A match to the heart by Gretel Ehrlichby
Ecce_SignumComment by MistyMucky: Greetings from the Critique Club :)
My first impression: I do really like minimalistic pictures, therefore I was an instant fan of your photo (voted 9). It exhibits a pure and flawless aesthetic.
The subject has its elemental interest. The heart shape is instantly recognizable, looks great and is consistent with the title/challenge.
The composition deviates subtly from a classical rule of thirds approach. This introduces some dynamism and tension into the picture. The match could be moving upwards, but the horizontal placement does not sustain this suggestion. Out of curiosity, I tried some 'filling the frame on the heart' approaches or rotating in order to straighten the heart. But your version works best for me. Of course, perfection would be to place the flame in the position where the heart of a human body would be ;-)
Technically it looks quite perfect. Maybe the lighting is a bit strong or too frontal, as the wood textures are a bit washed out, but that's definitively nitpicking.
Overall, my first impression stays: it is a great picture and I am quite astonished that it was not more successful. My personal conclusion: loads of negative space can be very spectacular in some pictures, but without an instant WOW reaction people do not overly like it. You might also have received some nasty shoehorn votes.
If you have questions about this critique, please contact me.
Mike
Photographer found comment helpful.