sparkling kiss
by annah

Comment:
I'm sorry, but something about this touches me as disturbing... Don't know exactly what it is. Maybe the plastic look of the face itself. Maybe the crusty gold stuff on your nails. Probably the fact that you have gold crap all over your lips...
TC

Thunderhead
by tate

Comment:
The background IMHO is distracting from the image...
TC

Ten Little Indians (Nursery Rhyme)
by Judi

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Wow, this is twice today that I've pulled pics from very eminent members of the DPC community. This is kinda cool! OK, here goes...

This shot is definately in the spirit of the challenge, but there's just too damn much going on in the shot. There's just too much detail. Too much texture. Too much to take in. Your eye is just totally overwhelmed by what is there and doesn't know where to land. I have found that the best photographs (generalizing here I know) are the simplest ones. They don't have anything going on that doesn't add to the shot. In this example everything adds to the shot but the end result is kind of a jumble.

This shot also appears to be quite soft. It may not really be soft. It's hard to tell with all the minute details that are at 640 by whatever resolution. At 8x10 this may look just fine sharpness-wise. This is one of the things that I had to learn the hard way myself.

The tonality of this shot kinda puts me off. It doesn't quite look natural. I'm assuming that you were trying to match the white balance of the foreground with the tonality of the sky on the screen, but to me it just doesn't look 'natural'...

I think if you put all this together, you'll see why you scored in the low fives. Personally, I would probably have given this a 4 or a 5 because of all the above reasons.

I know that this may seem a little harsh but it's the way I see the shot. Hope you take it in the spirit in which it was given!

Yours
TC

10¢
by Techo

Comment:
From the Critque Club:

This shot begs for my what I like/don't like treatment, so here goes!

What I like: You have spot on focus here! Great detail. Your lighting though a little dull is enough to bring out the depth of the coin, especially in the reflection. You can even see the textures in the 'smooth' part of the coin. Great DOF to make the reflection go out of focus in the foreground to give some sense of depth to an otherwise flat shot. Great work in that effect!

What I don't like: The color cast does put me a little off. It looks, color wise, more like a penny than a dime. I am more of an old school, traditionalist type of photographer and would prefer to see the silver color. I do like the tone of the background though. I'm assuming, though that this is where the shading of the coin comes from. I don't like the brighter part of the background. I think that this steals a little of 'focus' away from the dime itself. I do believe that you could have brought out even more of the depth of the coin by playing around with the lighting more. This is very difficult to do with a coin as thin as a dime is. I've had better luck with thicker coins in this aspect.

All in all this is as you put it a great study shot and the type of shot that I think all photographers should play with. I know I've done my share of coin shots though most of them will never see the light of day.

Hope this helps ya in future shots.

Yours
TC

Condiment Chaos
by taterbug

Comment:
Dude, what were you thinking? :-P
TC

Message edited by author 2006-07-24 01:12:10.

Break 10 of Ten
by karmat

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

I can't believe that I drew a Karmat to critique! Whew the pressure! :-P

Boy, I don't know where to start with this one... First of all, I really think the idea is unique and I truly appreciate the work that you put into this concept. However...

With a studio set up shot like this, detail is everything. Hit them dead on and the shot works. Miss a couple and the shot suffers. Here, your striped 'balls' have lines that aren't straight. I know how hard it must be to try and paint straight lines on an egg, but to make this really work, they would have to be perfect. You also have several spots on several of the 'balls' where it looks like there is too much paint making it look splotchy.

There is another effect going on here that probably affected your score and that was mentioned by a couple of the commentors. This really looks distorted. I know that it's not, but that's what it LOOKS like. This makes the overall image look very distorted and hurts my eyes to look at it too long. Your lighting is a little flat and that makes the shot look flat overall. This seems to exagerate the distortion effect...

Overall, a nice idea, but one that I would be amazed to see pulled off to such a degree that it scores well here.

Hope this is helpful!

Yours,
TC

Graceful Splendor
by anaheimca89

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This shot is asking for my what I like what I don't like format, so here we go...

What I like: I love the overall composition of this shot. The eyes of the statue and the bird are very close to being on the third lines. This naturaly gives a bit of oomph to the shot. Love the fact that you caught the bird on the statue. Was this an accident or were you watching for them? I love the potential lighting of the shot. With a little work in photoshop (and I know you can do this in other programs to but am not sure how) you could really bring out the drama of the shot.

What I don't like: I gotta say first off the tree sucks. I know you caught the bird on the statue, but if you were actually waiting for them, moving a little bit may have made this shot the bomb. This shot is also a bit flat. This is probably because of the camera you have. Good dSLR camera's actually make pictures that don't look as good as cheaper Point and Shoot cameras before you do any processing. You gotta bring out the beauty of your shots. You can do a lot of this with a simple levels adjustment. It's also a little soft. Proper sharpening could probably bring out a lot of detail.

In short, you have a great shot to play with. This is a great place to start. Ask questions in the forums and you will get more information on post processing than I could possibly put in this critique. Can't wait to see more of your work. I'm always amazed by what a young eye sees!

Yours
TC

15--To last minute before the soccer world championship Final
by Rino63

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

First of all, I want to say that this is an incredible shot! I love everything about it. The tonality of this is awesome! You took a very mundane scene and turned it into a photograph! I would even go so far as to say that this reminds me of the work of jjbeguin and that my friend is a compliment.

What I like about this: This is almost all gut feeling because I can not get past the fact that you caught a moment. You have created a documentation of a moment. A very mundane moment that most of us would overlook. This could be looked at as a snapshot turned duotone but I don't see that. I see my mom rubbing her hands with lotion. Is that what you took a photo of? No but that's what I see. And this is the one thing that only the great photographers can do. Take something as simple as painting ones nails and turn it into an emotional attachment to something in the viewers life!

Why didn't this do good here? There are many examples of excellent photos here scoring low. I'm afraid to say that it's because of the challenge-anal voters. You know the ones that look at this shot and say, I'm sorry I see fifteen. I'm afraid to say it's because of the fact that DPC is now so big that many of us don't have time to vote/comment on all the pictures. If your shot doesn't scream the theme so loud your eyes hurt, it won't score so well. I wish this wasn't the case, but it is.

Bottom line. I love the shot and have added it to my personal faves.

Please keep shooting. I can't wait to see what else you do...
Yours
TC

Lamentation in D Minor
by alfresco

Comment:
Not really an abstract, but very nice!
TC

Sprinkleberry
by Jaded_Housewife

Comment:
Not an abstract...
TC