Happy Birthday to Ewe
by Brad

Comment:
I read in a forum somewhere that stuffed animals don't do well on DPC... And let's face it, they don't come more stuffed than this.

Pros:

Well, you've got a definate humor advantage here, and the technicals on the box are actually quite good.

Cons:

The background would be more powerful if it were simpler, the radiator and all distract from the fact that there's a guy boffing a sheep. White balance also seems off, but that could just be the color of your walls.

Hope this helps. ;)

Bovine
by kawesttex

Comment:
First off, I will critique the animal - that's one heck of a cow! Wow.

Pros:

It's a beautiful and unusual animal; that's certainly it's strongest point. The colors on the beasts are nice, and the look from the mama (?) is great.

Cons:

Overall, the image comes off a little snapshottish; the light is a bit harsh, the background a little distracting, the composition a little centered. It's not a bad shot, but not very "artistic" whatever that means.

Suggestions

If you've got the pixels to do it, I think a closer crop of the face of the parent cow could be a better picture, particularly if you were able to clone out the powerlines and fence-lookin' thing. It is a magnificent creature, though, no doubt.

Spotted Pleasure
by bs-photos

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club! Thanks for the opportunity to critique your image - I find I learn as much or more from doing this than I do from reading critiques of my own image!

Now, on to your shot:

Pros:

I like the subject, and the way you've abstracted a natural form. The shallow depth of field works (with cateats we'll mention in the next section) to isolate your subject from the background. Your selective desat is technically pretty good; whether it adds to the image is debatable for me (though I don't know what the background looked like before, of course). The backlighting of the fern is clearly the strongest point in the images favor; the color and luminance is great.

Cons:

Your biggest problem in this shot is the focus; the whole leaf seems a little off. Having the tip fade into out-of-focus would be ok, but it would need to be obviously deliberate.

I think the image would be improved if the leaf were on a diagonal, rather than up and down; that's one of those compositional rules that begs to be broken, but in this case I don't know that breaking it is doing you any favors. Also losing the tip of the fern is a problem.

Obviously the border bothers some people; I don't mind it and actually think you did it pretty tastefully, but I don't know that it adds much and borders are not loved in these parts so it likely hurt you score-wise.

Challenge

Normally I'd comment on how I think it fit the challenge, but that's silly for a free study!

Overall, this is a nice subject and a pretty good treatment, but a little more emphasis on technicals would have added a lot.

weeds
by briantammy

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First let me say I'm so happy I got to see this! I missed it during voting. This is truely a wonderful image - I agree with posthumous, best windmill shot to come along in a long time; also one of the most powerful landscapes I've seen in some time.

Pros:

Composition is great; a perfect example of the power of the rule of thirds; great technicals, nice sharp lines with a high contrast background without any significant sharpening artifacts. I personally really like the sepia tone. The three layers give great depth and contribute a lot; very reminicent of your blue ribbon shot:



but flatter, which works better for this image.

Cons:

Not many I can see. I think cloning out the white line that abranton mentioned would improve it, but that's pretty nit picky. And while I understand alexjack's comment on the smokestack thingy I don't agree - I think it balances the windmill nicely and provides an anchoring mass. There are a couple of little white dots in the bottom that could also be cloned out.

So why didn't it do better? Probably because it's a fairly subtle image, and those often aren't appreciated at DPC. The cluster of votes at 5-7 shows people recognized it as a very good image, but in the throes of voting didn't take time to appreciate it. I love it. Roz loves it. I hope you do too.

Challenge:

Well, it's a free study, so pretty much anything meets the challenge. ;) So much for my default comment form!

Anyway, congrats again on a great image, and thanks for letting me critique it. I think it's tremendous.

R
by MikeO

Comment:
Came across this and for those who are confused -

This is a European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) which is wholey unrelated to the American Robin (Turdus migratorius), but share a common name because of their similar coloration.

And he's cute as a button. Nice shot.

He Loves Me Not
by aimeethetoo

Comment:
Hum. You're clearly a victim of people who didn't understand the challenge.

Sorry. It's beautiful. The lonely little petal on the ground... wonderful.

Three Mandolins
by alexzen

Comment:
Those old Gibson tailpieces sure are a pain, ain't they? Lovely shot, beautiful mandos, and congrats on a personal best. What's the one in the back?

Glorious Sun! Even my shadow stands tall in your presence.
by glad2badad

Comment:
More DOF would have detracted. This is a beautiful image, of a kind that, unfortunately, does poorly at DCP (ie, subtle).

Congrats.

Botany
by LanndonKane

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

You say you were unsatisfied with this one; it seems your instincts were correct, as you scored well below the challenge average.

Pros:

The pinks are nice; I personally like the up-close frame-filling composition.

Cons:

For me there are several:

There are significant blowouts on the petals, which always detracts. My camera will warn me when I have blown-out areas - I find it helps a lot with getting exposure right.

The stamen/pistil cluster has a kind of weird, electric feel to it that is distracting for me; I think it's perhaps just oversaturated.

Having complimented the frame-filling above, I would say that I think it would work better with the flower either less centered or more centered; I'd also have tried a square crop as the aspect ratio does nothing to help to image.

Challenge:

You acknowledge it's a bit of a shoehorn; I think many images in this challenge were so it didn't hurt as much as sometimes, but means you needed a compelling image to overcome it.

Overall I think it ended up scoring a little lower than it deserved, perhaps because of the loose connection to the challenge; however I think some more attention to technicals could have helped significantly. In general an image that is just "pretty" isn't going to grab me a lot unless the technicals are spot on.

-Evan

Oh Porcelain God, I Pray to Thee!
by Zeus

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club! This is my second image ever to critique, and, well... wow!

Pros:

Well, if you're looking for a powerful, viceral image, this works - it does inspire a strong reaction. And the fake (please let it be fake) puke looks very good.

Cons:

I think you know the answers here, but first of all you (as you knew going in) turned off a lot of voters; DPC voters don't vote high for "ick" as an emotion. The composition is also very busy; if the "humor and shock" element were removed I don't think you'd see many people defending the "artistic quality" of the piece; I also don't think that's what you were going for as your portfolio makes it abundantly clear that you know how to take an aesthetically pleasing shot.

Challenge:

I, for one, appreciate creative takes on challenges, and as an atheist am not bothered by your message particularly... but again from the voters perspective you're going to turn some people off with this take of what is a very serious subject to many.

Overall, I think you knew what you were signing up for when you submitted!

-Evan