The Great Pumpkin Will Rise Againby
silverleafComment by e301: Hello from the Critique Club, Michael.
First off I'm a fan of this kind of shot. There are those that'll tell you that you mustn't have a foreground element out of fofus in a pictture, or that the dof is too shallow here, etc. etc. but boy are they wrong, IMO. There's a marvellous sense of from to back distance here, a real idea of an expanse of Pumpkins. Likewise those who tell you your primary subject should never be centred in your image are only those who completely misunderstand the 'rule' of thirds. Those old tricks alone are enough to explain your low-ish score for a very good photo.
I would agree with Gordon's assessment of the light though - something a little more directional would ahve helped the depth and definition even more, though i;d guess you didn't have so much choice: that or not enough patience (which is, in itself, one of the primary resources a photographer needs, I believe).
I don't get the reference, I'm afraid (at least, from the comments, I presume there's some sort of Charlie Brown reference here), so can make no comment on that front, other than to point out that it's perhaps not as universal as you thought.
Technically, compositionally, it's a shot that can 'break' the thirds rule because of the varying weight of the foreground elements - the heavier, more present on the right, the less present on the left, which lead the eye across the image, almost forcing the gaze to travel back towrd the centre of the image again where one finds the subject of the photo. That works, and also takes one eye on past the subject off into the background filed of pumpkins - so that there's a real progression to the process of looking at this. Just a little more dynamic to the light, or something less random in the composition would perhaps add a deeper impression to it. Good work, nevertheless.
Ed
Photographer found comment helpful.