The Secret Door
by DCNUTTER

Comment by LevT:
great light!

The Secret Door
by DCNUTTER

Comment by phase3:
Ummmmmm, It's not so secret anymore.
:)

Poetry In Lines
by DCNUTTER

Comment by DCNUTTER:

Originally posted by Yo_Spiff: I just realized my suggestion of selective noise reduction would be a no-no in this basic editing challenge. However, if your noise reduction program works in the right manner, you can apply it to a specific color range, in this case cyan and blue. Here's how I do it in PaintShop Pro to smooth out the sky without hurting the rest of the scene:

Hmmm, ok. I do have PSP in addition to my other programs. I'll have to try my hand at your advice. Thanks for the screenshots Steve. Very helpful indeed!

Poetry In Lines
by DCNUTTER

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
I just realized my suggestion of selective noise reduction would be a no-no in this basic editing challenge. However, if your noise reduction program works in the right manner, you can apply it to a specific color range, in this case cyan and blue. Here's how I do it in PaintShop Pro to smooth out the sky without hurting the rest of the scene:

Poetry In Lines
by DCNUTTER

Comment by DCNUTTER:
Thanks for you vote Yo Spiff. For some reason I didn't realise the noise in the sky until I had already submitted it and went back to look at it. Too late for DPC, but I did fix the sky when I uploaded this to my Flickr account. Looks better. Oh well...I will keep plugging away.

Poetry In Lines
by DCNUTTER

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Another placement where I disagreed with the mass appeal. I really like these shots that I call "semi-abstract". You can easily identify what they are, but they concentrate the viewer on the shapes, colors, and details, rather than the object as a whole. I gave this a 7.

Perhaps some selective noise reduction could have helped with smoothing out that sky a bit. The S5 has a lot of great features, but it isn't the most silky smooth camera out there.

Homestyle Pasta Pleasure
by DCNUTTER

Comment by DCNUTTER:
Thanks Yo Spiff for your constructive critique and advice. That's the way it should be done and it's appreciated. Thanks again.

Message edited by author 2009-09-08 22:14:09.

Homestyle Pasta Pleasure
by DCNUTTER

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
I didn't vote this challenge, but I thought you might want some additional feedback.

I see a strong effort to do an interesting still life, and it is clear that you tried to do some interesting lighting. Way above the average snapshot, but for the harsh DPC environment, it comes in as "good, but not great".

I think the light was not quite in the best spot, however. What I usually do is to experiment with different positions of the light and then when I look at them on the big screen, one or two usually stand out. (and hopefully I'll recall what I did!) It's hard to tell on the little camera screen what is really working the best. From the shadow on the basket, it looks like your main light was positioned to the front left. Locating the light to the rear seems to often work well, as the light passes through the translucent items on it's way to the camera. It also seems to create dramatic shadows that work with the image. Such a positioning might have picked up some nice coloration on the wine in the glass. You did succeed in avoiding any unkind glare off the glass surfaces. That can sometimes be tough to do. (Disclaimer: Yo_Spiff is not a lighting expert and this analysis of your lighting is part of his own learning efforts)

As previously mentioned, there is a tilt here that is easily corrected. Composition wise, all the elements seem clustered around the edge, trying to get into the frame. The bowl of pasta, which I can assume is the main subject, it cut off at the bottom. I think it should have been more prominent in the frame. Perhaps a modest amount of sauce would add some visual interest to it.

Hope this helps some.

Homestyle Pasta Pleasure
by DCNUTTER

Comment by Keith_W:
The focus seems a little bit soft but nice shot.

Poetry In Lines
by DCNUTTER

Comment by LIndaKids:
A perfect example of the use of photography....it allows us to see beauty and poetry in things that are right in front of us, and yet ignored.