Our Greatest Invention?
by sjohnston

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Love the colours of the bright signs contrasting with the rust and evident wear on the bikes and pieces of all sorts. Good use of ambient light. Beware of long exposures when there is glass or any kind of reflective surface, though, because that will create a hotspot which is distracting.

You don't want needless distractions with a shot like this, that has a jumble of subjects to look at - all the bike parts and then the signs and window to the right - can get the eye going all over the place and leave the voter wondering what they're meant to be looking at. I would suggest cropping from the top edge of the windowframe, the part closest to you, and making a square crop of this image instead. Yes it does crop out part of the street sign saying Cleveland, but we can still read enough of the lettering to make it out.

Hope this helps,

Susan

Our Greatest Invention?
by sjohnston

Comment by jgirl57:
Already voted-- garbage heap trash bin LOL.. really like the concept of this picture and seeing more than one kind of wheel

Our Greatest Invention?
by sjohnston

Comment by Masika:
Wow, what a sight!

Our Greatest Invention?
by sjohnston

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
The bicycle, yes. Trash, No.

Forlorn Hope
by sjohnston

Comment by Bear_Music:
One of the more original entries. I quite like it at the conceptuallevel, and you seem aware of the rechnical "flaws", such as they are...

Forlorn Hope
by sjohnston

Comment by blazingmoonlight:
I guess I took your interpretation differently, reminded of "when the cock crows" from Biblical text. I think the grain is part of what makes this so wonderful. Spoon crop and shadow don't bother me either...I love it!

Forlorn Hope
by sjohnston

Comment by sjohnston:
Thanks to all who took the time to vote and especially those who provided feedback. The idea was to represent how our dreams and hopes for ourselves or for the next generation can be undone by external forces or people (how many wanted to drive a fire engine for example?).

My own criticisms of the image include:

1. Horizon is not level - tried this several times in photoshop but never quite got it

2. Too much grain - taken at ISO 400 in a fairly dark room (I am sadly lacking even desk lamps!). Might have been clearer at 200 with a longer exposure.

3. Crop on spoon too tight - needed to remove my own shadow from the frame where I am holding the picture frame (window) via a piece of sewing thread.

Forlorn Hope
by sjohnston

Comment by love:
this is quite funny - 9

Forlorn Hope
by sjohnston

Comment by Tramblay:
Nice composition!

Forlorn Hope
by sjohnston

Comment by mmusicante:
best shot in the contest... 10 from me.