Implements of the Rain Maker
by aboutimage

Comment:
Congrats on your blue! Nice job.

Heart Wood
by LeeD

Comment:
*Critique Club*

First let me say that I think this met the Wooden Challenge topic well. I am surprised you didn't receive more comments though, given its final score.

Composition
Okay to good. Jutilda is right in that a dead-on shot with this type of theme can work. The heart is a nice, fairly clean shape and the negative space could work, but I think there's a little too much of it - a closer crop might have helped. Compositionally, it's okay, but I think it got mired down with the technical execution.

Lighting
Since you chose to "mask" or "frame' the main subject of your shot, the lighting for it needs to be great. IMHO, it's too harsh on the left and too soft on the right. I realize you may have been going for a 3D kinda feel with the shadows to make the heart appear to jump out of the screen, but if so I don't think it worked. The color of the light is fine, but I think you needed more than the single light source to illuminate your subject adequately.

DOF/Focus
The lighting hurts you here as well, as there's not enough of it in the right places to allow the detail and textures of the wood to show up very well. The focus also seems very soft around the heart frame (which I think would work better sharp) and in the upper left part of the wood.

Overall
I think it was/is a neat idea, but the execution pulled your score down. It met the challenge just fine, but wasn't pulled off well enough to hold the viewers' interest. Perhaps if you had shot & lit the wood in both the frame and the heart it would have done better.

Remember, this is just my 2 cents... You can take it or leave it as you please. :-)

Jimmy

pumps.jpg
by lissylou

Comment:
Also a nice composition. There are a couple of things that detract though, the shoes are dirty (there are spots on them) and the shoes aren't quite as "high fashion" as this type of shot would imply. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great shot. I just think you can improve it a lot by using a different pair of clean pumps! :-)

Just my 2 cents...

skirting the issue
by lissylou

Comment:
This is a great shot. Love the lines, composition, simple bold colors. Looks like it could come right out of a fashion magazine. Nice job!

tiger.jpg
by rich

Comment:
Wow... I wish my little camera could zoom like this! Great shot.

the-memory-of-abraham-lincoln.jpg
by rich

Comment:
Nice crop. Looks like his foot is hanging over the edge of the bottom. very cool.

ww2-fountain.jpg
by rich

Comment:
I don't think I've seen one like this - very, very nice. Great catch.

ww2-fountains.jpg
by rich

Comment:
Beautiful shot. I like this angle a lot.

bears.jpg
by rich

Comment:
Very nice.

giraffe.jpg
by rich

Comment:
Fantastic close-up.