Colour Trends 2011-2012
by Lawton

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First impression: I liked the slightly out of the box thinking using this subject for this challenge. I can see some may have considered it to be not meeting the challenge, but it works for me in that context.

However, what doesn't really work for me is the composition. I feel, however much effort you put into the arranging of the cards, they are just carelessly thrown and then photographed - at least this is my impression. In other words, the best has not been made of the subject material.

The lighting source you have used is also creating a quite flat light (as already suggested by Tanguera). The light source is also messing with your white balance. There is a warm tint to the image which, for me at least, feels quite wrong. If you adjusted the white balance in some post processing software so that the white of the cards is actually white, the image would have a bit more impact.

I also note that the whole image is not sharp. There are parts in the lower part of the frame that are slightly out of focus.

However, in saying all of that, I still think it was a good attempt at meeting the challenge.

Sarah

Diamond Chips Need Money Chips
by Diamonds

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First of all, welcome to DPC and your first challenge and first critique.

I'll go easy on you since you haven't been around long and would hate to put you off. I also note you are new to using a DSLR, so quite a big learning curve after using a point and shoot.

First off, I think conceptually this is a great idea, but is suffering a bit on the technical side (understandable since you have just got the camera). I totally got the reference to the credit card chip (not sure they've caught up with that concept in the US).

Technically speaking there are a few areas you could concentrate on. The subject, the ring, is out of focus. On DPC this will always result in a low score. You have selected to use a shallow depth of field, understandably to keep the credit card nicely blurred in the background. But this has created extra challenges for you when trying to get the diamond in focus.

As far as the exposure goes, this feels a bit underexposed. The white background has been rendered a neutral grey. I took the liberty of opening the image in some editing software and a very simple tweak to the levels resulted in an image with a bit of punch. Brightening the image overall and enhancing the contrast made it feel not quite so softly focused. One further comment, it looks like it may have been quite heavily cropped from a bigger image (this is my assumption based on the look) Please forgive me if I am off base here. There is some digital noise in the background which is more noticeable due to the cropping. Some noise reduction software could help a bit with this.

Overall, I think this is a good first entry. Keep at it.

feel free to pm me if you would like any further comments.
Sarah

Message edited by author 2011-04-17 07:12:42.

"One day, we will be the world's most famous Chocolate Chip!"
by apasciuc

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I didn't vote in this challenge, so this is the first time I am seeing this image.

My initial reaction is, good idea, meets the challenge but is a bit weak technically. You have chosen an aperture that will give you a very shallow depth of field, but maybe for an image such as this, you would have been better using a deeper depth of field. I would have preferred to see the chips in focus. As you took the trouble to shoot on a white background, I'd like it to actually be white. Whatever saturation boost you have done, has given it a slightly reddish glow, coming presumably from the reflected light source.

One of your commenters suggested a different angle/perspective and I think I am incline to agree.

Overall, I think it's a nice take on this challenge subject but just spoiled by the slightly weak technicals.

journey
by insteps

Comment:
Love this sort of spontaneous shot. You can never be quite sure how they come out. Sometimes the actual shot is much more effective than the planned shot.

Waiting for the train
by markwiley

Comment:
I love this. looks like you're on the platform of train station. Futile comment, given the title, but I was thinking the El when I wrote it! (Ex-Chicago resident here) I really enjoy the composition.

Message edited by author 2011-04-17 14:07:30.

Peek-a-Boo
by garryyoung

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I didn't vote in this challenge as the topic didn't particularly appeal to me, so this is the first time I have viewed this particular image.

I see you disagree with those folk who thought this didn't meet the challenge. Whilst I personally like the image very much indeed, I can also see where the others are coming from. The challenge description did actually say, take a photo of some chips. So, if one wanted to be very literal, this image could certainly be considered not to meet the challenge. I'm not saying I think it doesn't meet the challenge, but just suggesting why other, more literal minded folk, may think it doesn't. :)

There's a lot to like about this image, it certainly tells a story. I also agree with Brian, putting your daughter's face to the hole would have spoiled this image, at least for me. It would, of course, created a very different image, but to my mind one that would be a bit contrived. This is certainly a shot that works very well in B&W.

A couple of things I may have done differently in presenting the image for voting. I think I would have cropped it so there was slightly less of the pure black under the window showing. Whilst it is clear it adds some context, I think the composition would be stronger without. Also, I may consider leaving the border off. It's a very heavy border and although it in some way works I think a slightly more delicate frame may work better. (The whole border vs no border discussion could take days!) I personally like borders in most cases, but for me, less is more.

I think you were certainly hit by some doesn't meet challenge voters. Despite that, you achieved a very respectable score.

Overall, a very nice image and one I'd be very happy to have in my portfolio.

Sarah

Let Them Fall where they May
by dali_lama_2k

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Difficult to critique this from my perspective as I found this challenge topic to be very unappealing and didn't vote. However, just because I didn't like the topic, doesn't mean I can't find something to comment.

This must have been quite fiddly to set up and I'm sure you had to do it more than once! I'm not entirely sure if you were really trying to make it look like a space station, but if so then I guess you succeeded, since it's the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw this. Clearly your commenters also thought the same.

I can't quite put my finger on why this scored below 5. Maybe the composition is a little awkward. Surely this was a bit hit and miss if you were dropping the chips. There is a lot of 'lint', fluff or whatever you care to call it in the background. Can't tell if that's meant to be there to enhance the feeling of a moon surface, or if in fact it's not meant to be there. Either way, that may have an impact on your score. DPC voters like things clean and dust free. There is certainly 1 white speck of dust that is standing out. Now, of course, in basic editing you cannot clone the dust out since it is not sensor dust, but real physical dust, so I would have been inclined to therefore use a levels adjustment or something to darken the blacks. The dust would be more concealed this way and would have made the chips stand out a bit more.

Just some thoughts for next time.

Sarah

From The Chips Perspective!
by Maver

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Let me congratulate you first on getting in the top ten with this image well done.

Difficult to critique this from my perspective as I found this challenge topic to be very unappealing. However, just because I didn't like the topic, doesn't mean I can't find something to comment.

You obviously spent some time thinking about this and setting it up. It's a clever idea and clearly worked with the voters. I may have preferred a slightly deeper depth of field so that more of the crisps (I'm British, these are crisps, not chips!) are sharper. I can only imagine that given the set up, this would be quite difficult to achieve.

Overall, I'd say this was pretty well done and resonated with the voters.

Sarah

Spray
by Delta_6

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

This is one that I find hard to critique. I like it, I gave it a 6 in voting, but there is something missing for me and I can't put my finger on what it is that is missing.

I think I would have preferred to see a bit more foreground included, the framing feels a bit too tight for me. The letterbox style cropping constrains the image somehow. I'm missing the feeling of the wide open space. As far as the B&W goes, I tend to like a bit more contrast, not so much that the spray of the wave is blown out, but enough to give a bit more of a punch. This is a very minor nitpick and is just my personal preference.

Overall a well done image, but I think with a few minor compositional changes could have got you a higher score.

Sarah

Genesee Night View
by juliejold

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I was quite surprised when I go this image to critique that you had only scored a 5.2 in the recent B&W challenge. I cannot help feeling that was a little harsh, but the competition was quite stiff. I certainly remember it from voting, so that's good as it clearly made an impression.

I like the way you have depicted what can be a fairly common subject by making it appear to be slightly abstract. I think the very heavy blacks in your post processing have done this. I have to say, I rather like this as it is, but can imagine there are some voters who would have preferred to see a bit more detail in the shadow area and so this probably contributes to the score.

Overall I think this was rather well done and am surprised it didn't do better.