T h e F i n c h
by SpotlightStudio

Comment:
I really like the idea, but not the reality.

First of all, I don't think the desaturated works with this shot. Usually when you desaturate, you just leave one thing in color. By leaving the hat and the bird, your eye keeps traveling back and forth and has no place to rest. Also, the fence, the person and the post are desaturated to b&w, but the tree and the left part of the fence end up kind of a sickly green that's quite distracting. I think it would have been more effective just partially desaturating the shot. Leaving the colors, just having them quite muted and then saturating the yellows.

There are so many elements: the post, the tree, the person, the finch, the fence, the lines of a spider web, that you eye wanders too much around the photo. A tighter crop removing a good portion of the post might help bring you eye back in.

The hand moving up to the bird is actually quite interesting, but it's very crowded by the hat and the string. Moving your model a little more to the right and having her reach a little more might isolate the hand and add some interest and crowd the picture a little less.

I hope this helps some... :D

The Dragger's Drum
by Bear_Music

Comment:
I couldn't make up my mind about the background. The land in the distance added to part of the story, yet it kept drawing my eye, and I didn't find a lot of interest once it settled there. I gave it a 6, but I think it would have been a 7 with a tighter crop. There's already so much to peruse--the rope, the bird, the rust, the shapes, and I think that land added on too many things and split the interest.

Your outtake, while nice, doesn't have the interest of the dragger's drum, imo. (maybe because there's a bird in it :)

Snow people
by Melethia

Comment:
This shot gets better and better the more I see it. I wish we could fav our favorites!

Squirrel Inder Glass!
by kawesttex

Comment:
hahaha!!

Driving Rain
by Lydia

Comment:
Contrived!? You've got to be kidding! I saw a scene like this the other day. But they're so common, I didn't bother photographing it. :P

It makes me wonder what your other shot was, though. :D

Found missing!
by pixelstudio

Comment:
I really do like this shot -- it just keeps getting better each time I see it :)

Hummingbird Moth
by rrdjserv

Comment:
I still remember the first time I saw one of these. They are so cool! Nice capture :)

Hummingbird Moth
by MaryO

Comment:
I really liked this shot -- love the choice of b&w! Congrats on the top 20!

love-hate relationship (www.oxymoronlist.com)
by GiorgioBaruffi

Comment:
Congrats on the top 15 -- great find!

Alone in a Crowd
by StickWare

Comment:
Nice first entry! Congrats on the top 15 :)

Message edited by author 2010-08-25 18:20:24.