We are SO stock !
by islenskurgaur

Comment:
This was my highest scoring image in this challenge. Totally met the challenge, unlike many others. Should, of course, have scored much, much higher.

What? No jobs?
by bjh0705

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Well, first of all congratulations on your first ribbon! Well Done.

Of course, this makes it more difficult for me to provide you with some critical feedback as the image clearly was appealing, but I will have a go.

From a technical point of view I see little to comment on, the composition is good (although I do personally find the table a little distracting, but it does give some context), there are some hot spots on the dog's face, but not even to detract overall from the shot.

Personally, I found it an amusing and well executed image, but not that appealing in the context of the challenge. Perhaps I was a bit too rigid with the interpretation of this challenge, but I would likely not use this in any kind of magazine to portray a business person. Good job not everyone thinks the same!

Well done anyway for appealing to the DPC masses.

Sarah

Wurstel
by Rino63

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

From a technical point of view I believe this is a good image. The composition is good, the angle of the sausages and the depth of field are great. The focus is good too. I agree with Eyewave, the border does not really work for this type of shot.

As I see it, the primary reason this scored so low, relates to the challenge topic. The challenge was for a stock photo that depicts cooking. In order for a buyer/editor to pick a photo such as this, there must be something appealing. Sadly the sausages themselves do not look very interesting or appetising. The burnt bits do not make me want to eat one. I think the concept was good and definitely portrayed cooking, as opposed to just food, but overall it was not a very appealing image due to the overdone (and in some parts uncooked) nature of the actual subject.

Hopefully this helps a little bit.

Sarah

Stockpot and stock cubes
by snaffles

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Sorry you didn't score a bit higher with this image.

I thought it was quite an amusing take on the challenge topic, but sadly it didn't really meet the challenge in as far as showing the art of cooking. Yes, it is definitely cooking related and yes, it is definitely a stock photo, but somehow it missed something along the way. I wonder if you had put the stockpot on the stove with a wooden spoon or something it may have conveyed the theme a bit better.

Technically I believe there are also some issues with the lighting (some burnt out bits on the rim etc) and also as PGerst mentions, the processing is a bit clumsy (not that I could have done any better mind you!) There are quite a lot of jaggies around the edges which may have resulted from the sharpen edge process.

Overall, I felt this was a great idea, but could have been improved a bit both technically and compositionally.

Hope this was in someway helpful.

Sarah

Panini and a coffee anyone?
by jkirkby

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First of all welcome to DPC and congratulations on achieving such a good score for your first challenge.

First of all, I think the composition is good, although as others have mentioned, the fork is a little bit distracting and is probably superfluous. Your choice of DOF works well here too as does the lighting. I am not 100% sold on the wooden table as a background, I think it makes the colours of the actually food look a little bit drab.

The other thing from my perspective, is that I do not really think this image meets the challenge topic. The challenge was to create an image that portrayed the art of cooking and this does not do that in my opinion. I think it is excellent for a stock photo portraying food, but not for cooking. Maybe I am too pedantic, but if I was a magazine editor who was looking to buy a cooking shot, this would certainly not be it. Thus, I think you would have scored much higher in a stock food challenge.

Hopefully this is helpful in some way.

Sarah

Never Try a New Recipe on Company
by feifer

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First off, welcome to DPC

I will attempt to give you some pointers that may or may not, be helpful to you.

This was definitely a creative shot and does actually portray the art of cooking, if you look at it for long enough. However, and this is only my opinion, I am not sure that I would buy it as a stock image for that purpose. I think the primary reason this only scored 5.16 is due to the challenge topic. In order to score well on DPC, typically the image has to really meet the challenge topic and I can see here that maybe this one did not. Yes, it definitely met the topic of cooking, no question, but I'm not so sure it met the Stock part of the challenge. (Please remember, this is only my opinion)

The image itself I find to be a bit too busy and as others have commented the arms look a bit detached. The lighting is good too. The knife in the mouth does not really work for me and just adds to the busy feeling.

Hopefully this helps in some way.

Sarah

Chestnut Mushrooms
by ekmai

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

This looks like it was your first Challenge entry on DPC. I will attempt to give you some comments that may or may not prove helpful to you.

From a technical point of view, I believe this is a good well lit image. I like the composition and the depth of field choice is good. I noticed some commented they would prefer to see the focus on the mushroom heads. I don't necessarily agree with those comments, I like the fact this is a bit different.

As far as your score goes, I believe the primary reason this scored just around 5 is due to the challenge topic. The challenge was for images of cooking, not food and I strongly believe that you have suffered due to that. In my opinion, had the challenge been for Stock: Food, then you would have scored a lot higher. To me, certainly the image itself does not portray the art of cooking, but it is certainly a good food shot.

Hope this helps a little.

Sarah

Offerings
by Tez

Comment:
At a loss to know how this didn't score over 6. I think it is a wonderful image.

flight
by nixter

Comment:
One of my top scorers. Love it.

Schoolgirl Reflections
by pawdrix

Comment:
Steve, immediately recognised this one from the street sc. (I seem to recall you did a triptych). Not sure if you have a B&W version, but probably I would prefer it in B&W if you had. Nice one, although I believe it should have scored higher :)