Dissolution
by Shaurya

Comment:
OK, this took me a while to get to. Sorry. But you were over the 10-picture limit. ;)

I'm not sure what your PP steps were, but my first impression technically is that it is soft. Using some USM may have made it stand out quite a bit better.

It works fairly well as an abstract. Just FYI, abstracts tend to not do as well on DPC. Just a fact of life, but not something that should dissuade you should you want to enter one. The extreme vertical crop works nicely. I guess in the end I feel there isn't quite enough to hold the eye. We take it in and move on fairly quickly (as evidenced by the 92 5-votes).

Keep plugging away though. 5.5 on your second challenge isn't bad at all.

Clean and Sober after Supper
by albc28

Comment:
Well, you chose the right challenge as I think this would have done even worse in color on color. A few issues. First is subject matter. I think the average person looked at this and just asked "huh?". It doesn't seem to represent something in real life. The title indicates it is "after supper", but we have two full glasses of water, a clean napkin, and a clean plate. I do like your attempt at "creating" something (I like to do that myself), but in this case I think it just was something that didn't resonate with the voter.

Technically the shot could have used a little more contrast (especially the blacks). It is quite centered compositionally which lends even more of a static feel which may not be helpful. The picture also looks somewhat soft. Perhaps that was on purpose, but a bit of USM could have helped there. I'm sure the despeckle and dust and scratches removed some detail as well.

Keep working at things. I see you are making an effort to come up with something original. That's always good.

The Egg!
by Cheerz

Comment:
The abstract isn't bad. One, if possible, always make sure you have as near 640px on one side as possible. Lots of people vote lower for smaller pictures just because. This is in the middle so I don't know how much it hurt you. There are tutorials if you are having trouble with getting a full 640px shot at 150kb.

I do like the geometry of the shot, but perhaps I would have gone for just a tiny bit more definition at the upper edges of the egg. On my monitor (which is a laptop and so has some limitations) the egg is totally lost at the top and my eye doesn't quite like that as much.

Also just be aware that abstracts tend to do poorly at DPC outside of an actual abstract challenge. That shouldn't stop you, but it just helps answer the question of why your score was where it is.

everything will be alright
by goc

Comment:
Well, I will ignore the crowd who says "white isn't a color" (but you know there were a few...9 1s?, 13 2s? that's hard to overcome)

The picture is well done on its own merits. Composition is excellent. The crop is wonderful. Off centered, full body, simple background, but small "props" to help provide context (the bag and stool).

The white shirt looks like it's a little too close to blowing for my comfort. That's my biggest criticism. What killed you was the DNMC crowd. I didn't vote this picture, but even I would have been looking for a little more "color on color". Don't take the low score in this case as meaning the picture is poor. It is excellent.

sploosh
by inanutshell

Comment:
looks a bit oversharp

Fun in the Sun
by Sunshine86

Comment:
This shot has DPC written all over it. nicely done. 7

Cool River
by timfythetoo

Comment:
IR is so damn cool!

Meditation in Red
by ShaneBlake

Comment:
My first 10 given for the challenge.

the silent dialogue
by agenkin

Comment:
I'm pretty sure this isn't doing too well (just from what I know of DPC), but I like it a lot. Excellent title. 8

No Worries
by jrtodd

Comment:
Man, the last time I used an internal frame, I got hammered. It's quite a nice shot though. 8