Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by bassbone:
I love Bokeh - and it is a great technique to emphasize a subject by placing the subject in context in a specific environment. This is a key point for the photo you posted in the challenge.

Your subject was very dark and not tight in focus. The background was lush and inviting, but due to the darkness and muddy-ness of the subject, the image did not come off well.

Better illumination on the snow globe would help to show off the deer. Also, cleaning of the glass on the globe to remove the smudges (creating the muddy look) would help make it look sharper.

With the lens you used, you will end up with better Bokeh by separating the subject farther away from the background. If you look at my first entry ever, I used the 70-300mm lens and did a close up of some Ginko leaves and the background was 50 feet away - making the background image smooth as silk.

I liked the outtake shot you posted better than your entry.

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by liberty:
nice one, maybe more dof would have helped.

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by Sonifo:
Aww..so warm feeling. Good job!

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by Connor:
nice shot, love it

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by bassbone:
i wish the focus on the subject were a bit sharper and the background a bit smoother

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by pedrobop:
Well, i see a focused object a little dark and a non focused background. Maybe with more distance between the object and the christmas tree you would have a good Bokeh. Good luck!

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by saj255:
I like the light and the sparkles ...

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by Nforsberg:
is it just me, or is part of the glass globe out of focus?

Christmas Memories.....
by Ja-9

Comment by MaryO:
Good subject for this challenge, maybe needs a little more light or a levels adjustment to make it stand out more. The bokeh on those tree ornaments is some of the prettiest I've seen yet!

Morris Chapel
by Ja-9

Comment by bassbone:
first impressions are pretty colors and nice quaint church

i agree with FocusPoint on several points - the tip of the roof being cut off is a small issue that makes it feel unfinished in some way, the lack of consistency of the whites in the church give an almost dirty feel to the building, and the foreground brown strip adds little to nothing to the image

In addition, the doorway being so far to the right gives it a slightly unbalanced feel.

The main thing that bothers me is a lack of sharpness of focus for the Church - a bit of unsharp mask or smart sharpen makes a world of difference.

It is a decent image as can be seen from the histogram of voting - squarely sitting around 5 with no high votes (8-10) and little to no low votes (1-3), but overall the image has little "wow' factor to really draw the viewer in to stay and look.

Message edited by author 2008-12-09 11:40:09.