In the Heat Of The Night
by imshmo

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An interesting attempt that meets the challenge

A warm welcome to DPC. You have approached this challenge in an unusual and creative way, most people have gone for the more obvious profile of person or animal not an object. However, it is for this reason, most probably, that it has not done as well as you would have hoped. The main problem really is that the object you are profiling is itself in the dark and illuminating the rest of the room and therefore it is the room that dominates, not the object itself. You would have been better to throw a little light on the side of the fire so that you could bring out a little detail and make it feature more strongly.

As regards the image itself, your composition is appropriate with the object given sufficient space but as previously mentioned it is not able to dominate effectively. You have obviously used a tripod which is commendable especially as it has enabled you to use a lower ISO though the image is noisy this is a characteristic inevitable with your compact camera that would have been far worse any higher up the ISO scale.

This is a very commendable attempt for your first entry showing creative thought and good execution, we will all look forward to seeing many more entries from you, Sid

Scream
by snaffles

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An interesting image that fully meets the challenge

As you say, a nude without any naughty bits, well done. It's a great image, very dynamic and appealing it conveys the liberating moment well, I do love your expression, I can hear you screaming! Whilst I do like the image overall I find the area around your hair very distracting, I assume you have done some deliberate post processing to make the dark hair stand out from the dark background? It doesn't work for me I wish it had been left with it merging naturally into the background.

Your lighting is good it illuminates your body well, nice and evenly with just one small and acceptable highlight on the crossbar. Talking of crossbars, I think you would have made the image even more effective by taping over the name transfer on the bike, it is actually quite distracting and its name doesn't add anything to the end result at all.

I like the natural and unpolished look and I agree with your sentiments about Western norms, by presenting yourself in this natural way you have made the end result much more attractive but I must add that you're in pretty good nick anyway.

Thank you for your great entry, Sid

frak(t)SHər
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that is assumed to meet the challenge

This lovely image is all about the lighting. I love the way the extreme low angle of the light highlights the edges of the ripples and creates these dark contrasting shadowed edges too, this together with generally low contrast image makes for an absorbing study. The intervening shapes all add to the end result too for an intriguing end result.

The diagonals of your composition complement the subject well.

The challenge brief sounds very open-ended so within the context of the challenge it works. Thanks for another interesting entry, Sid

Room With A View
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that meets the challenge

The landscape view captured through the window is an excellent image in its own right but when seen as you have composed it from the inside here it raises it up another level. The interior itself whilst a little dark but authentic feels as though it has had a lot of processing, it seems to be lacking in the detailed roughness I would associate with the type of building it all looks much too smooth. I do like the gaps and the tatty structure in particular around the window.

The exposure is good with no blocked out shadows or highlights and your off-centre composition works so much better than a central one. Well done for finding and capturing this scene the way you have.

Congratulations on the HM your image works well in its alternative presentation of the landscape, well done, Sid

Piped Graffiti
by WonderDude

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

A failed attempt that does not meet the challenge.

Although the challenge brief does not specifically state low contrast with or without post processing the essence of the challenge is to find in your surroundings a scene that exhibits low contrast characteristics. To take an initially high contrast scene, desaturate it and reduce the contrast is not, in my opinion what this challenge is about and I think that is reflected in your voters reaction too.

I find it interesting that you have chosen to include the drainpipe as an important element within your composition but I am unsure why you have done it. I would imagine the original artistry was very impressive and would have made a good study on its own, its not apparent to me how the pipe adds to the overall end result in any beneficial way.

Well done for trying and do keep on contributing and learning, Sid

paddle board
by HUETH

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

An appealing image that meets the challenge.

I agree with your comments this is a much more dynamic and appealing image than simply photographing the static equipment. Your timing is good with him riding the crest of the wave but I think the background would have been better rendered in softer focus with a wider aperture it rather feels that he is about to crash into the cliffs. It would also have been a lot better if all three of them had been in action at the same time, as it is it merely emphasises how tame the environment is if it is shallow enough for them to stand up in.

The exposure is generally good with detail in most of the white water but the darl shadow from the cliff is very dominant and overpowers the image as a whole. The composition is appropriate for the content.

Thanks for your entry, sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge, I hope this helps, Sid

Light Spill
by sfalice

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

A fascinating image that meets the challenge fully.

A great and original interpretation of the challenge theme, I admire your approach taking simple everyday objects and transforming them the way you have, I bet you had a lot of fun doing this. The end result is good but I think it could have been improved upon with some careful cloning to remove the unwanted light leaks so that your image would just have the most effective and desirable light related elements alone. Where the grater stands on the table and the right hand edge all have leaks of unwanted light.

What I would really like is for the elongated light on the table to be a much more significant part of the composition but I cant quite imagine how you would have done it to be honest. I'm imagining a wide angle lens with the light forming the foreground exaggerated by the perspective from the wide angle of the lens leading to the more distant source of light from the grater in the background. I can see the composition but I'm not entirely sure it would have been possible.

Anyway, thanks for an intriguing entry, Sid

Being Green
by WonderDude

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

An interesting image that meets the challenge

Power is clearly conveyed through your choice of the solar panels and their inferred generation of electrical power. I like that your father is positioned to allow the rest of the image to be filled with the solar panels but I am not so happy that he is wearing one of 'em! I think it would have worked better if you had him a little more to the right obscuring the building in the background and looking in to the scene towards the panels.

The colour saturation is bordering on being a little too much for my preference but still reasonably acceptable. What is much less desirable are the blown highlights in the clouds they are detrimental to the end result. I don't think you should be too concerned about your high ISO modern cameras such as yours have continued to make significant improvements in the sensor's ability to handle ISO well and at these levels this really shouldn't be an issue.

Thank you for your entry, Sid

The Prince
by Phocal

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that is deemed to meet the challenge.

First of all, congratulations on winning this challenge. My own perception of bokeh has always been much more clearly identified with specular highlights as opposed to soft or OOF areas which is where I would place your entry. The challenge brief would also seem to veer more towards the soft focus rendering than my own interpretation. I love everything about this lovely image it is very well executed, however, I would probably have scored it lower than an image with clearly defined bokeh in respect of my definition than has obviously been the case here at DPC.

The image itself is gorgeous, I love the sharp focus on the eye and the shallow DOF both obviously essential regardless of the challenge brief. Its always a classic to photograph a frog emerging with this lovely duckweed on and around it, perfect. I particularly love the eye and the reflections, superb. There's no doubt about it, this really is a lovely image but I still long for 'true' bokeh in it.

Well done Ronnie, an excellent image, Sid

Fall
by otto22

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An attractive image that comes close to meeting the challenge.

There are a few specular highlights that are starting to form bokeh but I feel that the image as a whole is more soft focus than true bokeh, though it is definitely not far off. I think this could have been more effective if you had, for example, some sunlit water in the background then those highlights would be a lot better defined and much more effective than what you have here.

In terms of exposure I feel you have a little too much of it, there are some severely blown highlights on the leaves of the focused plant in the foreground which are detrimental to the image as a whole. The composition is good with the foreground plant occupying a RoT hotspot and coming in from the corner with diagonals of colour running through the background, it works well.

A good attempt thanks for your submission, Sid