8
by mia67

Comment by kawhona:
Wonderful detail and I like that it is B&W

Elegance
by mia67

Comment by Tanny:
Fantastic portrait. The soft tones and color are great. Very attractive model and a great pose.

Sorry couldnt vote as i have only recently rejoined DPC, and to view shots like this im glad to be back.

Nick

8
by mia67

Comment by Tanny:
The detail is fabulous. Although B & W i can picture the color. REally great shot and one to be proud of.

Nick

Going Home
by mia67

Comment by posthumous:
I love love love this photo. She looks like she is carrying an immense burden, something so heavy that it has caused her to become almost purely a shadow. The child and his sled are one creature, a centaur, smugly looking back, vivid red, perhaps it is the mother's life that infuses this creature, makes it glow. The composition is great. Mother is a powerful vertical shape, child is a decisive triangle, and a strong diagonal in the middle of the picture skates over top the triangle and goes right through the vertical. The OOF shapes up-top are just enough to give a sense of context without distracting. It's important to know that this is a suburban setting. Did I mention I love this?

Going Home
by mia67

Comment by noraneko:
This would be a perfect entry into partial desat :-) That curving line of shadow in the middle adds an extra artistic touch. There's a feeling of grief or sadness emoting from the woman, and the boy looks wise beyond his years. Very well done.

Going Home
by mia67

Comment by rinac:
How perfectly wonderful! I so want to have a ride :) Love the desat. Your choice to leave the red (and yellow?) leaves it looking realistic and allows the viewer to wander lazily around this magical moment (if we could tear our eyes away from the gorgeous child) to other points of interest. Excellent work.

Going Home
by mia67

Comment by dahkota:
First thought - the woman has no head. Second thought: lucky kid. I like the lack of color but the puller is featureless and headless. Intentional? Not sure but a little jarring. Haven't figured out if it is in a good way yet - the title opposes - that is, I would expect a warm and fuzzy feeling rather than a distant one from the mother and home part.

Going Home
by mia67

Comment by Tanny:
Wonderful shot, i love the expression too. The desat looks great and really draws you to the kids fantastic expression.

Nick

The Safest Place On Earth
by mia67

Comment by Artifacts:
Positives:
Sharpness of and color in the animal's face is it's most attractive feature. Touching image and the composition is good.

Technicals:
Having the eyes as the sharpest part of the image is its greatest technical strength. The rest of the image is a bit softly focused which isn't a bad thing.

The white spots are a major distraction in this image. The white on the side of the main animal's face is overexposed and the white area at the upper right is also a distraction, though lesser than the others. Colors are a little weak with a slight blue color cast. (that might have been by design or from being shot through dirty windows :) )

The Challenge:
Your image finished almost smack dab in the middle of the pack. That means voters felt this image was average for the challenge. The touching aspect of the capture counteracted its technical flaws. Voters were kind to this image. It is almost as if most did not see the white window spots or simply overlooked them. I did not vote this challenge but would have given your image a passing but below average score because of the technical flaws. My score would have been a 6 which, ironically, is higher than it's group average. If I'd have agreed with the group I'd give it a 7.

Suggestions:
The most important suggestion is to clone out the horrible white spots on the windows. Don't know if the overexposed area on the right side of the face is recoverable, but if it is then it could be corrected with dodge and burn. Darkening the blob in the upper right corner will reduce it as a distraction in the composition. A subtle vignette might look nice as well and direct even more attention to the animal's face.

Jogging
by mia67

Comment by Tanny:
Fantastic, made me chuckle. The young girl looks to be having great fun. I love the composition with the winding road in the distance.

Twin on the left could be saying "Im on top of the world" (Titanic) and the other looks very unimpressed like "Yeah, ok, whatever"

Great shot