In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by L1:
Greetings from the Critique Club, and welcome to DPC! :)

I see that you are a new registered user, so this is an opportunity for me to let you know a little about voters around here as well as discuss your image in this challenge.

Voters at DPC are very fickle and finicky...they want to be wowed, they want to be awed, and they want (for the most part) slick, studio style shots with gloss and sheen. Not many of the real, gritty, urban kinds of images fare well in challenges, but are typically received well just for portfolio critique and/or specific uses. This is important to know so that you can kind of see where they were coming from in their comments and in your score/placement.

This shot doesn't meet the challenge description. The description asks you to take a shot with a single, solitary light source. A concert has more than one light, so you were dinged for it. Those finicky voters are also MAJOR sticklers for the challenge descriptions and will punish anyone who enters a "DNMC" shot... Does Not Meet Challenge. Even if it's good.

The focus is way off...a common hazard with low-light shooting and lack of a tripod. There's no detail, nothing but vague context in that we can see a guitarist on a stage. That doesn't wow many voters. Some appreciate it as an artistic statement, but 99% of the time, you'll be knocked for anything even slightly out of focus.

I hope you don't think I'm just trying to go on and on and hack at your image... I just thought I'd take the opportunity to tell you what is what around here. I sure wish someone had done that for me, because I languished in the 4's forever until I finally realized what the voters wanted (to an extent). Feel free to PM me with any questions if you have any.

On a related note, I'm in the Dallas area so I thought it was great to see a local shot!

Keep clicking and take care!
Laurie

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by Louison:
A bit too blurry to really be effective, I'm afraid.

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by e301:
Things have gone so badly wrong here that this is either an attempt to finish last, the result of absolute lack of knowledge about digital imaging, or some kind of joke.

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by albc28:
Challenge related: The challenge was a single artificial light source and in the photo you can see several light sources. You probably shoul dhave found a way to darken that area to make it seem as if the spot light was the only source of light.

Technical: The photo is very blurry and I can't tell if you did this on purpose to hide the musicians face or if it was an accident while taken at a concert. The left side of the photo has a couple of random bright spots that could have been cropped out as well.

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by Dr.Confuser:
Many light sources here.

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by br o kenl o ve:
You went for a high-key approach, but it's a bit too blurry for my taste. Good angles though.

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by ShutterPug:
too blurry. Lacks any interesting detail. I see several lights in this shot - where as the challenge calls for you to use ONE artificial light source

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by Beetle:
Cellphone camera? Sorry, but this just won't do.

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by sittingonthegrass:
Very interesting.

In the Spotlight
by Russell Weiss

Comment by snaffles:
Good concept but blurry