The Business End
by ShaneBlake

Comment:
I did not look at the comments so this is all me. :) I can tell you easily your subject cost you .2-.3 in score. Guns are controvertial and you will always find people who are going to vote their opinion. (I look at your scores and see there are more 1's than 2's. Usually that has a reason, and I believe this is it.)

Technicals are quite nice. Your focus is "spot on" as they like to say here. I take it it's f/4.0 not f/40. I would have tried bracketing shots to increase the DOF a bit. I don't want the person to be all the way in focus, but maybe he's a little too blurry. I'd have to see some other shots.

The greyscaling is nice as well. It looks like you were most worried about the end of the gun, and did a good job there. The person is a bit drab, but perhaps that's good and allows him to blend into the background more.

I think it's a decent picture. It's the subject which got you...

Blue
by LeeD

Comment:
Ok, here's my takeaway from Light on White. The winners were not scared of using black. They did not boost their levels to make the picture whiter than it already was. It was already white to begin with. Your baby, and my rock salt, used the second technique, and I think this was what the voters did not like.

I'd also go for more DOF. I'm not a good portrait artist, but I tend to like the whole subject in focus. His feet get lost and the diaper blurs with the background.

Take it all with a grain of salt since I finished, what, about 10 spots higher than you?

Polaroid Collection
by jeffzoet

Comment:
That's some sweet action. Looks like some sweat was put into it.

Zzzooomm!!
by srdanz

Comment:
I'm not looking at other comments so I don't get swayed. Here's my impression:

1) It certainly meets the challenge by even strict guidelines. I got no idea why you got 4 1-scores and 9 2-scores. That could just be back luck.

2) Control your background. The idea is great, but I'm a fanatic about controlling what is in my background. That car parked in the middle of the picture is hugely distracting and is probably the single part of the composition which converts it from a photograph to a "snapshot".

3) On the same lines, you may have done much better with a different location and a different angle. Perhaps the picture would have done better with a slightly more forward looking angle. This would have allowed more "hyperspace" landscape to go shooting by. (possibly landscape rather than portrait would have helped) That in combination with a more interesting location might have done well. Was there anywhere with fallen leaves on the ground? That could have made interesting textures. Even going as far as raking them up and dumping them on the road would at least show some dedication.

4) You did a very good job of keeping the car in focus. Not the easiest thing to do while trying to blur the background.

In the end, I think you got the jack with the 1 and 2 votes. Who knows why people would vote like this? Even "snapshots" don't deserve those scores.

Not the DEAD End of a Match Stick....yet!
by AzCKelly

Comment:
I haven't looked at other comments so if I'm repeating, then it's how I feel. :) First, I think you did very well with a difficult subject to capture. Flame is always hard to get right. With that being said I think the following hurt your score:

1) The DNMC crew may not have liked this. I'm pretty liberal, but this is a bit of a stretch. It's "out-of-the-box" which can be great, but like I've said before, high risk/high reward.

2) The flame is supersaturated which makes it less interesting. The colors are beautiful, but there is little detail there and the resultant rounded edges make it look less like flame and more like a glow of something.

3) The composition isn't bad at all. I may have actually had the match enter the frame centered and then let the gradual slope move the subject away from the middle. In other words, I may have just shifted the subject down. Rule of thirds is good and all, but sometimes it doesn't work and I think when you have a completely black background centered often works better.

4) Did you use optical zoom for this? It seems just a tiny bit jaggy. Not bad though.

5) I will totally commend you for the lighting on the matchstick. You managed to light that quite well while still controlling for the light of the flame. That is tough.

So bottom line is a fairly well done technical picture which likely fell with the DNMC crowd. (Note the 13 3-scores). The saturation may have been overboard. You did well though with a very difficult to photograph subject.

An American City in November
by Prof_Fate

Comment:
Mmm, the old Golden Triangle from Mt. Washington. I've done many shots from here, but I have to say the two entered in this challenge are superior to anything I've been able to pull off. You caught a nice light on this one.

Confluence
by alanfreed

Comment:
Mmm, I've stood at this very point many a time to take this picture. None were as nice as this one. 10 Don't you like the blue of the Highmark builidng? That wasn't there a year ago. This actually looks a little further down. I'd always be across from the Moterey Bay Fish Grotto. 10

View from Under the Bridge
by scared_of_the_dark

Comment:
10. I'll let others worry about the landscapeness of this one.

Creation: Day Four
by SJCarter

Comment:
Is this Natural Arch in Virginia?

The Cave
by kimber

Comment:
The border is going to keep you from the top notch scores on this one. Don't worry, I've been there before. I've learned that subtle is best for the border on DPC. Nice picture though. 8