Taken
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by ShutterPug:
Every parents worst nightmare - having their baby snatched.

Good job on the lighting and composition. I really lime the sepia tones used here

View from a moving train
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by cmeier:
Robert, these opinions are just my own. Photos that score well on this site tend to evoke some sort of strong emotion; the current free study winners clearly evoke a level of wonder, awe or tranquility with many voters.

I'm curious as to what emotion you feel your photo evokes? How is this photo different from any other photo that could be taken from a moving train moving through farmland? The scores you received are almost uniformly middle-of-the-road, which would suggest that people thought that your technicals were okay (given the difficulty of the shot) but that it didn't evoke a strong feeling either way.

Personally, it doesn't evoke any feeling from me. I don't even know what I'm looking at, except that it's agricultural. I suppose it's a grain silo. Maybe you're trying to evoke a sense of tradition? Making a comment on the decline of cooperative farming? I'm just not sure. But in the five seconds I would have given this shot when voting, none of those stand out.

I don't think that you have to be totally conventional to do well on the site, nor hit the voters over the head with your message, but it's been proven again and again that subtlety usually doesn't pay off.

I hope this makes sense. Best of luck in future challenges.

View from a moving train
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by posthumous:
it looked oversharpened to me, too. I'd rather it look blurry or soft.

View from a moving train
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by levyj413:
Rob:
I agree with cpanaioti. You said in the thread to not tell you to change it, just what's wrong with it. Well, the blurry pole distracts, as do the wires. I'm trying to imagine the building against a clear sky, and in the same position in the frame, and I'm liking what I'm imagining better than this.

It's also too sharpened - halos are visible in many places.

That said, sometimes you take and keep shots that mean something to you, or that you like, which is just fine. In those cases, just ignore the score. But at the same time, don't be surprised when it doesn't score too well. Remember that you're competing with people with very, very high levels of skill who are often taking great pains to set up their shots.

View from a moving train
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by cpanaioti:
Colour, contrast and lighting is very good. What I find is letting the image down are the out of focus pole and wires and that the structure is very cluttered. It's hard to tell what was intended by the image (what the viewer should focus on).

Taken
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by Cyclop:
This picture near an open window would of been better.

Taken
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by bassbone:
this is incredibly disturbing and a nightmare I always have as a parent of two young boys - very well captured image - the perspective is right on the money and the lighting and details included in the image really sell it.

Taken
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by nostalgic:
very scary! 8

Taken
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by Patsfan:
Nice shot.

Taken
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment by kobaiyoshi:
Chilling, managed to pick a subject that will always produce a strong reaction. The use of sepia works well to make it seem like a memory. 9