Where the Sidewalk Ends
by zencow

Comment:
Hi again Chris, and welcome back to the Critique Zone!

I really like this shot, but then I am really in a 'BW' place myself at the moment. The contrasts of light and dark sides to the grass heads, and the curves are very appealing.

Technically: I am interested by your use of such a tight aperture - most lenses peak in sharpness at about f8-f11 and by f25 I would expect to see some refraction creeping in on any but the most expensive, which may account for some of the blur. I'm sure that camer shake or movement accounts for some too, at only 1/25. The DOF is nice, but I would have probably tried to get a little more of the foreground grass heads sharp - I guess that might well just be taste. The lighting, as I have said, is excellent. Natural, but excellent.

Artistically: I really don't think that there is anything I would change if it was my photo. The lateral length of the grass means that this simply has to be a landscape shot. The balance of foreground and background is really well done and there is enough going on everywhere without it looking busy. Also, a really top BW conversion!

In summary, this is the sort of shot that I would expect to see for sale in an art gallery. Unfortunately DPC is clearly back in a sunset mood for this challenge, but that shouldn't decrease your pleasure in this shot - it doesn't lessen mine. Incidentally, the structure really reminds me of this one from posthumous

"These Boots Will Walk All Over You"
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
Hi Doc, welcome to the critique zone!

Overall, I find this a very pleasing image. Clearly you know the rules of composition and when they can usefully be broken, ad I disagree with the 'missing foot' comment - this photo is all about shock effect to me, bright, bold and fractionally unconventional.

Technically: There really isn't anything to say - Focus and DOF are both spot on, as is the lighting (although you point out that this was professionally arranged).

Artistically: You have managed to arrange about every key focal point to be on a 'thirds' intersection, which I find very visually pleasing. The strong colours are a choice and I think that they work well here, contrasting with the skin and striped top. Yes, you have chopped off a foot, but as I said, that's not a problem for me.

In summary, I don't think that there is anything in this photo that I would change if I were lucky enough to have been in the position to take it, so congratulations on a really nice job!

Leo Carrillo
by Tabby

Comment:
Hi Tabitha! Welcome to the Critique Zone...

Wow - the voters just didn't go for this did they?! I'm not surprised, but not for the reasons you may think. My first impression was 'what a great photo'. It avoids many of the established rules of capture and composition, and it definitely ignores the 'DPC Friendly' badge, but for me, the way you have done that strengthens it, rather than weakens it.

Technically: Its not that sharp (even in the background). That surprises me since at 1/25 with VR it probably should be, but that adds to the feel of the shot - of which more below. The Depth of Field is excellent, unsurprising at f22! The flat lighting is not appealing in the traditional sense, but again adds to the feel.

Artistically: The DPC voter spends about 5 seconds per photo while voting. You don't have a sunset, cute animal, strong colours or a baby, so most will say 'it looks flat' and move on. You do have flat colours, and a blown out sky, but that gives a real feel of a cold, wintery beach, on which people are still having fun. The group running out of, rather than into the shot also contradicts received wisdom, but (without reading your description) it made me see them running off to have more fun, or hot chocolate, somewhere else. This shot tells a story, and it's a good one.

In summary, if you keep taking shots like this, then you will likely never have a really high score here, but you will gain plenty of fans amongst the more artistic and thoughtful crowd, and I would suggest that that might be more important. Happy hunting!

The Grass Is Greener On The Other Side.
by Jon_H

Comment:
Hi Jon, welcome to the 'critique zone'!

My overall impression of your photo is that it is a pleasant scene but I think you could have shown it off better. There is quite a lot going on, and changing your angle to use either the lane or the wires to lead the eye across the shot might make it easier to follow.

Technically: It's an interesting choice of settings. Your lens is not at its best at f3.5, but equally you are not using a wide aperture to isolate your main subject by throwing the background right out. As a result it sits between the camps of 'lots of blur' and 'deep depth of field'. I think that it would be better in the latter personally, so I would stand back a little, zoom in a little and throw the aperture up to about f7.1, which should bring the dog into focus. If necessary, you could boost the ISO, 400 is easily achievable on that body. For lighting, your subject is slightly backlit. I reckon a little fill flash (even from the onboard) would lighten this up a little, maybe give the eye some sparkle.

