C.H.I.C.A.G.O.
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by yanko:
Greetings from CTP2

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish voting in the night challenge so I didn't get to yours. :( Had I did I don't see how I could have scored this anything less than a 7. What stands out for me is the color tone. It really sets an nice mood as well as the water reflection, which has a painterly look. I really don't have anything negative to say other than I really like the look you've acheived. The score you got doesn't seem right. My only guess on that is people wanted to see more sharpeness/clarity and a few stars, a moon and a UFO probably wouldn't have hurt. :P

Strawberry Banana
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by sharkav:
nice colours

Rhythmic Curves
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by TooCool:
From the Critique Club:

Wow... This is a very interesting shot. And definately right on challenge.

What I like: First of all, the rythm and repetition jump right out at you a slap you in the face! Very cool! Love the colors of the thing... What is it exactly? :-P Love the reflection: Is it on a mirror or a glass table? I think it's a table because of the line just above the object that has reflections and you can see through it also. Your DOF is awesome. You're a little soft at the top of the object where it goes out of frame but this is just a sniglet. Incredibly well done!

What I don't like: Well people have already said it over and over again, but your background definately detracts from and competes with the subject of the shot. Black background would have worked VERY well and possibly have moved this up into ribbon contention! Top right corner, your subject moves out of frame right in the corner. Bottom left it moves out of frame just above the corner. I keep wondering how it would have looked either moving the top right down in frame out of the corner. This would have given a touch cleaner line. Either that or move the bottom left down into the corner making a true diagonal.

Why didn't this score higher? I think your background was your downfall in this though 6.3 is still a damn good score!
Kudos
TC

C.H.I.C.A.G.O.
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by Joy Moore:
Nice shot, but why is the title separated by periods?

C.H.I.C.A.G.O.
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by GoodEnd:
The horihon line is weird here, no? I can be simply perspective, and it´s easy to corect in PS (rotate canvas, freely +- 1º). This kind of picture is very impressive. But you need to bring out more light. It can be done with higher ISO. In a cloudy night, the low clouds reflect the city light giving you a great vision. Try it some day.

Dusky Pulsating City
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by Oddfrog:
Hi from CP2!!

Iim not sure this works for a movie poster.
Otherwise I thinkits stunning!! The horizon is nice and a good use of rule of thirds. The colours are beutiful and the orange contrasts the black well:)

I think the only thing that effected your score is that it doesn't really look like a movie poster.

C.H.I.C.A.G.O.
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by MTPixels:
Well done!

Dusky Pulsating City
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by yanko:
Greetings from CTP2

My first impression was, it's a nice aerial shot but it didn't have enough going for it to do better in this particular challenge. Compositionally, it works. I like the horizon and the main highways being off center. In terms of the technicals in general, not much to critique here. You captured the dusky feel nicely and there are no distractions or anything like that present.

The choice in subject is what I feel held you back. What this fictional movie needed in my opinion was more identifying marks of the city. Here we see a city sprawl that could be any city. Maybe a skyline shot of downtown would have worked better giving a face to the city and the movie.

In terms of improvements, I just think having a stronger more identifible subject would have really helped. As is this is a very nice aerial that probably would have done better in the Night challenge.

Edited for clarity.

Message edited by author 2006-05-15 01:24:24.

Dusky Pulsating City
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by puzzled:
Hey Shail, nice entry! I haven't read the comments you received, so mine are completely uninfluenced. When I first looked at this, I thought it was smaller than the 640 px allowed, but checked and see that it is that in width. So here comes my tip: I've noticed that my scores have gone up in general by between 0.5 and 1 point since I've started to make both dimmensions wider. So I think if you had made the vertical 30-50 pixels wider, it would've helped your score. The shot itself is really good for a movie poster, imo. You've got some nice colors going on and I like the comp. The lights look a little blurry, but one could say that the blurriness adds life to the shot. (probably the voters don't think so, though :-) Amazing sunset!

Dusky Pulsating City
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment by Rebecca:
Hi Shailesh, from Becky of the DTP:M2 group!

For this challenge, specifically, I think your photo took a hit for the landscape orientation, which was hotly debated in the forums. Also, the title is awkward and doesn't really suggest a movie title so much as a description of what I'm looking at.

As to the photo itself, there are a few things I see. First is the greenish-gray patch at the bottom center. Since it's not in the same tonal range as the rest of the photo it is a distraction. Instead of wondering about the movie, I'm trying to figure out what that particular feature is. (A parking lot, I think.) I would definitely crop that out. There's also a little bit of contrail in the sky (in the dark part in the left quarter of the scene) that could have been cloned out. Also, the lights seem to be a little over exposed, and the effect is that they actually seem a bit pixelated.

This might have been an interesting movie lead-in if the city were a less common color, say, adjusting the hue or color balance into blue, purple, or green, to give it some intrigue, but I somehow doubt that modification would have been well-received amongst the voters - I get the impression that anything that looked too processed really lost out in this challenge.