Mom Cutting Cake for Soon-to-Be Brideby
fotomann_foreverComment by taterbug: Hey Leroy, greetings from the Critique Club :-)
Well, this is your shot for 'Candid', and I think it definitely fits the challenge. You've captured a nice moment, a great memory to have, and will be great for your photo journal project. I have no doubt your future sis-in-law will love this.
The first thing that strikes me about this image is the tone, and feel of it. It for sure sets a lovely mood that fits the image well, IMO. I really like doing tri/quad tones myself, and I was pretty sure before even looking at your notes that this was a multi tone treatment. So, I actually quite like it. Here is something that you might want to try sometime, that I usually do with b/w and multi tones: I do a curves adj. toward the end (for example, in the workflow you have outlined, I would put it between the second autolevels and usm). I put 2 points on the curve, make a very sharp 'S' curve, then drop the opacity of that adj layer way down. Like I'll take it all the way to 0, then slowly slide back up til you just start to see a little bit of change. Like probably between 8 and 20 percent. I find it increases the tonal range just a bit and adds a little depth and pop to the photo. Anyway, something to try maybe if you're interested :-) And I guess I must confess here, yeah, I'm a guy, I also noticed the striking cleavage present :-) Which, also I might add, IMO is certainly not a bad thing!
Technically, the shot looks pretty good. Good focus, good exposure, even lighting and all that. The composition is sound, and it works. So, 5.38 is not a bad score, but why not higher? There are certainly no glaring flaws at all, but perhaps a few minor things that the dpc voters deducted minor points for. There are a couple of elements along the bottom and right edge that are 'cut off' and not really showing enough to contribute to the scene, like the veggie tray and cups. Also at the top left, the bright area, looks like it is maybe a window?, kind of pulls the eye up to it and off the subjects. Also, from some of the discussions on this challenge, I think perhaps a lot of voters were looking for a lot of emotion, excitement, and such in the shots. As one of your commenters put it- a bit more out of the ordinary. Maybe just a slightly different angle, to show a touch more of mom's face? Personally, I see the story, I think it's a great capture, but then I do have the luxury of seeing your notes on the shot :-) One last thing that possibly could impact a few voters, is the title. On the verge of being too much. Again, for me, very rarely (if ever) will I find a title to be detrimental to my opinion of the photo, but I do feel a good title can strengthen the presentation greatly. I could see where some voters could almost feel like being 'spoon fed' the message though. Sometimes less is more :-)
Overall, I like the shot. Nice treatment. It has a very nice, fitting feel to it. It is a great capture that will be very nice in your project. Good luck with it!
If you have any questions or comments or anything, please feel free to contact me.
Happy shooting,
taterbug :-)
Photographer found comment helpful.
