City circulationby
Boris the bladeComment by SJCarter: * Greetings from the Critique Club *
Congratulations on your first challenge submission! I know that for me, it was a big hurdle. (And breaking the 5.0 barrier was an even bigger one for me, 'cuz it took me a little longer - LOL.)
First Impression - the most important one:
Well, I scored this an 5 during the challenge. My first impression was that while the image was taken in the middle of the day during harsh lighting conditions and that it suffered from some minor pixelation, it certainly met the challenge theme well and depicted what I considered to be a thriving city life.
That being said and upon closer inspection (and after reading the other comments given), I will do my best to provide some constructive feedback. [Next time it might help the CC if you also left some photographer comments regarding your intentions, post-processing steps, etc. - Thanks!]
Composition:
Some slightly mixed messages from commenters on your composition here. I think it is one of the stronger points of the image. You have some great leading lines and managed to make a very busy scene seem organized and well presented IMHO. You also did a remarkably good job of maintaining a level perspective (one of my biggest pet peeves).
Subject:
The subject matter was right on topic and couldn't have been more relevant to the challenge theme IMHO. I don't think there was any question regarding this matter.
Technical (Color, focus, and light):
There were some differences of opinion again with regard to some of the technical aspects of the shot. Personally, I think that the lighting (time of day) was probably your biggest stumbling block here. Because of the bright sunshine, everything looks washed out. Colors aren't as vibrant, highlights get blown out, and there's an overall glare from the image. It looks like your focus was probably pretty good, but because of the pixelation (again probably due to compression/saving for web) it is difficult to ascertain. Since I see that this is your first challenge submission, I would recommend reading this
tutorial on preparing your image for submission. You might find that it helps you maintain greater resolution quality when saving for the web.
To grow its vote?:
I think if you had been able to control the lighting a bit better while shooting (or during post-processing) and could have prevented some of the compression artifacts, you would have probably scored much higher with this image. As I said before, your composition is strong and I think you've got a good eye for framing the shot.
Summary:
Good, solid job for your first entry (trust me it's a WHOLE lot better than my first one was!). I certainly look forward to seeing more of your work and if you ever want any additional feedback, please don't hesitate to drop me a PM.
Just my 2 cents...
Jimmy
Message edited by author 2006-01-17 11:06:43. 
