Home is where the hearth is.
by Beetle

Comment by pncowley:
That's pretty cool. I wish there wasn't a reflection in the glass. And I hope you can close the backside when you're in the bathtub!

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by Beetle:
ok, this time I don't like it. Yes, the roof is gone, but there is simply not enough left of the photo. And you know, I actually wanted to show the fact that she is on a roof..... suggesting that its kind of scary to think it could be YOUR house...... so I would not want to get rid of the roof entirely anyway.
However, I did like the way you explained what you did and how you did it, thanks for that. That technique will come in handy in the future. Thanks for helping me learn.

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by GeneralE:
It could be done within the DPC rules, but the vignette would be exactly centered instead of a little off like I have it, and would take a lot more experimenting to get right. Basic technique is to SelectAll, Border (with a big value like 60 pixels), Feather a large amount, and then fill with black. The color change is tone curves applied to the RGB and Blue channels.
Quick re-do: DPC-Legal

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by Beetle:
Thanks for your suggestions, guys. I do like what you have done to the photo, General, but I could not have done that for the contest, right? Against the rules, I'm sure.
Unfortunately I faced a few problems while taking the pic, most of them having to do with her possibly falling off the roof, or the tree not being in the photo (and I just HAD to have the tree there). On top of that, this one was pretty much the last photo I got to take, my daughter was sick of posing by that stage.
I had taken plenty of photos by then, and played around with some of them afterwards, but most of what I could have done was against the rules :-( However, I'm still pleased with the idea and I enjoyed the end-result even if it was not the best it could possibly be. Every exercise like this just adds to our experience and is therefore very worthwhile.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to think about it and to offer constructive criticism. As to the ones that "didn't get it" - what can I say? *grin*

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by GeneralE:
I went ahead and tried the modifications I suggested. You can see if you like the results here

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by GeneralE:
I like the idea a lot. I agree moving her a bit to the left would let you exclude all of the roof. Since this is traditionally a night scene I think I'd have darkened everything up even more, while trying to retain a bit of detail in her robes. (I'll have to try this to see if it's even possible.)

I read somewhere that, despite the Hallowe'en cliche image, the broom was ridden with the bristles facing forward...but then you would have gotten a zillion comments about that!
With as much fun as it looks like you had, and people's comments, you might consider re-shooting this...

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by FranziskaLang:
A Comment From The Critique Club

Hi Karin,

I'm sorry my CC review is a bit late, I requested your photo and then lots of stuff happened at work ... but I'm now getting to it. :) My first impression was how unique yet obviously recognizable your approach to the challenge was, I would've never thought of broomstick-riding :) Definitely meets the challenge.

COMPOSITION / CONTENT - Looking up at the witch and just seeing the profile works really well here, so does the cloudy sky. I don't like the corner of the roof in the top right but I guess that was probably unavoidable, I would also like to have seen the whole hat in the picture, since only the very top is cropped off it looks a bit accidental to me. The tree is great in the picture, gives me even more context.

CAMERA WORK / TECHNICAL - Conversion to black&white was definitely the right decision here, and not just because it removed emphasis from the overcast sky. I kind of always see the image of the witch flying on the broom over forests, right in front of the moon, so I always imagine them in silhouette anyhow. Focus is good, usually I'd say the pic is a little underexposed, but that's probably deliberate because it works here.

MY OPINION - A creative approach to the challenge, changing the angle of your photo (still up, but excluding more of the roof) would've probably improved your score, as well as increasing the brightness (even though I kind of like it that dark, it fits the mood). Glad your daughter didn't fall off and had fun helping you with the challenge :)

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about this review.

Franziska.

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by Bitz:
An unusual but creative form of transportation. Very original.

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by eloise:
Kind of a cute idea, but implemented in an almost half-hearted-seeming manner. If the figure were clearer (the top half especially), or else a complete silhouette, it might be better.

Witch - Craft
by Beetle

Comment by Dustin:
is the transportation the broom.