Mary Jo Becker
by Phocal

Comment by ltlmschrisss:
** Critique Club **

Initial Reaction
I like the leading lines

Subject
These types of cemeteries are usually visually appealing due to their leading lines. I think what is lacking here is a strong focal starting point. I think that if you had used the Mary Jo Becker headstone as your starting stone it would have provided that. Or since you plan to shoot again look for one that has flowers on it or a flag by it.

Composition
I think that your choice to crop out the trees and sky was a good one, since it provides us with the vanishing points. Mitch55 had commented that there were too many of them, but I think that if you had that stronger starting point this would have not been so noticeable to him.

Lighting and Color
First I would like to say that I like the fact that your HDR doesn't look like HDR. This is a personal preference of course and I do feel that in some instances it looks cool, but I also feel that it can get out of hand as well. As for lighting, I feel that overall it's a little flat and on the dark side. I don't know if this is a byproduct of the HDR or not since I don't use it enough to know how it effects things. Also, I think you may want to play around with a partial desaturation or a black and white conversion, the yellow/green really draws my eye away from the main subject of the headstones.

In relation to the challenge
Not a bad go at all for your first Free Study challenge! I think if the picture had told us more of a story (starting focal point) it would have done a little better.

If you have any questions about this critique. Please feel free to send me a pm!

Thank you!

Chris

My name is George
by Phocal

Comment by mrbig65:
wow,,,, great focus ,,,,

Open Wide, Stick Out Your Tongue, and Say "AAAAHHHH"
by Phocal

Comment by Balko:
Wow, that is one big Ahhh :) 8

My name is George
by Phocal

Comment by network45:
hello george

Running for Pink
by Phocal

Comment by Phocal:
@bvy - they are people participating in the event going in the other direction.

Open Wide, Stick Out Your Tongue, and Say "AAAAHHHH"
by Phocal

Comment by mrbig65:
ha humm,,,,title ? ok,,,,

Running for Pink
by Phocal

Comment by bvy:
Part of me wants to say that the background spectators looking in the opposite direction take something away from this. Another part of me finds humor in it. I like it anyway.

Running for Pink
by Phocal

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
It takes a very self assured man to go pink, even for a good cause.

Freedom isn't Free
by Phocal

Comment by tehben:
From The Critique Club - !

You have done a great job of preserving detail in the whole image but as a result it feels fairly washed out. Reading the comments made during voting I agree it needs much more contrast, partially taste for me (I love high contrast images) but I think it would have really helped with the visual impact to bring in some more black and let the cloud tips just reach white making the whole thing really pop.

The composition is very nice, perhaps a tad tight on the left. I feel the tree is pointing in that direction and is a little jammed against the edge, but even with the same crop but just moving the whole crop left would make it feel less cramped. The tree does work very well with the square crop however.

I think with more contrast and a little more room on the left of the tree this image could have placed much higher in the challenge!

Good job :)
tehben

Running for Pink
by Phocal

Comment by snaffles:
love the hair! great shot.7