Flop
by gyaban

Comment:
looks like Christophe's back! *waving*

do you?
by FourPointX

Comment:
Uhmm...to be honest, no. For photos like this some backstory is needed. Who was she, what did she do? Did something happen to her? If so, what?

Coffee
by dali_lama_2k

Comment:
image is very dark, difficult to see details.

tunnel zoom
by lobrin

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Stripey! And seems that I like lensbaby shots, with the fg slightly oof and the bg in focus.

Artistic: I think you've done a good job with the patterns of light and on the walls, all leading to the cyclist in a striped shirt - accidental? Or someone you got to wear a stripey shirt? Either way, very good capture imho. Perhaps a tad more overexposure, then you could have added more black and contrast to make the patterns pop a little more. The tilt-shift effect isn't really there, but the effect can be done in most pp programs.

Technical: The lighting is supplied by the tunnel's fluourescents, so not too much you can do but adjust and go with it. In tricky lighting situations it's perfectly OK to go to Auto WB. You should also be able to shoot in b/w (look for the word monochrome in the shooting menu).

Overall: A little more contrast and possibly b/w rendering may have helped this image pop a bit more and given you a higher score. But overall, a good attempt. Don't get discouraged by the low scores, btw; see them as a learning curve. For some, DPC is almost like a gym for the photographer, providing an array of ways to help you explore and improve your photography. Keep shooting and keep entering! :-)

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Susan

Merry Christmas
by Sammy05

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Colours and textures are lacking a little, but the overall concept is quite good. It just needs more work.

Artistic: The colours don't quite have the pop you probably wanted; this might have looked better in b/w. Very good use of leading lines and thirds, you're on the right track, and I like the POV.

Technical: Lighting indoors, esp a mall is always tricky, as there can be mixed lighting going on and throwing off your white balance, which may have happened here. Try switching to Auto WB in such situations. If worse comes to worse, try shooting monochrome (black and white).

In terms of settings, you might want to start around 400 ISO and been ready to go up to 800. You could have then shot a lot which faster, at least 1/200. If you're shooting handheld, don't expect to be able to shoot slower than 1/40. If you can, try opening up your aperture to f3.5 to lose some of the drab ceiling detail. If the decorations are still up and you're in the area, try re-shooting as per these suggestions. Experiment and see what you come up with, it's the only way to learn your camera.

Overall: A very good attempt, now go forth and shoot! And don't let the scores get to you, especially in the early days. You can and will learn a lot from this site, so make the most of it. And by all means feel free to look at some of the shots I entered back in 2006-2008 especially...I'm sure you'll get a good chuckle out of some of them :-)

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Susan

Festive Alberta Legislature Grounds
by Prism

Comment:
pp looks a little much, but it's festive!

Tanenbaaaam
by posthumous

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Oh this looks like a posty...and I was right :-)

Artistic: I like the soft (zoom?)blur here, as noted sheep have a strange quality about them and it has been caught well here. Would have liked to see the left sheep's butt in the frame.

Technical: A tad underexposed, but goes well with the feel here. Would like to see that chunk of wire cloned out right below the eye. Composition ok, I assume you were probably standing on a roadside and having to shoot a bit level/downwards. A lower pov and shooting up may have added more interst.

Overall: A nice spookyish image, more of the sheep than the bush, which has kinda got a little lost in the shuffle here.

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Susan

Holiday Traditions
by justbill2020

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Made me smile as I love Miss Piggy, I gave you a 7 :-) Also, this looks like so many of my entries here when I first joined, it takes me right back...which means I know exactly what you need...we'll get to that later.

Artistic: Very cute and whimsical use of two popular characters who hold a spot in many of our childhood hearts. I like the selective desat, you did it well and then refrained from popping the colours like crazy. You have a lovely concept here and tried hard to get it, so I appreciate the effort you made.

Technical: Now down to the nitty gritty. The concept is good, but the execution is lacking. The crop is far too tight, all of Kermit's skiis should be in the shot. Miss Piggy's adoring eyes should be at the intersection of the thirds in that corner - probably approximately where her elbow is. And yes, all of her should be in the frame too. The composition is on the right track, leading us from Kermit to the smitten Piggy, so you have the right idea. Your lighting looks fine.

The aperture is fine; f5.6 will pretty much save your butt every time. But your shutter speed, at 1/6 is exceedingly slow; at ISO 3200 you should have been able to shoot at least 1/200, assuming you shot handheld, as I think most of your problem here is plain ol' camera shake. Basically you cannot shoot slower than 1/40 handheld, without it being apparent. (Curious...why such a high ISO?)

So you need to do two things: learn to shoot at a faster shutter speed, and get a tripod. At this stage, you don't have to go hawg wild, at this stage a bare-bones basic tripod from Wallyworld will probably cost you about $25. And you'll learn a lot from using it, because then you can shoot with smaller apertures and slower shutter speeds. Trust me, if you ever want to shoot stuff like painting with light or star trails, you can't do it handheld!! :-)

Overall: A very decent first attempt, and I applaud your efforts. Maybe reshoot with the ornaments spaced roughly in relation to each other as they are now, both handheld at faster shutter speeds, and also with a tripod - if you can't afford one yet, try using a beanbag. Then shoot, and shoot, and shoot some more, as that's the only way to learn.

And by all means feel free to check out the stuff in my portfolio especially from 2006 - I'm sure you'll get a few good chuckles out of it.

Hope this helps, and I really do wish you all the best and look forward to seeing more entried from you.

Feel free to PM me with any questions.

Susan

danbo goes BMXing
by missymoo

Comment:
Wonderful detail, great shot, cute character. Huge congrats on your first ribbon! :-)

...who pooted?...
by RKT

Comment:
Very cute shot and huge congrats on your first ribbon!