Naomi
by Charlotte ann

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Your lack of photographers comments make it difficult to see if you achieved your goals with this shot. Let's see what we can come up with anyways...

Very pretty model! I like your overall composition and the choice of tonality for the duotone challenge but there are several things that you could do to improve this shot.

I am normally a big fan of soft focus shots. This shot however doesn't look soft focus it looks slightly out of focus. This is something that will get you seriously scored down in this forum called DPC.

Your models pose is very nice but the way the blanket lays around her takes away from the pose. The big bunch of blanket that is so dark in front of her pulls the eye away from her with her dark top. The dark part of the blanket to the right of the frame does the same.

I like how you included the teddy bear in the shot. The tag on it's ear really bothers me though. It looks like an oversight. This is also something that voters don't like here.

You need a bit of fill lighting coming in from the left of the frame. This would not only help brighten up the shot a touch it would help to soften the shadow behind your model. I think a catch light in her eyes would also help to improve the shot by making your model look more 'alive' for lack of a better word.

The last thing that bothers me about the shot is the placement of model and camera with the shape of the room and the bed. If you moved the model a bit to the left and/or the camera a bit to the right, you would hide the bed post behind her. This is an unneeded element in the shot. Hiding/removing it would make for a much simpler and more powerful composition.

I know that I have pointed out a lot of negative things about this shot. This doesn't mean I don't like the shot rather they are things that could take a shot that has much potential and move it up much higher in the rankings...
TC

The Color Purple on CD
by banmorn

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

First of all I have to qualify that I'm not a big fan of water drop shots but let's see what I can come up with...

Your overall composition is very nice. I also love the colors scheme that you achieved using the computer screen to create the reflection.

My first impression of this shot is that it is very dark. It looks like it could use a good bit of light. This is kind of a conundrum though because increasing the overall lighting would wash out the reflection on the disc. The few times that I've tried to photograph water drops or ice, I've had a difficult time getting nicely defined edges. I see you have that issue in this shot. I'm not 100% on this, but I think a boost in lighting should help with this definition of edges. Overall, I think the shot is a little soft. You can see this not only in the water drops (which could be an illusion caused by the lighting as mentioned above) and also on the CD itself.

The only other problem I have with this shot is in the inconsistant shape of the water drops themselves. Some of them are nice and round, but some of them are not. I know that in past water drop shots the photographers have used a product called (I believe) RainX. This product is a very good water repellent that you would spray on the disc before dropping the water on it. It makes nice perfect round drops.

I think the reason that this shot didn't score as highly as many in the past is because of the shape of the drops, the indistinct edges of the drops and the softness of the shot. If you like this kind of shot I would recommend trying different lighting schemes and the RainX trick and I bet you could come up with a very nice image! Keep shooting.
TC

Early Morning Sydney
by Firsty

Comment:
Simple and stunning!
TC

"Kiss"
by Judi

Comment:
From the Critique Club

I hate drawing a shot to critique that has won a ribbon. What can I say that the voters haven't said already? I could go even more in depth into the history of the band, but that isn't really the purpose of a critique now is it?

This shot is simply stunning! Great choice of going with the centered subject! Doesn't always work, but this time it's perfect. Awesome lighting. Love the shadow on the right side of the subject's face (Left in photo). Focus is spot on. Everything is nice and sharp, but not to the point of hurting your eyes. Only thing I can think of to improve the image would be to have a light near the camera to put a little sparkle in his eyes. Not sure that would really help in this instance though because after all Gene was supposed to be the 'King of the Night Time World' and you captured that essence!

Keep up the good work. Let's see more ribbons.
Yours
TC

Playthings of the Eighties
by olddj

Comment:
From the Critique Club

Your photographers comments don't give me much to go on as far as your intentions for this shot. Let's see what we can come up with anyways...

I believe I can see what you are trying to do with this shot. I'm assuming you wanted to highlight toys and games of an era. In using this theme you definately fit the challenge however...

There are several things that just don't seem to work in this shot. Number one it is very busy. Studio type set up shots tend to do best when they are as simple as possible. In your example you have 4 or 5 major elements and several of those have 3 or 4 elements of their own. This makes your shot look cluttered. If you want to play around with it (and I recomend this often in my critiques) try taking one of the major elements like the Trivial Pursuit or the video game stuff and create a simpler composition. You could set up the board as if a game of trivia was in process maybe with the focus being on a hand holding one card... This would be a cleaner, simpler composition.

Another thing that detracts from this shot is the lighting. The lighting here is very flat and unimaginative. Lighting is everything in studio shots. It appears that your lighting was all from in front of the shot. If you used two lights, one close to the subjects and off to one side (let's say the right) and then put another light on the other side and twice as far away, you would end up with an appearance of depth. You would have highlights and shadows that would make the shot look like it has dimension from front to back. The way it is lit here makes the shot look like a picture... flat!

The last thing that I can see wrong in this shot is that (to be quite blunt) it is not perfect. It's a touch out of focus. It looks like it was just thrown together and snapped... Things don't seem to have a reason for being where they are placed. The snow cone box flap is very distracting. A piece of tape to square up the flap would help a lot. You see in set up shots like this you have control over every aspect of the shot. You place every element in the shot. You position the lighting. You have forever to get the focus just right. You have ALL the control. If you enter a shot like this into a challenge in the DPC community, most voters will look for things like this. Maybe not conciously, but they will see the flaws and vote accordingly.

My advice? Try shooting this again. Shoot it over and over again. Move things around. Try to keep it as simple as possible. Play with the lights. This is the perfect opportunity to practice! And as they say, practice makes perfect! If you decide to take my advice, please post your best shots here for us to see!

Hope something here helps...
Yours
TC

Too Cool
by LalliSig

Comment:
Hey, that's not me...
TC

Rebel Yell
by jaxed

Comment:
Congrats on the second ribbon! A very good shot and of the three ribbons, the one that embodies the challenge them the best!
TC

"Kiss"
by Judi

Comment:
Kiss actually remained in makeup until 1983 (Unmasked was kind of a spoof) making this a plausible image for the eighties challenge. I still think of them being a 70's band also. However IMHO it still meets the challenge and is an awesome shot! Congrats on the blue!
TC

Message edited by author 2006-02-27 18:27:53.

You Want a Piece of Me, Pacman?
by GIS_boy

Comment:
Awesome! I can't wait to see how ya did it...
TC

CD's - a huge 80's breakthrough
by TrollMan

Comment:
Put them on vinyl and you would have the eigties nailed. However with only 28% of households in the US having a cd of any kind in them in 1990, I don't call that a huge breakthrough...
TC