The Crow in The Cemetery
by Shan2112

Comment by Ivory:
Has a very spooky mood. Good job.

The Crow in The Cemetery
by Shan2112

Comment by Sebi:
this is a great capture, you should have adjusted the horizon to make it level
and centered the crow more, he's a little to the left. otherwise great!

The Crow in The Cemetery
by Shan2112

Comment by panynj:
"Quoth the raven, 'Nevermore'." Edgar Allen Poe This is cold, chilling, ominous, a reminder of our mortality, cause to pause and reflect. On top of all that, it is well composed and beautifully processed. The converging headstones could go on for... eternity. 10

The Crow in The Cemetery
by Shan2112

Comment by vtruan:
fog and crow make the shot. Quite nice indeed.

Wilt
by Shan2112

Comment by agenkin:
Nice choice of subject and I like the tones a lot. I am wishing for more detail in the dark areas. Also, I think that you've included way too much emptiness in the left part of the frame.

Berries By The River
by Shan2112

Comment by Man_Called_Horse:
nice image, right away the lamp post is distracting so therefor comp needs work, excellent color, blacks need a small tweek, whites ok, nice texture, nice flow, good light, nice dof, overall this could be a nice print

Berries By The River
by Shan2112

Comment by angela_packard:
8 from me...good luck!

Berries By The River
by Shan2112

Comment by liebe:
Nice colors. It is a beautiful scene. Perhaps a better composition could have improved shots like this in the future, but nice work.

Berries By The River
by Shan2112

Comment by sherpet:
I like the way this has been composed, and also the way it was taken.....

"Hey Culligan Man!"
by Shan2112

Comment by KiwiShotz:
::: Critique Club :::
Hi Shannon, this is the in-depth critique you asked for from one of the CC members, I'm delighted I drew it.

First Impression - the most important one:
Being from New Zealand, the title didn't mean anything to me but I guessed it was a well-known advertising slogan (check my profile you'll see why).

The first impression was of an interesting slice-of-life shot. It's somewhat appealing being a sort of urban time-stamp. It made me stop and inspect it rather than just breeze past it. Good start.

Composition:
I rather liked it. You have the principal character nicely off-centred with the activity in the background slightly OOF so it's busy but not distracting.

Subject:
I like the cheeky feel of this, using the ad byline, there's a nice whimsy with it. I think you missed the challenge by a bit, but then you already comemnted on that yourself. The intent of the challenge seemed to be to have a crowd of people, one of whom you could single out. Yes it did say with shallow DOF but as the winning shot shows us, that singling out can be achieved in a number of different ways. Your Culligan man is probably a little too isolated from any crowd to have got you a high vote from him.

Technical (Colour, focus, and light):
I love your explanation of the reason for going B&W. Well thought out and well reasoned - good choice. I sometimes have an issue with the amount of gratuitous B&W conversions in our challenges, this isn't one of them.

There is an issue with sharpness. It looks like motion blur on his face because the rest of his shirt is pretty sharp. At 1/60 shutter speed that's not unexpected.

To grow its vote?:
Sometimes I think vote-chasing is an uncomfortable compromise but having said that, it's damned satisfying if your peers like your work. This subject wasn't ever going to score high in DPC because it doesn't have water, sunset, a scarfed woman or Iceland:) Outside of the subject matter, it doesn't really have the drama, quirkyness, humour or wow-factor to ribbon ... BUT ...

Summary:
... it is an important social comment and record of ordinary urban life. Especially where the Culligan Man is known. I don't for a minute underestimate the importance of that - it's the sort of thing you'll see in a 2050 museum exhibition of "Life at the turn of the Century". It will cause people to get a faraway look in their eye as they think "oh yes, I remember that.."

Brett