She follows instructionsby
mundilitliComment by FrankRobinson: Hi Arnmundur, welcome to the Critique Zone!
Firstly, I have to say that unlike the other commenters, I like this shot. It is something of a social commentary and I like the sense of solitude there. I definitely think that it was a shot worth taking but with 20/20 hindsight, I might have done it differently.
Technically: I think that the settings are fine, although an ISO of 500 seems a little high? I have also read that most DSLRs perform better at the 'standard' ISOs (100, 200, 400 etc) than the in between settings. The long DoF works really well here - this shot doesn't want a blurred background. It does need to be sharper though, there's no way around that.
PP: It's a minimal editing challenge, so tricky but this definitely needs some sharpening. For a minimal editing challenge, shooting in JPEG has to be the way forward to gain your camera's built in sharpening too. The black and white conversion is also a bit flat - again difficult to do anything about in this challenge, but to avoid editing, a filter (possibly blue for this shot?) might have added some depth to the contrasts.
Artistically: I can see the use of the rule of thirds, but only vertically. I would be tempted to place her less centrally on the horizontal as well. Also, the geometric pattern of the brickwork is quite interesting in a black and white shot - more so than the tree I think, so perhaps include more of that?
Overall, I think that the lack of sharpness and the DPC tendency to race through voting leave this shot a little under-rated. It
is interesting and I encourage you to continue to develop this style.
Happy hunting!
Frank.
Photographer found comment helpful.
