Prretty in Pink
by Shelley

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi Shelley...

This image has a nice surrealistic feel to it that is created by the shallow depth of field and the interaction of the complimentary colors. The curves also create a nice flow within the image. The only thing you may want to consider is the bit of light and sharp detail in the upper left corner. It creates a bit of an eye pull away from the more interesting parts of the image and leaves the viewer's eye resting near an upper edge of the frame. Excellent work...

John Setzler

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment:
'Tact' is something that is very weak here. You simply have to consider the sources. Your photo is very well done and it's unfortunate that people can't seem to find a way to give you credit for studying and attempting to perfect a technique as part of your learning process. If you go look at the portfolios of those who have given you grief about this, you will see that it would be beneficial for most of them to follow your lead of experimenting and learning by duplicating things you like. If more people around here experimented and learned by doing so, their photography would improve.

DPC is a 'game' and it shouldn't really be considered an artistic competition. In the real world, your art isn't usually judged by your competition, and it IS judged on its own merit. When you show people this image, they are going to love it and say "wow... how cool is that?" When you show it to photographers, they are going to say "I've seen this before. Why can't you be more original?"

I think you won and lost with this photo. You learned something about a technique. There is still some room for improvement there as well. You lost because the K-Mart shoppers weren't into your blue-light special this week :)

Here are some tips so you can re-shoot this and make it something extraodrinary. This is how I set mine up:

1. I shot it outside in overcast light so it was nice and even without being too harsh.

2. I place my glass about 8 or 9" above the flag, supported by four drinking glasses.

3. Depth of field here is key so I got as close as i could with my camera and shot a couple tests, stopping down my aperture until the water drops were as sharp as they could be and the background was as out of focus as possible.

Keep on experimenting with it and you will find some variations that you like :)

Katha the little girl.jpg
by nolock

Comment:
I think this is a nice candid image. I think there are a couple ways you could 'change' this photo. Whether or not it would improve it is totally subjective.

I would have either included more of the child on the left or cut him out completely. The eye position on that child is uncomfortably close to the edge of the frame. The child is also looking at something that is outside of the image, which creates some amount of tension.

Sometimes when I see a person I want to photograph, I will just watch them through my viewfinder for a few minutes and snap an occasional shot. You can't really plan for what may happen in the scene. It's a good idea to shoot a lot of photos and then sort out what you have. These types of photos are also very difficult to critique because of their candid nature.

Going Up
by Chez

Comment:
This is really neat. I think the color and texture are really what draws me into this image.

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment:
good luck :)

Stormy Seas at Dawn
by DrAchoo

Comment:
Stunning.

The old-fashioned scent of a woman
by GentleSoul

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi GentleSoul...

I wouldn't consider this photo to be a failure. After reading your comments on it, I believe you learned a good bit about improvised lighting. Whether the image is 'dull' or not is somewhat subjective. The image is the beginning of a good product style shot. It's very difficult to achieve white backgrounds without strobes, but it can be done. Custom white balance settings help, and in the case of this photo, overexposing the photo by about one stop would help also.

Keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

Breathe
by funnylooks

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi Funnylooks...

I read your bio on your profile before I started this critique to get a little insight into your interests. First of all, I must apologize for not being a good source of critique on an image of this nature. It's a bit outside of my own style and philosophies. I think the concept here is worthwhile but it may need a little refinement to achieve a photo that you, as well as the general public, will find intriguing on a higher level. I think as far as DPChallenge is concerned, the highlights caught by the light source and the plastic bag may be one of the primary reasons this image didn't score higher. "Conceptual" photography is a tough arena when you are being judged by a very diverse demographic. In your circles of friend on a college campus, this photo would likely have acheived a much higher rating. It would be more in tune with the pop art and culture that thrives in those groups. Everyone around here talks about 'getting outside the box' in thinking and preparation for challenges, but I really don't think that being outside the box is the answer for this type of contest in most cases. With the number and diversity of people here, I believe that simple and straightforward images will outperform others in most cases. Any image that requires more than a few seconds of viewing and thought will get tossed aside during a vote.

I wish you well in your photogrpahy and look forward to seeing more in the future :)

John Setzler

Colours Of Majesty
by Kita

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi Kita...

This is an interesting abstract and the vibrant colors hold a lot of appeal. It's definitely an interesting photograph. I do, however, think it's probably not suitable for a "Delicate" challenge. Being abstract as it is, there is not much of a relationship in what I see to the theme of the challenge. The colors are quite bold, as are the general shapes within the image. I can't really draw any other conclusions since you didn't include your own thoughts about this image in the photographer's comments field.

John Setzler

night falls
by rwaudio

Comment:
Beautiful... I love the cool tones in this one.. great work :)