Strongest of the Golfers
by Eyesup

Comment by jblaylockrayner:
Nice fun snap but doesn't look very candid. He looks too posed and if he wasn't posing for you then maybe it was the wrong choice as it does look like he was posing for you.

Strongest of the Golfers
by Eyesup

Comment by Stiger:
Unfortunately the direct sunlight left a terrible shadow hiding most of his face. Looks like he's having fun though.

Strongest of the Golfers
by Eyesup

Comment by shalrath:
I really would like a little more detail in this, and perhaps a little editing to lessen the shadowing on the man's face.

Strongest of the Golfers
by Eyesup

Comment by Citadel:
A few areas to improve on with this shot. The focus is a little off for starters. It appears you used a fairly small aperture as the people in the background are still quite visible. With a larger aperture they would just about disappear. (I'm curious what apertures you had available)

The shadow on his face is quite dark. Yes it was probably a bright sunny day, but flash would have brightened up his face so you could actually see it.

This also has a snapshot feeling to it. The difference between a candid and a snapshot is subtle. A snapshot is generally where you more or less aim the camera and hit the button without really thinking about the shot. Its more or less than photographic equivalent to "shooting from the hip". Sometimes you hit but more often than not you miss.

In a candid you capture a moment: What I would describe as "people being people". This feeling really quite posed and staged. If you captured him just after shanking the ball or making a tough putt that would have been more "real". I took about 3 or 4 shots for this challenge and while the people in the shot were aware of being photographed, I instructed to not actually pay any attention to me. I told them to just keep on doing what they were doing. While they aren't ribbon winners you'll find when you look through the photos in this challenge, the best ones are the ones that just capture the moment with staging it.

That aside? I like the colors in this shot. Your colors are nicely saturated. It looks like the person you photographed was an interesting subject. A bit of a character as it were. In that respect you did quite well and managed to capture his "essence".

Ready for My Close Up
by Eyesup

Comment by atupdate:
Hello from the Critique Club,

I think there are several technical issues with this image that had a less than favorable effect on your score. I'll try to break it down into individual categories for discussion. Since there is little detail in the photographer's comment section, I have to guess at how this image was taken and post processed. Therefore, my comments are based on some assumptions (Which I will state) and can be disregarded if the assumptions are wrong. If my assumptions are wrong, feel free to PM me with the correct details and I'll try to help you as much as I can.

Sharpness: The image doesn't appear to have any areas sharply in focus. This could be related to camera shake, as it is sometimes difficult to hand hold an image at a shutter speed of 1/20 sec. If your original is sharp, then it could be from down sizing the image for the challenge. Most DPCers sharpen the images after down sizing to 640 pixels. The most common sharpening tool for doing this is USM but if your program doesn't have that option, I suggest you use the lowest setting possible and sharpen a couple of times if necessary.

Lighting: I'm guessing that you used on camera flash. The result from the direct flash is that the black hat shows very little detail and looks flat. If you would have used window light from the side or some other side lighting instead of the on camera flash, it would have provided better a light gradient on the hat and helped provide better definition.

Composition/Subject Matter: The subjects are centered in the image and provide little to hold the viewers attention. Plus, the hat and boa are very ordinary objects and there doesn't appear to be any relationship between two. There may be a connection for you but the connection doesn't come across to the voter in this image. If you plan on shooting everyday objects for a DPC challenge, you need to do it in a very creative way if you want a solid score (5 or higher).

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique.

Tim

Ready for My Close Up
by Eyesup

Comment by vertigoreality:
not a very interesting photo.

Pure Joy
by Eyesup

Comment by tjbel05:
too blurry.

Pure Joy
by Eyesup

Comment by Evaan:
GREAT facial expression!

Pure Joy
by Eyesup

Comment by MaryO:
Cutepose, but a bit blurry and highlights blown out.

Pure Joy
by Eyesup

Comment by jaysonmc:
Not sure if the blur effect was intentional, but it seems to work in the picture. I'd almost want to crop off some of the head (might as well break all the rules. :) Above average rating from me.