A Beautiful Phobia
by chrisymurph

Comment by glad2badad:
It's fun seeing the small flies caught in the web. :) As for your spider, I think it's not focused quite sharp enough and since that's what your main subject is you could also bring it in substantially closer. The spider has some excellent color in it that would really pop if this was shot as more of a macro image (and exposure moved up a notch or two). The background is distracting. Yes, it's blurred some by the DOF, but it's still identifiable and takes the viewer away from the core subject. Again, a tighter macro type shot would eliminate the unneeded background. JMO of course. Good luck in the challenge.

A Beautiful Phobia
by chrisymurph

Comment by Retroesque:
I've not heard of that oxymoron. I think this image may have benefitted from a tighter crop

A Beautiful Phobia
by chrisymurph

Comment by levyj413:
Spiders are hard to shoot, and spiderwebs are even harder. This isn't especially sharp, and the background's pretty distracting. The lighting is also pretty dim. Keep trying this kind of thing, though - it takes a lot of shots to get a good one! :)

Xanthophobia - The fear of the colour yellow
by chrisymurph

Comment by sfalice:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Hmmm, I started this critique, hit the wrong button, and my message went away! Okay, I'll start again.

You had a good concept here, but I'm afraid the voters didn't 'get it'. I'm assuming you had a strong yellow light in the room playing down on the youngster who is trying to get away from it. Looks as if our photographers immediately went for "ha! wrong light balance setting" and didn't get back to what you were trying to do.

Well, on that one, live and learn, I guess.

As to composition, I think this image could be improved by being a little sharper. And by clearing out some of the background material. That is, try isolating the child so that it's just the child and the light. The busy background, in this instance, seems to compete with the story you are trying to tell. This is where as nice smooth backdrop (inexpensive smooth fabric works well) comes in handy.

All in all, a nice try and it looks as if you had fun doing it.

I wish you well at DPC and look forward to seeing more of your work.



Message edited by author 2006-01-03 22:22:24.

Xanthophobia - The fear of the colour yellow
by chrisymurph

Comment by Tammer:
My first reaction was that he has a fear of being hit, the way he is cowering and covering his head. Makes me think of an old, faded 1960's type snapshot.

Xanthophobia - The fear of the colour yellow
by chrisymurph

Comment by marcellieb:
Never heard of a fear of yellow, but I am sure it must be out there somewhere and this must be what it is like.

Xanthophobia - The fear of the colour yellow
by chrisymurph

Comment by MPRPRO:
Now that is great use of color.

Xanthophobia - The fear of the colour yellow
by chrisymurph

Comment by rick13601:
The color yellow could have depicted in a better manner.

Xanthophobia - The fear of the colour yellow
by chrisymurph

Comment by shaver:
Merry Christmas

Xanthophobia - The fear of the colour yellow
by chrisymurph

Comment by tsm100:
Fear of an ugly carpet... Not my favourite.