Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by jadin:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

To begin, welcome back to DPC from your hiatus! You came back in fine style! ;)

Technical: Your photograph is remarkably well lit for being natural lighting. I never would have guessed without your comment saying otherwise. Your focus, exposure, depth of field are all spot on. Her skin looks natural and has an appealing glow to it.

Your only real problem is what others have mentioned in their comments. The left side of the counter-top(?) edge is distracting. As well as the dark shadow behind the model, also on the left side. Moving the model to the right so that she is looking into the negative space could also have helped, but I'd have to see both versions to be sure. Had you somehow removed or hid the floor and shadow from the camera (or showed both sides of the floor for balance) there would be no technical flaws I can see.

While I can see the point of some commenters on your models shoes and eye make-up, I'm not sure I agree. I think in the end it's all personal preference, those elements do not bother me one bit.

Artistic: This is probably your photographs strongest element. You chose a unique way to portray this challenge. It was a risk of sorts but I think it was well received. You captured a beautiful photo of a beautiful woman. It is also tasteful and does not reveal too much, but leaves plenty for the imagination.

It's possible some may have voted it down because the main subject is not a dessert, unless you count the model, which I believe was your intent. I believe you succeeded but some people may have disagreed and voted accordingly. That said I'm sure others voted you higher for thinking out of the box, so in the end this would have balanced out.

Challenge: I think you nailed the challenge albeit in a non-traditional way. Like I said this could have affected your score in either direction depending on the voter.

Conclusion: Outside of fixing the left-side floor and shadow, or experimenting more with the negative space, your photograph has nothing that needs changing. But even if you fixed those elements I'm not sure you could have scored much higher than what you did. Based on the 12 entries above yours the voters wanted a more traditional approach.

I think this a great first entry after your absence and I hope you continue to enter. I wouldn't complain if you continued to use this model! ;)

Side note, best comment: "nice cup cake" :D

Message edited by author 2012-07-30 21:18:19.

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by tome:
I'm glad this image is here and actually surprised that it scored over 6, seeing how it was judged by the competition shooting cakes in little plates over and over again. I like that it FEELS like an outtake of a shoot, like a short break with a - dessert. Good job.

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by blindjustice:
Beautiful girl, sexy pose. When though, did eye makeup become so complicated?

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by tvsometime:
Woo woo. How about a closeup. 6

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by grahamgator:
Nice lighting and idea. The table corner in the bottom left is a bit distracting and it seems she should have more space on the left. Still lovely.

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by vawendy:
You model is good and quite lovely, but your setup is bothering me a bit -- the bright spot on the right, the white backdrop not coming down to meet the white floor, plus giving it the feel that your horizon is tilted (or at least the backdrop) distracts from the shot. The rest is lovely. Probably would have been an 8 if the floor and the backdrop lighting/setup was right. 6 as is. (sorry...)

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by SwordandScales:
The shoes and the outfit kind of kill the scene for me, but it's definitely well executed technically.

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by damoninja:
trying to woo the crowd with a sweet girl ;p
lucky it's a nice photo!

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by Devinder:
I'll be honest. I had to try extra hard to be fair in this one. Generally if i don't think about it, i have a tendency to vote higher when there's pretty girls in a picture. (hey, at least i m honest) Still, stepping back from that, I think this picture has plenty of merit. I wish the bottom left was a bit more seamless because my eyes draw to that break in the glossy edge of the floor material.

Other than that, i like the touch on the nails, nice expression, pose, makeup etc. Job well done.

Naughty Delight.
by power47

Comment by EOSail:
The cupcake frosting is too close to the color of the skin and it takes a while to see that it's there (and not just because of the pretty model!) Since the model is looking to our left, all the space on the right is unneeded and the bright white spots there are a little distracting. Good focus and lighting.