Green Magic
by hanneke

Comment by e301:
from the secure ward of the Critique Club

Well, 23rd ain't so bad, huh? And a decent score with an image that has, i think, a couple of obvious flaws in terms of mass appeal. Those are:

1. Lack of visible detail in the spoon itself - that extreme edge view makes the image more 'about' (in terms of what grabs the interest of the viewer) the smoke than 'about' the spoon.

2. The composition of the flow of the smoke. It doesn't go far enough past the spoon, so you get a conflict of visual clues - the eye wants the spoon to be more at a strong point within that trail of smoke, and what you have shown is too far to the top of that trail. And the straight line going up from the spoon is odd: it doesn't fit with the organic curls of the rest of the smoke, nhor with the curves of the spoon - and in an advanced editing challenge you could easily have cropped out that line.

The smoke itself is also not quite strong enough - either more light or higher ISO or pushing in post-processing required - but in the end I think basically a faster shutter speed by whatever means to get it more still and sharp. Take a look at some of Kiwiness' smoke shots to see what gives real impact.

It's not a form of photography that holds any appeal for me, so I'm not going to get into an artistic discussion of it - but I think you did pretty well, with those reservations.

$ 7,99
by hanneke

Comment by Marjo:
Very nice. The square crop and composition works well. Nice lighting.
I think I would rather see this in color but it does say catalog to me.

$ 7,99
by hanneke

Comment by Katmystiry:
I would prefer the color version

$ 7,99
by hanneke

Comment by SarahCJ:
Love the grayscale. Great touch. and I love the photo in a photo effect here!!!

May be my top pick!

<3 Sarah


P.S. I always tell the photographer who holds what is #1 in my heart! Though this time I believe there may be two of you! Congratulations on the great picture and hope you get that ribbon(s)!

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by hanneke

Comment by mk:
The reflection is very cool! Are the beads at the bottom slightly out of focus? Seems like there's a bit of blur there. I'd also really like to see this in color. The B&W just seems to be lacking something, I'm not sure why. Maybe I just think of the holidays as being in color. :)

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by hanneke

Comment by MayaM:
Nice pic, but I think it would have fit the challenge in better in color. Not as festive this way.

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by hanneke

Comment by angela_packard:
nice reflection!!! very cool b&w

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by hanneke

Comment by mandyturner:
Wouldn't expect to see many bw photos in a catalog. Your picture is wonderful though! For this challenge I would have rather seen it in color...the reflection of the woman in the christmas ball is neat too!

$ 7,99
by hanneke

Comment by noseprints:
lovely photo. don't know about catalogue, but i love the photo! i guess it's some kind of magical necklace. great image inside.

$ 7,99
by hanneke

Comment by shamrock:
awesome reflection