Absolut Proof - I Quit
by PennyStreet

Comment:
Somewhat surprising to see the grain in a challenge like this, but it's appreciated. Your entry is different in other ways too- the blue, the fact that the bottle is askew.. interesting. I like it.

Greenhouse
by mariuca

Comment:
HA! I was only just going through these photos, commenting as I went, when I realized I was ironically compelled to comment on yours, as well.
I'm not sure I agree with what many people thought was minimalist, but I do agree with you. It's got an interesting silver coolness, which makes things feel even more bereft and abstracted.

z
by bvy

Comment:
Excellent. I really like the lines in this. I wish this were on a grander scale, but I'm still enamored with the shot.

wait for the sun
by whiteroom

Comment:
I'm very fond of this, and I think a nice example of minimalism. Stark, bleak, resistance of the unrelenting battle with the landscape. I love these types of scenes.

The Island
by james_so

Comment:
Very nice- a particularly well suited use of vignette, which distracts us from the small subject.

With only the sea for a sky
by Paul

Comment:
The infamous ship alone at sea analogy carries well into this, which is only strengthened by the fact that this is a religious sanctuary. Very, very nice. I'm quite fond of this, for a whole score of reasons. Frankly, I'm disappointed at the placing for this, but such is life. Nothing critical to say, really.

Nobody's Making Honey Here...
by Tolt

Comment:
I'm going to separate my comment into two parts- one discussing the idea of DNMC and one about the photo itself, separate of that.
You mentioned that you would like closer guidelines, but the idea of DNMC has nothing to do with guidelines themselves and everything to do with how they are interpreted. It has to do with what voters think of when they consider a subject. Consider the challenge "Coffee." If somebody were to enter a shot of a container of creamer, sure, it's related, but when you first think Coffee, is creamer the summation of the thought? Even if it is, you need to consider what everybody else would conjure up from the prompt, and it's not very likely that the majority of people, when given the prompt "Coffee" would think of creamer. If you extend this to your photo, sure, flowers are necessary to the prompt, but you don't depict things that are integral to the concept in people's minds (namely, honey or bees). I certainly understand where you're going with this, and idea-wise, it's good, but if it weren't for your title, this shot has very limited relation to the subject. A strong piece will speak for itself, it won't need to be explained by your caption. It's like a joke- a good joke shouldn't need to be broken down. But, people thinking things are DNMC is very fickle. Sometimes you'll see obviously DNMC photos take top honors in challenges, so you never really know. Sometimes people ignore DNMC when they feel the photo is THAT good.
As for the actual photo itself-
I like the lighting, and the fashion that it is lighter on one half of the frame and darker on the other, it pulls me to the focal point. But, the photo itself feels sorta static, as I'm pulled into the dead center of the photo visually, and then my eye stays there, and that's it. There isn't much else to draw me, or to add to things. Overall, there isn't a whole lot wrong with this as a photo of a flower beyond the fact that we've all seen lots of photos of flowers and this blends into those and feels unremarkable. Flower shots really have to wow to stand out. Often this is achieved by stunning or strange flowers (like this entry of mine, for instance, which surely scored higher out of peculiarity ). Another way is to portray the subject in a way we haven't seen, giving us something unusual and unique, a refreshing change of pace. For your image, we have have a view of lilacs which we are most all acutely familiar with.
So, it's not so much as what you did wrong, so much as what you didn't do to make this stand out, and particularly coupled with many feeling your entry was DNMC. Keep at things and don't worry about the scores too much. Starting out here can be pretty hard, but once you get a little used to things it's a great place to learn.

Nobody's Making Honey Here...
by Tolt

Comment:
sorry for the double post... it didn't want to send....

Message edited by author 2011-06-16 04:12:42.

break
by FourPointX

Comment:
Just as a general comment for minimal editing challenges-
Check to see if your camera has any way to control the contrast of the images. My LX3 does, my S9100 did, and my D300 does- Upping your in-camera contrast a lot will make scenes like this feel much more vibrant and lively, and avoid the dull midtones that straight from camera jpegs tend to have.
These shots here are all straight from camera, and were done in the same way.
Similarly, these did not have their contrast messed with out of camera at all either.

On The Edge
by rooum

Comment:
I have an entry that experienced a similar fate-
The Doc pointed out something in his comment that is worth noting and applies to your shot, as well.
As for my comments on this, I think you did well, but it's more just (as Louis noted) about the level the bar is set at here for these types of shots. The saturation is fine, colors vibrant but not insane. I'm unsure of if darkening the leaf a bit would improve or detract- on the one hand, the bright leaf makes the damselfly stand out better, but it also makes it more of a prominent element ( Yo_Spiff was correct about the suborder ID on this- the easiest way to separate members of Odonata into dragonfly and damselfly is if they can fold their wings rearward).
Well done, but the voting crowd demands immaculate photos for macro.

ETA: It is surprising how close that lens focuses... the same is true of my 28-70. I've found mine takes VERY well to a 36mm extension ring, as well. Gives you 1:2 through a bit over 1:1 and is very useful. Just some food for thought.

Message edited by author 2011-06-08 21:35:00.