X Marks the Spotby
jwillie44Comment by posthumous: Greetings from Critique Club!
Ok, I guess I should start out by trying to explain your low score. I see two main reasons for this, which are generally known as "meeting the challenge" and "technicals."
meeting the challenge
This was a very controversial challenge, poorly explained and poorly understood. I think there were two main voting blocks. The first were people who thought negative space was simply empty space, perhaps with a texture or OOF background. The second group was closer to the Wikipedia definition. They were looking for shapes created in the negative space. Your image did not appeal to either group. You thought of negative space conceptually. This turned out to be a very Out Of the Box approach, whether or not you intended it that way. To put it another way, the negative space isn't in your photo, it's on the floor of the room you're taking a photo of. I enjoyed this approach and gave you a 6, but I am not a typical voter. :)
technicals
The DPC crowd often likes to misuse the word "technicals" in phrases such as "this photo has good technicals." They think it is possible for a photograph to be "technically good" much like an Ikea entertainment center, with all the slots and grooves in exactly the right place. Most often, "technically good" means that lots of details can be seen, even in dark areas and highlights, and that the subject of the photo is in very sharp focus. They also like to see a full tonal range, with the darkest areas being close to pure black and the lightest areas being close to pure white. There is no reason in the world why these things would make a photograph "good" but they are easy things to look for so people do. Your photo has a sort of muddy look, not crisp at all. Dark and light areas have no detail. The subject is not sharply focused.
the point is...
You described what you saw in your comments. Your photo conveys what you saw (for example your detail-free dark and light zones contribute to this "lost feeling," and so does the soft focus). Therefore, your photo is a success. What you saw is meaningful, i.e. the feeling of being lost. Therefore, your photo is meaningful. In other words, a "good photo." I'd be more interested to see your next photo than
DrAchoo's next photo, for instance, or
Larus's. They sometimes surprise me with a good photo, but as I said, it's a surprise.
