Good Morning Bad Newsby
EssAreDubyaComment by Dr.Confuser: Greetings from the Critique Club: I have been assigned your photo to critique and here are my thoughts:
Personal Reaction: Looks like my breakfast except I have Cheerios instead of Puffed Wheat and coffee instead of Cranberry Juice. It’s a pleasant morning photo which meets the challenge well. It’s an uncomplicated image but feels a bit busy to me.
Composition: The composition is generally fine. I noted above that it feels busy. By striving for completeness, you have over loaded the image and the only place for my eye to rest is on the screen in the background. The screen was a good choice of backgrounds, but it would have been stronger if it had completely covered the background. The dark area to the right distracts me.
Technicals: In general the technicals are all fine except for the lighting which could be improved. You have the lamp on the table and probably an overhead light. The overhead is so strong it flattens the image and washes out most of the shadows which would have given more dimension to the photo. There’s a bit of a yellow color cast due to the incandescent light. This can be removed in Photoshop or similar and would have improved the photo. The foreground seems a bit over exposed. You’ve lost the detailed texture of the bagel and the butter in the tub as a result.
Conclusions: It’s hard to draw a lot of conclusions with no commentary from you on what you were trying to achieve in the photo. In general, it’s a solid workmanlike photo with a few opportunities for marginal improvement. I think your choice of subject probably depressed your score, not enough there to hold my interest or invite many second looks.
Not every photo will score well, and I like a photographer who takes risks, so keep taking them. You have an obvious command of the camera and post processing. Try for subjects that tell a story, that entertain that surprise with a different point of view, and your cameral skills will lead you to a winner. Best of luck in future challenges.
As always, this is my personal opinion. Feel free to PM me if you’d like further dialog.
Photographer found comment helpful.
