The Ballerina...
by jmlelii

Comment:
from the critique club:
Ah yes, the ballerina is known for her superb balance. You selected a very good subject but depended on the tradition to convey the balance.
Let us examine what went wrong. First, you chose a stretching pose. This pose has beauty but for the inmmediate challenge if you would have just taken a picture of one foot and on her toes you would have scored much higher. So, it is not that your picture is bad, it is simply that it did not deliniate the balance, You simply implied it. This does not mean that ideas with implied concepts do not work, it means that the implied concept was not generally accepted by the same members that attended this challenge.
Like I said, I like the pose but let us see if we can improve on this without changing the picture. Look at the photograph carefully. Make that you are a viewer. You are drawn by the tender dark to light thumbnail. It has a beautiful diagonal divide and the sepia enhances it further. You now enlarge the image and you want to examine the detail. Since the shadow area needs detail investigation, the eye hurries over to her foot. Is the toe shoe on or off? Now the eye follows the hand up and it pauses to determine if that is her thumb joint that seems to portrude from her wrist. Fingers are very important and sometimes you have to go out of your way to make sure the camera makes the best capture.

The viewer leaves here with two pesky questions and now decides to enter the shadow area. He looks and squints to steal some detail but the hairline remains a mystery. The next question: is this a true stretch? Somehow the knee seems bent.

Again, you get a high mark for the composition and the selected lighting. We are not talking about the challenge. This is what I would have done; Checked finger and toe position carefully, even taising the camera angle a hair to help. I want the knee straight, elese we do a different take. And now I want to make certain that the shadow area speaks better about the form. I would keep the same contrast but I would introduce a little fill light to help out.

To conclude, you have a nice compositional sense all you need do is pay more attention to detail. The more attention you pay, the less question a viewer will have. Some viewers detect a flaw and look suspiciously at the rest. I give you a 7 for composition, subject matter and pose. A 5 for lighting and a 4 for the little oversights. That is 16 divided by 3 and it end up at 5 plus. But hey, you have the major element down pad, you just need the minor details attended to. Stick with it and I expect to see more of your exciting images. dan

1959
by wickedpete

Comment:
From the critique club:
This shot was composed with the abstract meaning of balance and of course chock full of humor. I loved it and it is obvious the sense of humor was not received well by a small block of voters.


I ask myself the question following this following observation: It is a top notch composition using three persons. A spanking and dashing beautiful classic car with a most outstanding color shade. It is outdoors and it is a very attractive shot. Exposure and selective desaturation done very well. Look at this picture and tell me where 29 voters gave it a 4: 7 gave a 3 and two gave it 2. Am I missing something here. The argument that it may be offensive to woman does not even apply, because the girls are not nude nor are they showing more than they have to and there is no vulgarity whatsoever. This confirms my belief that many voters are not here to learn but to express their strong likes and dislikes irrespective of the quality of the image. I am convinced that these low voters have yet to reach the enlightened realm necessary to become top notch photographers. When you put down ideas and quality work, you trampled the very structure one needs to succeed. Come on, judge the image on quality and composition even if it is of a negative subject. This image is at least a six and if you hate the subject matter you take one off. End of case.

Your consolation is that despite these low voters, the image arose to 5.59. The joke is on them, because the majority got the humor and most important appreciated the good quality of this composition. This goes in my favorites. Job well done... dan

Message edited by author 2004-08-01 22:48:39.

Balancing on air
by johnm

Comment:
The swing requires more balance than it is attributed it. Of course, we get use to it pretty quick and then dismiss the dexterity, but it entails balance all the same.

I was impressed with this picture not only because you captured the apex of the swing, but because you employed the silhoette technique.

There are ways to make this image more compelling, yet what follows are only suggestions, because your image is very convincing as is.

Look at the image carefully and you will observe that a scanty hint of the ground is present. Also, a scant amount of the swing mechanism. So one way is to crop our the land artifacts along with the swing stands. This leaves just the figure and the sky. Since this is advance editing you can now concentrate on the sky by selecting the figure and then inverting. You then pump up the contrast of the sky and then dodge and burn in promising areas. Another approach is to use the elliptical tool and create an ellipse around the figure, invert and then darken the surrounding area. However, first take care that you have increased the contrast on the sky inside the ellipse.

Outside of this you have a good compositional style and you think out your ideas. In competition it is hard to present an absract equivalent of the challenge's meaning. It is all dependent on voter reaction and some just simply miss the point. After all, the subject of physics eludes a lot of people.

Doggie Poo Chorus
by keriboi

Comment:
Not happy with your type selection, but you got such a nice shot whith that eye looking at the viewer that you get bumped to 7

Dream Police Cadets
by awpollard

Comment:
Cool comp. Bumping this image ro 8

Donut-Policemen Conspiracy
by debitipton

Comment:
A wild reach with the title but a cute and tidy look which evokes laughter. Returning to bump this image to 8

the Dan Patrick Confession
by fstopopen

Comment:
A dangerous font but comp and name great. Bumping you to 7

Dangerous Personality Condition
by Faye Pekas

Comment:
This is a winner. The title and the face take the show. Returning to bump this image to 8.

Dress Parade Club
by Paulk

Comment:
This is possibly the most striking visual in this collection. I expect this image to end up at the top and so bumping it to 9

Deep Philosophical Commentators
by johnm

Comment:
Not quire your typical title but layout is a gas. Bumping you you you 8