The Shapes Of A New Year
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by ubique:
Happy New Year from the Critique Club!
I've seen your portfolio and this is not your best work. What it lacks (but what some of your other stuff does exhibit) is a point, a reason for the viewer to give it any attention. The photograph is not, despite your title, really about the shapes of the pictured objects in any but the most incidental sense. Sure, the bottle has an interesting shape, but if you were going to pay tribute to that shape, this is not the most flattering of points-of-view to see it from. The glasses have an elegance of shape, too, but if they are the subject, why is the champagne bottle in the shot at all?
I know this must seem a dismal and mean-spirited critique, but I don't mean it that way. If your other images did not include some very thoughtful work, I wouldn't dare to be so blunt (i.e if I thought this Shapes II entry was your best stuff).
For example, this ...

was not just beautifully executed technically, but it also elegantly captured the character of the rice; it's simplicity and its purity.
And this ...

was rather more ambitious, and had some very impressive qualities, not the least of which was a meaning, an artistic intent. And that's just what the Shapes II shot is missing.
From a technical viewpoint, the photograph is competent; focus OK, reasonable lighting and depth-of-field, and all that guff. But if the image isn't about something, the quality of the technical stuff is wasted.
As an aside, how'd the glasses get full if the bottle's unopened?
Having said all that negative stuff, I nevertheless wish you a great year in 2006, and will look for your future entries at DPC. Cheers!

IMG_7187.jpg
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by Jutilda:
GREAT DOF!!!! Love all the sprinkles of color of the people on the beach with the pure white of the bird!!!

The Shapes Of A New Year
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by marcellieb:
Plenty of diferent shapes. What is the most important?

The Shapes Of A New Year
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by sherpet:
looks like it was a good year, and nice shapes as well....

The Shapes Of A New Year
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by Jammur:
While your picture does contain shapes, I think of this challenge more in terms of abstraction, a distillation of shape as the primary essense, therefore your objective is clouded by editorial context.

The Shapes Of A New Year
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by Mack:
Cheeres

IMG_7887.jpg
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by Sonifo:
Aww..he is so funny looking. Has to be the most unique dog around.

The Shapes Of A New Year
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by joycobb:
Well, you were drinking well! :) Nice comp.

pretty%20flowers.gif
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by arsenal:
this is great i like the vibrant colors and all the faces

Grandpa
by I Enjoy Ham

Comment by hdogg4u:
Critique Club WoooHoooo

Compostion:
Compostion on portraits can be difficult when getting up close as you just dont know what elements of the portrait to keep and what to leave out. In this image I would have zoomed out or steped back a tad to create room for the chin. This would have significantly changed the aspect of the image and increased the level of the glasses to just above center and into the rule of thirds. I not 100% sure but it looks like your grandpa was smoking and maybe that would have shown good in this image.

Technical & Setup:
Diffusing the light would have maybee eliminated the hard light on his Left eye glass lens. This would also removed the hot line under his hat and forehead.

Camera Work:
Not much to say in this column but keep up the good work on knowing your camera. It seems like you used a tripod.

Post Processing:
I checked the histogram on your image. You captured the flesh tones very well.

My opinon:
I would have graded this image between 60 and 65 out of 100. The image doesnt really do much as appeal for the free study challenge. This may also be due to the fact I know what kind of talent is out there to compete against in DPC.

The beauty about a free study challenge is photographing the things that you love.