Appleby
sodastreamerComment by Artyste: Greetings from the Critique Club. My critiques are generally geared towards trying to help you improve your score within DPC, and not on any true "artistic" merit of the photograph itself, unless it relates to DPC voters and scoring. Please keep that in mind as you read this.
Initial Thoughts
A little flat, but striking nonetheless. Simple but effective in its own way.
Composition/Content
Compositionally, this is pretty sound. Nice use of negative space to give the apple a sense of presence. Unfortunately, as some people noted, your use of a *single* object probably hurt your score more than anything.
Background
Wonderful background with a really pleasing texture to it. The mottled green sets your subject off beautifully.
Camera Work/Technical
Exposure is a little off for your highlights, but unfortunately, no information was provided for that. I was under the impression that a critique couldn't be asked for without providing that information, so this challenge might be the last you can do that with. Please be sure to provide information in the future, as it helps greatly.
As it is, all I can suggest is that you try and meter for the brightest parts of your photo to help with blow-outs.
Digital Processing
I think you could use a little more contrast here to *really* set the apple apart from your background. It also seems that there was a little too much smoothing used, which hurt the sharpness, which some people commented on. Darker and more intense reds in the apple could have boosted your score more.
Fits the Challenge
Because of the use of a single object, you didn't really meet the challenge as seen by a lot of voters. Technically, this is an ok still life in my books, but still not exactly what people were looking for. As the classic definition of a still life is a "group of objects", it is something to keep in mind for next time.
My Opinion of the Photo
A pleasing photograph that, with a proper exposure and some work with your colors and contrast, could have really been improved immensely. The tenuous connection to the challenge notwithstanding, it's a step in the right direction.
Good luck on future challenges.
Photographer found comment helpful.