Shaken, not stirred.by
StudyinLightComment by PaulE: Greetings from the Critique Club.
Hi Peter,
Welcome to DPC. Great to have you on the site.
It is a shame that you have scored poorly on your first challenge. Please don't be discouraged - this can be a great learning opportunity.
I'll start with what I do like about this shot. I like the sense of movement and life - this is conveyed through the blurred arm, and the slightly off-centre angle of the shot. The shot has vigour.
The first big thing you can take away from it is that on this site you will be heavily penalised if the voters do not feel you met the challenge. This one point will account for many of the low votes you recieved. If you want to do well the best policy to to make sure that there is no scope for users to decide you haven't met the challenge.
Second - it is a pretty good rule of thumb to get your image correctly aligned. In this instance I like the angle, but other wouldn't have. The pool table looks tilted, and all the folks look like they are standing at an angle.
Third - voters like nice, crisp, sharp images. There are few exceptions to this, but most of the time they want the subject to be in focus. This is difficult to achive when shooting in a low-lit environment; especially if your camera doesn't allow for wider apertures and higher ISOs. I notice that you shot at the fastest aperture of your lens anyway so there is not much you could do about it. The environmen you chose for your challenge submsion is exteremly challenging.
Fourth - As above, image grain or noise is generally frowned upon. There are instances where is can add character, but most of the time it is best to avoid it. Noise reduction software (such as Neat Image or Noise Ninja) exists on the market - some versions are free.
Some tips to consider:
- always meet the challenge
- shoot in good lighting conditions
- down-load some noise reduction software. You can get a free version of Neat Image off the web.
- begin learning some post-processing techniques. I suggect rotate, levels and USM (UnSharp Mask).
I hope my comments help and Good Luck in future Challenges!
Cheers
Paul
