the composition. First, nothing really jumps out and you entered this in a Free Study. Something must grab the voter by the eyes and smash their head into the monitor. It has to be that good.

Second, try as I might, I can't see that any classic rules of composition were given even a cursory nod here (which again reinforces the snapshot feel).

The beaeuty of the piece is, of course, entirely up to the interpretation of the voters. The difficulty of the piece, using your words, is not being voted on at all that I can see. Not on DPC anyway.

Anyway, you are obviously bitter about the score. Hope these comments help. If you are shooting for high scores there are some very concrete things you can do to aid you in that area.

Striped
by Shermy

Comment:
6th place is nothing to cry about, but I am stunned this did not place even higher.

The Ultimate Driving Machine
by Rob O

Comment:
Looks low key to me. White balance is goofed up (never saw a bmw logo with pink in it) and the composition is very poor. Think rule of thirds. Shot of a steering wheel is unlikely to win you any ribbons on dpc unless there is a steering wheel challenge some day. Good luck.

Downtown
by JeniY

Comment:
I prefer black and white photography so you get my interest right off the bat. Couple issues with the shot that held it back. First, it is over sharpened. The little points showing up in the bricks and the jaggy along the edge of the wall lamp are signs of this. I would ease up a bit on the sharpening. Yes, in challenges people expect retina slashing sharpness, but there is a line there that you still don't want to cross.

Second thing is the composition. I do like the details of the wall and the leading lines. However everytime I look at this photo my eyes immediately move to the right side and my mind says 'wheres the rest of the photo'. I think a landscape crop would have worked better here as it would have presented a good chunk of the street along with the wall. Your eyes are naturally drawn to the brightest spot in the image and here that is the sky above the street, so you want to get something in that section of the photo for the eyes to feed on.

Really nice tones. Good job on the BW conversion.

Precious
by faery

Comment:
Nice expression on the kids face. Her youthful curiosity balances well against the mood given off by the guy behind her.

There's a bit of a focus problem here, likely caused by the 1/80s shutter speed. That's just a bit too slow of being able to freeze motion and it looks like she was moving - just enough to blur her face slightly. Big, big no-no in DPC challenges and even outside of the challenge arena it does reduce the effect of this shot.

Also thinking a tighter crop that really focused in on the kid and the guy behind her would give the shot a bit more pop.

Street Cafe Eavesdropping
by Greetmir

Comment:
I'd agree about the texture. I think it's the sort of thing that can add an interesting effect for a piece on the wall, but it doesn't translate well to the web. Like the expressions on their faces.

Striped
by Shermy

Comment:
I rarely comment anymore simply because engaging with others on this site generally ends up with me getting a headache - but I have to say this is a beautiful photopgraph. Love her expression, love the striped stockings, excellent lighting especially the highlight on the forearm/hand. Exquisite. I hope this wins.