Urban Vigil
by Insomniac

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club ;)

Cheers Sam,
a small world this is! :)
Before I say anything else, ti's a tripple honor to get your picture for critique because:
* it's of someone close
* it's one of my favorites
* it's an honorable mention
Having said that, I believe my mission is tree times as hard.

Artistic Merit
Pros:
* Beautiful subject. Striking is is the right word. The hard contrast in the lines of the graffiti makes it look the most life like and the strongest of the whole challenge.
* Excelent toning, even though - as I said in my comment - the general hue is not to my liking, after a while it grows on you and it's one of the factors that really makes this photo work.
Cons:
* Cropping. This is the only thing I have going against this picture. I understand why you went for the Thirds with the lights but a tighter crop on the bottom just marginally below the side walk would have worked even better IMHO. It would have reinforced the triangles: nose tip/eyes and: nose tip/shoulder line, aligning them with the corners of the frame.

Technical Merit
Pros:
* Excelent exposure taking advantage of the passing traffic.
* Excelent job taking care of distortion. Checking the site I believe you had to be creative and environmental friendly at the same time, as there was a small tree half in the way. This looks like a head on shot even though I'm pretty sure it was taken at an angle. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Emotional Merit
Pros:
* This is by far the strongest graffiti in the whole challenge. I'm sure it helped the score too.
* This shift to cold blue/purple gives it an eerie and almost supernatural look which is reinforced by the title of the photo. It has a kind of Bilal look and take it from me, this is no small compliment.
* When I entered "Main Street" I did it because I thought I would have to look too deep to find an interesting graffiti in Lisbon. To realize that this picture was taken as far as a 2 minute drive from my former house (come to think of it, I've signed the contract for that house 70 meters away from this graffiti, amazing coincidence!), just makes me wonder if my eyes have been really open for the last 8 years.
Cons:
* What Cons? The only cons is not knowing the photo details in the voting phase or I would have elevated my score to 8/9 for emotional/technical value this photo now has for me.

Result
You might thank the original artist for the material, but you have played the bigger role that lead you to a honorable mention and grab the 4th place by a pubic hair. The toning and the excellent technical work definitely made it work and score.

Keep up the excellent work you have been doing, I'm sure I'll keep following and getting my kicks out of it in the process.

All the best
Duarte Bruno

A 2006 Vintage Australian Wine
by arron_christensen

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club ;)

Artistic Merit
Pros:
* Good contrast between light/dark, subject/background.
Cons:
* Not enough space for the subject to breathe. A looser crop with all the grapes included and with a bit more space on top of the bottle would benefit the composition IMHO.
* A triangular arrangement of the grapes (with the base on the table) would have been much more stable.
* A whole cluster without loose grapes would have shown more care with the setup and look more natural (this arrangement shows that is was prepared).

Technical Merit
Pros:
* Exposure is spot on.
* Focus is spot on.
* WB is spot on, I don't know if a warmer tone might have worked also.
Cons:
* Lighting needs much improvement. This kind of setup craves for soft light (ideally window light). The apparent use of flash left hard reflexes on all subjects and hard shadows on the grapes.

Emotional Merit
Pros:
* Interesting contrast of subjects: grapes/wine, before/after.
* A much more interesting contrast for me is an Antipodean coincidence, unfortunatelly it will escape 99.9% of the viewers. I would never guessed there was an Australian Wine based on a Portuguese grape variety (Verdelho). BTW, I'm Portuguese. ;)
Cons:
* The grapes and the wine aren't as objectively related as this is a white whine are the grapes are red.

Result
I guess what let you down in the challenge was a combination of composition, arrangement and lighting, where the composition played a smaller role and lighting the bigger one. As you might have noticed, the competition in this challenge was fearless and the top of the pack photographers made almost no mistakes with those issues which in Still Life are paramount.
For the emotional value, I would have scored this picture between 6*-7* according to the overall level.

Keep them coming!
All the best
Duarte Bruno

Message edited by author 2010-02-21 06:11:07.

Mort and Drone
by organic

Comment:
I'm speechless about this score. The best justice you can do it is to print it and hang it.
I might as well start a personal award, this is one deserves it the most.

R123 into One Horse Town
by Ammie

Comment:
Probably unintentional but this has the exact look of a travel journal. I liked it.

The Main Drag
by Five_Seat

Comment:
A bit blueish/pinkish for my tastebut a good capture nonetheless!
Upgraded to 7*.

Victoria
by M.O.C.

Comment:
Fantastic toning but there seems to be some stray light over the church.

Message edited by author 2010-02-03 03:51:08.

Route 119
by Pug-H

Comment:
Great perspective.

5 pm. Rush hour
by Glanni

Comment:
Great toning. It really makes the picture.

Flow of Light and Life on Water Street
by benfica

Comment:
The picture is great, it has got a lot of energy, the right kind of color and intresting leading lines.
What's with the border? :(
7*

Connor Street
by radarbrat

Comment:
Good composition, beautiful tones. One of my strongest votes so far.