Grown old, all alone. At least she still has her teeth....by
maxaz1Comment by posthumous: hello Maxine, I just wrote you a really long Critique Club critique and then managed to lose the entire thing.
well, let's look on the bright side. I'm sure I was being overly verbose, and I will be ever so much more efficient now.
First off, I gave you a 5. You met the challenge, because I see a face in the headlights and grill, but I didn't have a reason to go higher really. For one thing, headlights and grill isn't a terribly original idea and I prize originality. But it's not just that. This particular headlights-and-grill doesn't pop out at me as being especially face-like or having much personality. Let's try to analyze why:
1) the angle. it's not dead-on, and without the symmetry the headlights look less like eyes and more like... headlights.
2) the lighting. this is flash lighting. there is no other lighting. so the light is dead-on with no shadows, and harsh, and the background is invisible, except for the grass beneath, which is distracting from the "face".
suggestions: try different kinds of lighting. you'll find or can start all kinds of discussions on this topic here. You can "paint with light" by using a long exposure (aperture f8 or a little wider), a tripod and a flashlight. Or you can set up some strong lights on the car. Or you can shoot in daylight, but then you have to worry about the background.
The lighting is the most important issue here, imho.
Your humble Critique Club servant,
Don
Photographer found comment helpful.