Artistically: You have used the rule of thirds well, but with all of those leading lines around, I would suggest a slight change of angle to use them to work across the diagonal of the shot. You have also used a point of view looking down on your subject, which a way we often see animals and therefore struggle to get excited about. Perhaps kneeling or lying down to get a level or even upward shot would have produced something more interesting? I would probably go for level here. The aim is to make people see a familiar thing in a new way.

PP: A little use of the shadow/highlight tool might iron out some of the balance of dark and light, and tone down the harshness of the light on the grass. It also looks a little yellow, which some hue/sat could help with. I would be tempted to boost contrast a little with curves.

In summary, this is a nice shot of a horse, but by playing with the angles, and deciding whether you want 'a horse', or 'a scene with a horse in it' and select your settings from there.

Black Full Moon
by neakha

Comment:
Hi Neakha, welcome to the Critique Club.

My overall impression of your photo is that there is a lot of space in it. It doesn't really grab me or tell me a story - there is just a black mark at the centre of a white picture. That said, I think your idea was very interesting - I might have just done it a little differently.

Technically: Your choice of settings is interesting. You are clearly trying to get the fastest possible shutter speed. Personally, I would not attempt this shot without a tripod and either remote release, or using a 10 sec delay (which would work just fine here) to avoid camera shake. You can then reduce the ISO to about 400, limiting noise, and close the aperture down to maybe f7.1 where the lens can perform much better. This will give you an exposure of maybe 2 secs or so, allowing more detail to be captured, and maybe some nice movement. You could even close the aperture or drop the ISO even more until you have a ten second exposure - with those clouds I think it could be fun!

Artistically: A 55mm focal length is pretty short to be shooting the moon, but if you maximise image quality as above, you could crop quite heavily to draw the viewer in to the moon and exciting cloud shapes around it. I would also avoid placing the moon dead centre, I think about one third in from the left and a little below half way up would work for me, most of the interesting clouds are on the right hand side anyway.

Post Processing: There is not much detail about what you did here, but a simple inversion, tighter crop and some sharpening (using the unsharp mask tool maybe) would help. You could also try using curves to enhance the contrast a little, and pick up the colour saturation a little to give it more interest.

In summary, this could be a really interesting photo idea, but I would try re-shooting and experimenting with some of these ideas to make it stand out a little more. Happy hunting!

adams1
by mgarsteck

Comment:
That's a bit of fun! Really wild feel to it, wilderness and racing skies etc. I like your BW conversion, but you have really blurred the line between ground and sky by making it all so dark which makes the photo much harder to make out. It is more of an abstract collection of objects for me at the moment, rather than a landscape.

Florida's Back County
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hi Ja-9! Welcome to the critique zone...

Overall, I would have to say that this shot does not match up to your usual standard. It doesn't communicate to me that you were trying to get something specific across and the technicals distract from the photos aesthetic appeal.

Technically: Your smallish depth of field focuses the eye on the right, but the actual focus isn't as tight as I would expect - or very possibly you have a little shake from being in the canoe at such a relatively slow shutter for the focal length - can the D80 not push the ISO a little more? The lighting is quite stark and gives huge contrast between the trunks and the water which doesn't really appeal to me.

Artistically: There is some thirds action here, but not knowing what I am supposed to be seeing, it is difficult to use this effectively. I also suspect that the theme being 'country life', the voters were expecting something more dynamic.

Overall, it is a pleasant enough scene, but I am very confident of your ability to represent it more strongly.

Sun Moon Lake
by finch1979

Comment:
Hi Michael, greetings from the Critique Club! I hope you find something useful in this.

My overall impression is that this is a very pleasant photograph of a beautiful spot. You have chosen a good time of day and the composition is very structured. The post processing seems a little heavy-handed though.

