Okay.... Who Brought The Ball?
by autool

Comment:
Cracked me up. I needed a good laugh, you get a ten just for changing my mood. Great photo.

Nowhere to go
by GinaRothfels

Comment:
Hello from the critique club -

This is a nice photo - I gave it a 6. It is well executed but doesn't have anything to make it stand out from the pack except for humor. The votes would agree, no great scores, few terrible scores.

This is what I like: First of all the humor, it really is pretty funny to see a car in a cage from the American perspective. I have never seen such a thing. we lock our cars up in dark garages. It gives the car a personality to see it in a cage, It seems to be looking out, pining to get going. And the landscape works just right for that impression. In front of the car is a lovely green field and maybe an intersting town in the distance. I like the colors of the photo, the stone and metal are all pinkish brown, contrasting with the green outside. The silver car stands out nicely. The focus is good from the forground all the way to the background. Lighting and exposure are excellent and probably were difficult to get right.

What doesn't work so well is the composition. It is too centered and then not quite straight at the same time. With the car so exactly in the center and the cage around it having such rigid lines, the barrel distortion from the lens is very apparent. The detailed design on the cage door cuts right across the tail lights, creating a conflict between the most visually interesting parts of each. There aren't any compositional lines that lead the viewers eyes into, out of, or around the picture. My eyes keep coming back to the circles on the gates being in the way of the tail lights and number plate.

There is a story here, the car and it's driver are not going anywhere today, even though it is a lovely day. But then what? The story isn't quite interesting enough and the photo isn't quite appealing enough. As Grocho Marx would say, "Close but no cigar".

Goo Goo Doll
by Gracious

Comment:
Just me I guess - I was that nine, I should have given it a ten, I love it!

Spoon Fed
by nards656

Comment:
hey, what happened?? This was definately a 10!!!!

The first truffles, just on time.
by jjbeguin

Comment:
This was my favorite for the week!

On The Horizontal
by greenem2

Comment:
an escalator? I love it.

Amber Brkich of Survivor II: Australia
by alanfreed

Comment:
I thought the color one was stunning.

4 Blu Plu
by rascal

Comment:
Whoa! What is my #10 doing way down here????? Waaay under rated photo. I loved it.

Nature's Motion
by skippy

Comment:
I gave this picture a five and it looks like a lot of other people did too. I guess this is an example of a "not Quite" picture.

This is what I like: I like the water. I like the way you have exposed it to look so realistic. If the shutter speed had been faster it would have looked too stop motion and not given the impression of force and power that it does. There s some nice stoped motion in some of the sprays but not too much. If you had used a slower shuter speed, the water would have been blurred and lokked softer and you would have completely lost the senstion of power. I like the colors, I like the way it is almost a monochrome but it is a color photograph. I like the power of the water but I feel the power more in the upper background of the shot than in the middle. The focus is very nice. So all the camera work type elements of the picture are well done.

This is what I don't like. I can't get a handle on the scale here. Is that a branch and some rocks or is that a tree and some boulders. If it is a big log then there is more water force here than you show. Something that gives a clue to the scale would help. Like a tree or a little plant, a leaf?


The composition seems off to me too, One commenter mentioned that, There aren't any of the traditional textbook elements of design. No rule of thirds, no leading lines. There is not a pattern that leads my eyes, as the view, from one element to the next and back. There is the diagonal flow that takes me from the top left down and out of the picture, but nothing to bring me back. Actually I have several times just now tried to scroll up past the top of the picture. Something is missing and I guess I like the water at the top where it makes that wonderful dip better than the water at the forground. Does that log add anything to the image? It stands above the water so it is the only still thing in the picture and contrasts with the moving water. I wonder if the movement of the water would be better portrayed without the log.

Technicaly this is a nice photo but it needs something more to make it a dramatic one.

Rmemeber this is just one opinion form one amateur.

Roadside Repairs (Portrait of a friend)
by Azrifel

Comment:
I like this photo. I gave it a seven which seems to be the best it got. Looking over the coments it seems like people either didn't like the weather or didn't like motercycles. I'm not so fond of this gloomy weather either but it makes a great picture and certainly adds to the mood of the day and the roadside repair. He keeps his coat on and his helmet- it must have been raw and the metal looks cold. Nor am I much interested in motorcycles but do Love portraits and pictures that tell a story. This is a real story teller. He's riding with a group, or at least a partner, something has gone wrong, he has to fix t himself, there isn't a garage or a warm place. He looks toatlly intensly absorbed, maybe stubborn even? That face is central to the picture.

I do agree with the commenter who said it looks tilted and should be rotated a bit. But that will be my only negative comment.

I like the colors, almost a monochrome except for the red cycle, the yellow warning lights and the guys face. It emphasizes the three most important things. I like the conflicting diagonal lines of the sidewalk and the leaning bikes. I like the way the broken bike looks black and dirty while the red bike (whos riders is presumably in a warm pub) looks shiney new. I like the writing on the car, on his helmet and on the red bike make a triangle. The picture as a whole is self contained, the lines bring the viewer back to the central theme. Good use of the rule of thirds, his face is at one intersect and NOTHING is at the opposite intersect which makes the face the real focus.

I really like this picture, a lot can be read into it.

Comment from the critique club - remember this is only one amateurs opinion (mine).

Message edited by author 2002-12-20 16:35:18.