Shadows of Garage Grunge
by fotomann_forever

Comment by igoofry:
Nice shot.

Cool Blues
by fotomann_forever

Comment by YourBuddyFlo:
nice texture on the harmonica, but since it is a blues instrument the blue background could have been done without. And the smoke does not add to the tone at all.

Cool Blues
by fotomann_forever

Comment by PatGoltz:
It doesn't say anything to me.

To Warm Her Heart
by fotomann_forever

Comment by persimon:
What nice tones, and I love the direction the image flows diagonally from one corner to the other. Great lighting on the model.

Cool Blues
by fotomann_forever

Comment by cajay:
Is that a harmonica? If so, took me a while to figure it out, and very cool concept. But, concept seems to have been executed in a way that's a bit too subtle.

To Warm Her Heart
by fotomann_forever

Comment by Ivory:
I am a big fan of selective desat when it is well done. This is subtle and charming. good luck. 8

Gothic Goose
by fotomann_forever

Comment by livitup:
::: Critique Club :::
Greetings from the critique club! This guy looks ready to attack!

First Impression - the most important one:

Could be a cute shot, but the post processing is holding it back.

Composition:

The composition is good and follows the "rules," as the goose's eyes (my first focal point) are up in a corner. My eye then naturally follows the curve of his neck over his body and settles at the tail feathers and his feet. Good use of the photographic canvas. Distracting background elements are kept to a minimum by careful composition.

Subject:

Totally appropriate for the challenge. Even a DNMC stickler like myself can't argue that this bird ain't likely domesticated. He may eat food tossed by passers by, but he's not anyone's pet.

Technical (Color and light):

Here's where this photo starts to fall apart. I do like the 'texture' of his wings and back. There's an interesting pattern of feathers by his neck, but those are a little blown out due to USM or saturation boosting. His head is the real problem, and specifically his bill. The orange of his bill is really blown out and over saturated, and that's one of the first places I want to look.

The second problem is the hard edged burning that you did on the path around his body and the pine needles around his head. It looks like there's a light with barn doors under his chest, aimed at the tree. This is just unnatural, and it's obvious that you did it in PS. If the burning was really needed then I would have done it with a much softer edged brush, and much more discriminatively.

To get a Ribbon?:

Clean up the post processing and it would have gotten an above average score from me, as a voter. Perhaps to bump you into '7 land' a different composition (tight on the head/back) might have made it even more interesting? It's hard to say.

Summary:

It's a whimsical image. However, it's a rather average animal, in a rather average setting, so you got a rather average score. In flight, or with babies in tow, or something else to make it exotic and you've got a winner.

Finally, I'd like to ask you to consider "critiquing the critique." A lot of effort goes into these critiques, and I enjoy learning how I can do them better. Does what I said make sense? Is it way off base? Did I enlighten you? Offend you? Please let me know via a private message what you think of this critique, so I can give better ones in the future.

Thanks, and good luck at DPC!
---Livitup

Message edited by author 2006-02-01 13:41:09.

Cool Blues
by fotomann_forever

Comment by h2:
cool, indeed

To Warm Her Heart
by fotomann_forever

Comment by stare_at_the_sun:
Fotoman...this has to be you, I think that's your model...and it has your "feel" of editing to it. Wouldn't it make more sense if the flowers were on the other side?

:P Good photo...you get an 8 from me.

Cool Blues
by fotomann_forever

Comment by angela_packard:
Good to see someone use a different shade of blue...seeing all the same blues was sending me into a blue mood....love the smoke...how did you do it?