What do I do with it?
by JulietNN

Comment by glad2badad:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First Impression
What and why? What is she holding, and why is she dirty? I'm fascinated by her gaze...what is she looking at so intently? Why does it hold importance to her? I look to the title for guidance in finding answers to my questions. She is confused by what she's holding. It's a foreign object to her. I look to the challenge theme for more clarification...it's bread. She doesn't know what bread is? OH! She's dirty because she lives in poverty and bread / food is scarce. I get it. :-)

Positives
a) Wonderful lighting and clarity on the girl.
b) Very nice conversion to B/W with good tones overall (although slightly limited in range). c) I like the use of positioning to keep the subject off-center.

Items of question
a) The bread is not readily identifiable as bread IMO, and is slightly soft in focus.
b) I was thinking at first that the exposed area of bread may be too bright, but it actually works as a positive in drawing some attention to the bread object (secondary after the girls face).
c) The dirt...a bit too much I think, and I'm not sure I'd have put it on the bread.
d) The black strap (or some item) that cuts across her front unintentionally makes her shoulder and arm float like it's detached because of the black surrounding areas.
e) One other consideration is the positioning of the girl in the comp - did you consider having her gaze slightly angled with her being body being setup to allow the viewer to more easily move naturally left to right and back again (bread, arm, face creating a triangular viewing rythmn)?

Overall, a pleasing image that holds the viewer's interest longer than a fly-by 2 seconds. I think that is reflected in your score and placement, well above average for this challenge theme.

Questions or comments? Let me know. I generally comment without looking at feedback from others' so as not to be influenced one way or another. I've held true to that formula here and have not read other comments at this point.

Take care.
Barry

Square Box
by JulietNN

Comment by ineedauniquename:
its a nice photo but the squareness is lost a bit

La mort d'un tournesol
by JulietNN

Comment by posthumous:
Lovely. I like the composition and the tones.

What do I do with it?
by JulietNN

Comment by glad2badad:
Hi Juliet. I pulled this from the Critique Club queue tonight and somethings come up which prevents me from commenting at this moment. I promise that I'll come back to this in the morning. :-D With tonight being a rollover I wanted to make sure that by commenting now it'll be available in the morning. Thanks. :)

Self Portrait 1930's Style
by JulietNN

Comment by ShutterPug:
Greetings from the Critique Club

The idea here was very creative. Love the colors and shapes. Very good lighting also.
My only nit pik here is the amount of empty space. I feel you have a just a bit too much. My recommendation would be to trim the bottom just a bit.

An Age Gone By
by JulietNN

Comment by jmsetzler:
Greetings from the Critique Club... (better late than never!)

I think the light and warmth offered in this image is extremely nice. It tells an interesting story of a young girl getting lost in her own world of dress-up and make believe through the clothing, doll, and other associated elements within the field of view. Images like this one aren't easy to do on a compositional level. The complexity of this photograph reminds me a lot, oddly enough, of some landscape photography where there is so much going on within the image that the viewer is just allowed to get lost and enter the world being offered by the photographer (or painter or whatever other kind of artist might be involved). The difference between your image and others that I consider to be overly complex is that the detail comes together in this photo to support the overall theme and idea being presented. This photo really does remind me of a lot of victorian-age paintings that I have seen. It's really nice work... Keep it up :)

Misty Grand Canyon (HDR)
by JulietNN

Comment by ShutterPug:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Nice HDR here! I really feel you dealt with the mist pretty well. The colors on the front boulder and cliff are well defined, as are the textures. What I like most about this is the shape of the big boulder has an almost humanness about it. It's like a big fat giant, with a tiny malformed arm, looking at me.

Pollute Yourself And Feel That Tar!!!
by JulietNN

Comment by ShutterPug:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I find this image to be emotive and compelling. The color tones are well executed, bringing out detail and textures very nicely. Composition is what I would say is the only weak part here. I just feel having the one finger tip and the thumb cut off has an awkward feel to it. But then again, it does keep my eye focused on the tar dripping cigarette instead of the tar stained hand.

Rome Burns
by JulietNN

Comment by Ecce_Signum:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club and WTF! of the 57,000+ images in the recently opened critique club 'archive' my first 2 random images are from you!

First Impression: A cool shot with an amazing sky but too much 'colour'

Composition: A great setting with a nice placement of your model, maybe a little more foreground between the bottom of the flowing dress and edge of the image would have been better and maybe helped the overall balance.

Subject: You nailed this with the subject, it makes you think of what the model is doing there and what she is thinking about, a really moving image.

Technical: The foreground rocks are great and the and white flowing dress is just sublime, so soft and detailed. The black cape is just a silhouette on my monitor and think some fill in flash would have helped the overall image.

Final thoughts: If you had lost the sunset for the challenge I do think this would have scored higher, still a lovely image mind you. So, as it would be cruel of me to challenge you to reshoot this Juliet, lets see if you can re edit the image to improve it at all?

Long forgotten childhood
by JulietNN

Comment by Ecce_Signum:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club and my first Critique from the 57,000 missed requests, its fitting thats its also your first ever submission Juliet! (btw, this image is almost .7 above your average to date!

First Impression: I can't believe nobody called you a 'dark horse' for entering this. My monitor is a little on the dark side so yes I lose some detail but moving to one side I can see much more and sadly the crumpled background cloth (am guessing it wasn't meant to be seen crumpled?)

Composition: Well, its not central but think it would have more impact with more negative space on the right and top of the image.

Subject: A great choice for the challenge and reckon it took most viewers back to their childhood regardless of them owning one or not ,your title is perfect

Technical: Well, I think your commenters said it all, its all in the lighting and think you scored well considering.

Final thoughts: Well Juliet, 18 months on I wonder what you think about this image? I'm pretty sure you like it and 'monkey man' here (private joke) is challenging you to reshoot this image using the skills you have learnt here at dpc to improve the shot. SDo, back in the garage, finish that bottle of gin and suprise me!