Technically: You have achieved a good depth of field, and the focus is pretty sharp - although at this size (800px) the detail suffers - that is not something that you can do much about. I am interested in your choice of aperture - f13 seems unnecessarily tight to achieve this - I would have thought f8 or even f7.1 would be enough. That would have allowed you to have a faster shutter - your current shutter speed is (for me) an odd choice: too slow to guarantee sharpness if windy, too fast to give the glassy effect on the water.

Artistically: It is a very well composed shot, clearly utilising rule of thirds, with the sun well positioned and a nice diagonal from the boats. The trees are unfortunate, but nothing to be done about them. I would perhaps have cropped off the extreme right as the town over on the other side breaks up the peaceful line between the water and mountains.

PP: Not a lot to say, but it does seem a little over-saturated, particularly the reds. Some of the boats have started to look a little 'blocky', which I have noticed strong reds are prone to in digital, so I might have toned that down a little.

In summary, this is a very pleasant shot of a pretty scene but is processed to be a little too punchy for the peacefulness I think you are going for.

Cat Tails
by gwilton111

Comment:
Hi Gareth, I have been assigned your photo from the Critique Club. I will point out in advance that all of this is completely subjective, so I just hope that you find something useful here.

Overall, I think that this is a great scene, and noticing that the sun is catching the cattails was a good spot - this works well in the image. There are, however, a couple of things that I would have done differently if this was my shot.

Technically: Your depth of field is good, using f8 really hits the sweet spot of your lens. The focus is more difficult to judge - either this is a really tight crop or there is some serious PP going on which has fudged the focus. Either way, this has lost the detail which should be there. The lighting is very nicely handled, presumably from natural light only.

Artistically: The use of the backlight to give everything a golden glow is excellent, as is the positioning of the sun, and the use of those rays. The panorama style crop though, I find a little tight. I would aim to give the whole thing a little more space, ideally both at top and bottom.

PP: I believe (and the other commenters seem to agree) that there is probably too much PP here, disguising a very nice shot. You mention picking up the contrast, and it looks like you have also boosted the saturation and done some sharpening. I suspect that the shot didn't need any of those things and I would certainly aim to tone them down. You have the same look on your 'Diana's Bath' photo and it leads to a very 'in your face' image, which detracts from the natural appeal.

In summary, this was a great moment, well spotted and pretty well captured, but I think that your PP was excessive and probably didn't help the score. I hope that helps!

The Princess and the Pea...."Why is this bed so uncomfortable?!?!"
by kellmak10

Comment:
Hi, Critique Club checking in at your request! I will say that this is all completely subjective, so I hope you find something useful in here.

Overall impression, this is a very cute take on the theme. Baby/Child shots are a marmite subject on this site, some love them and some hate them no matter how good the shot. That explains a lot of the ones and twos for me. There are a couple of things I might have done differently.

Technically: The Depth of Field is good here, which is surprising at f3.5. I'm guessing you were shooting pretty much at the wide end? Equally the focus is spot on, with your model's face nicely sharp. The lighting is tricky - with all of the white of the bed and mattress, the bottom half of the picture is a lot lighter than the top, where your subject sits and I confess to finding it a little distracting on the eye.

Artistically: This is really subjective! It is a strong basic composition, and I like your use of the pink netting to isolate the 'set' from the background. The mass of different bedding colours however I find a little 'busy' - again stealing a little impact from the superb acting you are getting from your model. Her pose is excellent, and her expression is bang on - nothing you could want to change there!

PP: For an advanced editing challenge, I would be tempted to take advantage of the freedom to dodge and burn, using that to highlight the upper half, and tone down the bottom half. I am personally not a fan of the white vignette - perhaps a little gaussian blur would have done the job there instead? And the two tone border seems a little much - for me, simple is king (I have had bad experiences with borders!) and I suspect that the voters didn't really go for it either.

In summary, this is an excellent portrait of your daughter, well within the challenge theme and I would personally be quite pleased with it, if it was mine. Nice job!