Angel Flew Too Close To The Ground
by
ColeyComment by KiwiShotz: ::: Critique Club :::
Well Cole, a great image and a great result. There's nothing insightful that I can offer that hasn't been said by the commenters. Most of them probably know more than I do anyways :)
First Impression - the most important one:
I have to confess that I was looking over
Kari1's shoulder when I first saw this. She was ecstatic and I didn't fully understand it. Perhaps I may be excused because I was behind her chair and saw the wings, but not as them belonging to the model. From back there the model looked like just an observer and too centred. But what do I know, everyone else loved it and that's what matters.
Composition:
Balance, poise and framing, it has them all ...
- The tree forming the left border really does work so well. Some comments were made about it but I can think of no treatment better than this for it.
- The overhanging branch provides a natural and perfect border on top.
- There is a brilliant Leading Line from the bottom left to top right as well. It starts at the bottom of the tree, goes right through her head, follows her line of sight to the wings.
- The wings, according to the flow rule, then stop the eye from leaving the image.
Subject:
What can you say except perfect. Funny, engaging, challenging, quirky, unexpected ... the list goes on and on. It's what has attracted so many great comments. I haven't done a count but I have the feeling that there's more comments on this Blue than on many others. It stirs a reaction in people and you can't ask for better than that.
I don't know if you guys broke the branch but hey, it just makes the image 100% complete. It's subtle and as such takes time to find. Yet another reason to keep exploring this picture. One of it's great features is that a story is told. People can engage in your story but they can also invent their own. That's one of the secrets of good novel writing, to let the reader(viewer) fill in the gaps for themselves. Sometimes less is more.
Technical (Colour, focus, and light):
Who would have thought of a black angel, yet she's the perfect foil for the superb whiteout behind her. She is the same colour as the tree and branches. Several commented positively on the monochromatic feel and it does work here without having to resort to gratuitous B&W.
Your halftones are extremely good. The detail in the snow is so easy to loose yet here it has texture, form and depth while still holding the detail in the tree bark. I don't know if people fully appreciate how difficult a balance that is.
Yes, you do need to get your sensor cleaned :)
To grow its vote?:
I hope you'll forgive me for putting this in perspective as I hope that's the purpose of the critique process. This wasn't a great DPC score. I think this was one of the lowest scoring and least inspiring challenges that I've seen but Angel was a star among the thorns (love mixing metaphors). Despite the laudatory comments, the vote of 7.0346 has room for even higher things, so why didn't it score 8+?
My only thoughts on that would be around the centering of the angel. I can't think of any other thing that you could modify without destroying its integrity. I'm very much against vote-chasing for the sake of it. Many good story-telling images have been destroyed by doing that.
Summary:
Despite the fact that I wasn't inspired by it on the first look, like several commenters, it is an image that draws you back to it and every time you go back, there is something more to see. Looking at your body of work there's definitely an air-theme there in you honourable work isn't there (not a pilot are you?).
It's been fun, thanks for the giggles and the opportunity
Brett
Photographer found comment helpful.