No One Lives Here Anymoreby
obsidianComment by strangeghost: Greetings from the Critique Club
by strangeghost
The first three parts of this critique are written based purely on examination of your photo. "Final thoughts" is written after reviewing your score, photographer's comments, and voter comments.
TECHNIQUE
Subject is sharply focused. The many foreground branches are less so but this is not a problem and adds some depth to the image. Color range seems good. The sky is a satisfying blue though there seems to be a little haloing around the branches on the upper right and left. Maybe a tad oversharp? The birdhouse is well lit in what looks like high sun. Technically not a bad image other than the possible overprocessing on sharpness.
COMPOSITION
I can see why you were attracted to this subject for this challenge. The heavily vined tree is intriguing and the bird's house seems strangely out of place and isolated. However, the incredible density of the vines makes for a "messy" feel to the photo, and even the birdhouse subject is somewhat hidden behind them. Since the birdhouse is clearly the subject of the photo, you probably should have gotten closer and made more of an attempt to fill the frame with the birdhouse and just allowed enough of the background to give it some context and feeling of desolation, and left out some of the cluttered feel that the tree as a whole gives. It's also disturbing to have to look through the branches to see the bird house itself. Your depth of field is fairly deep, keeping nearly all the branches well focused. It would have been interesting to see a shallower depth, with the background falling softly out of focus. This would made it easier for the eye to find and rest on your intended subject. It's also somewhat awkward that we're looking only at the side of the birdhouse. I can't tell if there's an opening in the front of it or not. Your title suggests abandonment but it's difficult to tell for sure with a side view.
EMOTIONAL IMPACT
As shot, it's a picture that looks a bit cluttered and seems to lack a clear voice. I think more attention paid to composition could have made this much stronger and given it an emotional "punch" that your audience would have found memorable.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In general, your commenters seemed to zero in on the same things I mentioned. It does have a busy, cluttered feel to it. Your final score of 4.5 is below average and probably signifies a mostly quick appraisal, failure to connect immediately, so vote and move on. The fact that this birdhouse spoke to you indicates, to me, a good vision for a tough, conceptual challenge like this one. Good job on finding a worthy subject. Now really spend some time figuring out how to capture it in a way that adds drama, conflict, emotion, or purpose. Most of all, study composition. How can you make use of your subject, its textures and location, to make this image talk to people. Keep shooting, I like your style.
Photographer found comment helpful.