The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by DigiFotoBuddy:
Greetings from your own critique club.

First Impression
Low light, definately not one of your best shot.
Composition:
Okay, not eye catching. The gift box on right is distracting.
Subject:
Probably not the best for the challenge.
Technical (Colour and light):
The color and lighting is not very good on this one.White balance is off, and lighting is flat.
Improvement:
Different ligtinh, may be multiple lights. Different composition. The gift box on left side.
Summary:
Not one of your best shot. I like the idea, but the execution is not the best.

Best of luck for the future challenges.

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by alexgarcia:
From the CTP MkII

First Impression: A really nice idea and composition but a bit dark.

Composition: I like composition, with both of you on the corner. Maybe it will improve if you put the names more in diagonal, not so frontal and create a guide line from left down to the present and you.

Subject: OK, but if the present, the gift is the subject it should be more relevant in any way (maybe changing a bit the comosition as suggested).

Technical: Here the image has the main flaw, IMO. The DOF is nice, maybe the focus should be more on the gift and less in the names, but the light is very poor here. You have a problem of light and you didn't repair it in the postprocessing. I had the same problem in some of my first shots for DPC (and some of the late also, LOL). When you learn to PP more, your results improve a lot.

Improvement: Basically light and white balance.

Summary: Don't even feel bad for the score, that's a way of learning, maybe cruel (LOL), but I assure you will improve if follow shooting. Don't stop making photos.

�lex

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by Oddfrog:
Hi! Thanks for the comments:)

This was a quick shot of my boyfriend and I at a friends wedding. I set up the shot and a friend (Roxanne) pressed the button. I didn't really intend on entering it because we did it for a bit of fun. I couldn't find a way to edit the WB in my software so I had to leave it. I now have new software and changed the WB and it lookd much better:)I'm quite happy with the DOF. I diddn't expect it with my little camera....

The names are our place seating cards and the present is what each guest got from the bride and groom, a chocolate.

Thanks again for all the help

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by Rebecca:
Hello, Oddfrog from karmabreeze via CTP:M2!

There are two very obvious downfalls to this photo. First being that the image is way too dark, and the second being that the foreground subjects aren't crisply focused. It might be nice to see a little extra light splashed across the gifts, particularly the gold ribbon, which would then have a little sparkle. This would also take the couple further into the background. It also looks like there are some noise issues, which could be easily solved with a light run through Neat Image. (If you don't have it, the demo version is free and since that version only works on photos up to 1024 pixels it works well for challenge entries that are limited to 640.)

I do think, however, that for wedding photography this is a lovely idea. In terms of the challenge, the cliche isn't half bad in matching the photo, which is more than I can say for a lot of higher scoring photos that only met the cliche halfway.

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by margiemu:
from comment trading post:

I like this idea a lot. The names in the forground with the couple in the background works very well.
The names on the boxes could be a little sharper, though. It looks like maybe this is a tad too underexposed. Adding a little more ligt would help. That might help the overall color of the picture, too, which seems a little dark to me. The color is also too yellow, with little contrast.
With some lighting correction this would be a really nice shot.

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by Gunnsi:
Comment from a member of your own commenting club :-)
First impression
1. The picture is to dark. If you were trying to get romantic feeling in it I think that adding a bit of red tone would have done better or just blurr it a bit. (if that is allowed in Basic Editing)
2. I was looking for a hint on what was inside the boxes. Is it chocolate? Is it a jewelry? Are the names on boxes? What is it?
3. Setup is good.
What could be better
1. Applying of rule of thirds is almost ok but the cropping imo should have been to take more of the bottom away and show more of the top.
2. Lighten the picture and correct the colours.
3. The ribbon on the gift is badly done and therefore distracts.
Hope this helps.

Message edited by author 2006-05-10 20:30:09.

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by yanko:
Greetings from your own critique club.

First Impression:
Muddy/too dark

Composition:
Works fine. My eyes move from left to right without distraction.

Subject:
Good subject, which fits the challenge theme well.

Technical (Colour and light):
The lighting and color really bother me here. The main thing is the lighting. It's just too flat. Maybe try lighting the foreground with candle light. That's a good way to introduce mood to the shot especially one of this nature. Also, with more light in the scene there you'll have better tonal range to work with when adjusting Photoshop levels/curves or similar. With better lighting the color cast could also work although you may want to shoot in RAW so you can fix WB issues in the future or use one of your other WB settings on your camera designed for indoor shots.

Improvement:
Everytime I write these I tend to add the improvements above. :) To recap, play with different light sources to see what works best. What you want to do is just avoid a flat image and highlight areas of interest. So in this case a bit more lighting on the foreground subject would have helped.

Summary:
Good take to the challenge but was lacking too much technically to do well.

That's it. I hope none of this is taken too harshly. It's just my opinion and suggestions. Good luck and I look forward to seeing more of your work!

Edited for clarity.

Message edited by author 2006-05-10 16:17:19.

Nasturtuim
by Oddfrog

Comment by Gunnsi:
Comment from a member of your own commenting club :-)
Nice complementary colours.
What is good in this picture?:
1. The colours
2. Nice flower.
What could you do better?:
1. Crop a bit from the bright leaf in the right side, making the red flower almost touch that side. In that way you apply rule of thirds wich is very good for the eyes to look at.
2. You probably only use one light source, In that way the shadows become to harsh, i.e. black. Maybe better to light a bit with another light on the leafs too.
3. I love flowers and flowershots but for many they get boring. It would maybe be good to add a "nose" to the picture or someones face :-)
4. The focus is a bit soft on the red. It is sometimes hard to focus on red things, specially when there is something green beside it. Autofocus, i've heard, uses green light.
5. Another thing about the focus, If you are trying to focus on both near and far subjects you should lower the speed and use a tripod.
6. The frame does imo not help. Maybe better to have it same colour as one of the leafs.
Hope that helps!

Message edited by author 2006-05-10 20:28:12.

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by JunieMoon:
Light needs to be better. A slower shutter would have made the image brighter. Also focus on the names was a bit too soft. Background is okay to be softly focused bur foreground needs sharper focus, or some other point of reference.

The Gift of Love
by Oddfrog

Comment by arnit:
Maby a bit out of focus or the camera moved a little bit when you took the picture. The names are a bit blurry. You could try to use a tripod when shooting in bad lighting. And set the shooter to release after 2 or 10 second. If you do that you minimize the shaking of the camera. :)