The Girl and the Sea
by LevT

Comment:
I was sooo glad that this got recognized in the DPC community, it's so wonderfully done, great atmosphere, great scenario, and the water motion is just perfect.

Congratulations on an awesome image!

Light desire
by sarampo

Comment:

Originally posted by smardaz: obviously this is technically well done. I am, however, struggling to understand the context. is there supposed to be a correlation between the pencils the drops and the picture of the woman? or is the shot just there for its own sake?

Hi Jason!

You make a good point, and of course I can't tell you that it's a masterpiece ;-)

The goal in making the photo was getting two water drops simultaneously in the picture, hence the double take. Since two drops were lacking a bit of interest, I started thinking of background. I could have gone with a smiley face, a flower, a lot of things.
The choice for the woman was to make some eye connection with the viewer.

I used two black pencils because they were easier to work with, regarding drops.
The idea to turn upside down the image was so I could give the impression that the drops were bubbles ascending, thus the title.

So it was just a matter of getting the elements together, without having too much of a back story of intention other than the visual one.

Cheers,
Joao

Message edited by author 2010-06-19 04:52:52.

The Balcony (Tribute to P. Ramette)
by gyaban

Comment:
Congrats on the ribbon :-)

Morning Mist
by Bear_Music

Comment:
Great job Robert, you sure are the master in getting those flat images look astounding, really really smooth and peaceful, congrats on the ribbon!

Double Golden Crown
by william88

Comment:
Awesome work William, and a very deserving first place, the shot is amazing!!

I know how hard it is to get the timing right, and this is just perfect.

Congrats!!

Napoli
by Rino63

Comment:
Great shot Rino, and congratulations on your new personal best!!!

Ant with a pair of wings
by amateurboi

Comment:
Hi Midhun, greetings from the Critique Club!

Regarding your photo:

Composition
It was not very clear what kind of framing were you trying to achieve. Was it a macro, or did you want to include the bottom part? I couldn't quite realize how to look at it.

Technique
Something probably happened to the settings on the camera, because the ISO is through the roof, @1600, the f/ stop is 26 and 1 second exposure. You could probably go to ISO 200, f/6 and 1/100th. That would make to photo sharper and with less noise.

Processing
For this photo probably only a noise reduction and some contrast where necessary. Also the sensor spot on the top left could be cloned out.

Overall it didn't convey much to the viewer, it lacked a point of focus or interest.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Joao

A is for Alone, solo, solitary, singular
by MeMex2

Comment:
Hi Jane, greetings from the Critique Club!

Regarding your photo, here's my review:

Composition
As mentioned, the horizon is tilted, but I think that if you could successfully draw your attention to the tree that would be ok, since that is the main object in your photo (that and the sunrays). The composition is very effective, with the tree framing the whole picture, leading your eyes back to the clouds.

Technique
The ISO 400 was a bit noticeable in this picture, but I guess it's because of the processing. The f/7.1 and 1/200 are perfect for a hand-held shot, so no worries about the tripod.

Processing
This is where your photo was hurt the most, and it is a case that it's distinctive the kind of processing involved.
It was either an HDR thing (photomatix, Topaz) or it was shadows/highlights.
The problem is that when it's too intense it causes halos around the objects (you can see that in the tree, it's the lighter part around the branches).
Also, when used to much, it tends to flat the contrast, and becomes rather greyish.
Since it is an advanced editing challenge, you could get used to (if not already) to the tool Dodge and Burn, very useful in these kind of sunrays. If you want, you can contact me later and share the original, I could help you with that.

Best regards,
Joao

A Is For Angela
by 777STAN

Comment:
Hi Stan, greetings from the Critique Club!

Regarding your photo:

Composition
Great crop for the portrait, and an unusual facing of the subject, it worked very well not to make it so classic looking.

Technique
Three things that harm your photo, and two of them are easily solved: there should be more light on the face, since it's a bit shaded (this is the difficult part without external lighting, you need to choose carefully the time of day to shot, so you can have the sun in the face, reflectors are inexpensive and good for this), but you could have set a higher shutter speed (1/60 causes blurring if you shake just a bit) and lower the ISO (400 is a lot, and the grain shows).

Processing
Maybe because of the compression, there are a lot of jpg artifacts around the hair and face, it's not very sharp because of that. Also, the try to soften the skin resulted in marks across her face, and just on one side. Face smoothing plugins do the trick much better.
Also, there's a lot of noise on the right side of her face, that must be addressed too.

Overall
The small amount of blur and the compression really hurt this shot, but with some adjustments in the settings of the camera and careful planning for the lighting this is a composition that has potential.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Joao

I dreamed the dark shadow as I sighed and said goodbye
by Judi

Comment:
Amazing that this didn't ranked higher...
Are people so caught up in a title that they disregard the photo?
It was a great atmosphere Judi, I really really liked the dreamlike characteristic of the shot, especially because the theme is so dark.

Scores aren't everything, and you have a great picture.

Joao