Their Sacrifice.............Our Freedomby
kaiser_chiefComment by Dr.Confuser: Greetings from the Critique Club
It is clear from your comments that you feel an emotional connection to the photo and to the soldiers buried here. And certainly their sacrifice "counts." Thanks for remembering them in your photo.
Now to the photo. To be honest, although I didn't vote this challenge, it doesn't "appeal" to me much. Whether it appeals to me, however, is irrelevant. Technically, the photo is fine. Focus, brightness, contrast, depth of field are all good and workmanlike. The composition is fine.
But I think there are two trouble spots.
First is the subject. With the crosses, it conveys a religious connotation on first impression. When it comes to DPC, a religious connotation doesn't always score (okay, rarely scores) very well. We might not like it or even agree, but it tends to be true. What is relevant and precious about a religious statement isn't always shared by voters. And they don't always linger long enough over an image to puzzle out that you may have a different message in mind.
Second is genre. I've been around DPC for half a decade and have seen many photos that are similar to yours ... similar enough to group in a single genre. When voters see a photo in a recognizable genre, they tend to mentally compare it to the best they've seen in the genre. To succeed at generating a high score, it must be among the best of the genre. Think about water drops ... The next one better show us something new, or substantially better than the genre, or it will be judged as "yet another good water drop shot" and fall to the middle. In the case of your photo, it may be that you haven't shown the community anything they haven't seen before.
It may be this has been no help at all. It represents only my own reaction. And it's how I think about it. I apologize if I've offended, but please take it as an ernest attempt to be constructive.
BTW, I spent a few minutes in your portfolio and I wanted to tell you how much I like your precision jet images. Well done! I am an air show fan and am programmed to like them, and they don't disappoint.
Best of luck in future challenges.
Photographer found comment helpful.
