Yellow Magic Orchestra
by posthumous

Comment:
(Finally) Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club

First Impression: A rather tenuous title for me though I might have missed the Orchestra bit in this pic? This might never be seen hanging on somebodies wall but the more I view it the more pleasing both the colours and texture are.

Composition:At first the slighty wonky wall bothered me but its a great off centre divider between the tunnel and sign. I like the amount of tunnel, not too much and not too little - just right for me and think you'd have scored higher in the tunnel/cave challenge (even though I much prefer the image you settled on. Everything here fits well.
Subject:

Technical:At F2 you kept the 2 sides of the wall and tunnel in a nice sharp focus and let the foreground blur. Good detail in the tunnel and the overall exposure is spot on for me.

Final thoughts: Well, I like it and guess there is no need to tell you that the majority of voters were not as welcoming.

Yellow Magic Orchestra
by posthumous

Comment:
Don, this came up for a critique but can't do it tonight and it will dissapear after rollover so am leaving a comment to register and will pop back tomorrow to critique :)

Shinedown
by mic

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club and congratulations on entering your first challenge here at dpc! (FWIW my first score was a 4.2). In case you were wondering the Critique Club is made up of a group of dpchallenge members but each critique is written by an individual not the group.

First Impression: Not heard of the band before and understand the link between title and image however its not a particularly inspiring image for me.

Composition: Whilst there isn't much to look at here it still appears quite busy, it needs roatating a touch to straighten it and thinking if you had turned to the right some more you would have lost the left building and might have improved the overall feel of the image.

Subject: Whilst you met the challenge there is nothing in the image that I can settle on and keep moving from the blown out sky to the rock at the bottom and distracted by the buildings on both sides.

Technical: OK, the overexposure was important for the challenge, to have scored any better you would have needed to keep colour and detail in the tree and its all a little washed out. As this is the only image you have here its difficult to understand your level of both photography or post processing, either way you will always get great help/tips/critique by posting an image in the individual photograph section of the site.

Final thoughts: Lets call this a benchmark shot for future challenges and since you placed 100th I guess the only way is up. Keep shooting, reading and learning and best of luck for future challenges!

Reflections on Water by Joachim Blatter
by JEason

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club

First Impression: Interesting image though if this was taken after a thunderstorm maybe you could have found a puddle over more even ground and without the lampost though maybe they were included for interest?

Composition: Subject fills the frame nicely and wonder how this would have scored if you had flipped it to look 'normal'

Subject: Meets the challenge well and a reflected van is much more interesting than a straight shot of a van.

Technical: I think reflections can be difficult to portray well and this looks a little flat so maybe a boost in contrast would have helped convery the 'mood' you were after?

Final thoughts:Overall this image doesn't WOW me and whilst technically there is little wrong with it I guess voters wouldn't have stopped to view for long as there isn't much to keep the viewer interested.

Well Water: "How to Be Responsibily Green, Surprisingly Healthy, And Thankfully Cheap!"
by 777STAN

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club

First Impression: I may be being a little anal here? I found a book called 'Well Water' but didn't find the rest of the title - maybe because you spelt 'responsibly' incorrectly? and surprised nobody picked you up on it. Anyway I don't vote on titles although confess to disliking overly long ones.

Composition: The placing of the bottle looks ok to me but the diagonal wood? splits the image and is rather distracting for me.

Subject: I quite like the label on the bottle as without it or the title it is just a plain bottle of water and does lack any real interest (apart from the background bokeh that I just adore!)

Technical: Exposure looks ok to me, the wood the bottle stands on is neither sharp nor all oof so is a little distracting for me and I feel the bottle could be a little sharper. Did I mention I love the background bokeh?.

Final thoughts: Not an interesting subject nor image for me sorry so if I voted it would probably have been a 4.

The Animals
by jdixonsd

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club and congratulations on a new #2 image!

First Impression: The two main things that hurt this image were 1. The ,issing head that you mentioned and 2. The Deer is a little dull and dark for me.

Composition: I really like the composition here! The foreground grass is wonderfully blurred, a nice stone to anchor the image, the main deer is placed perfectly and the reflected colours in the water give this shot a warm Summer evening feel.

Subject: Can't really go wrong with a nice shot of a Deer (or two) and whilst the second Deer is good in the mostpart maybe you would have got that magic 6 score without it? (edited to add no you wouldn't cos then it wouldn't be the animals lol)

Technical: I do like the shot but think its a little flat and maybe playing with the brightness/contrast and even hue/saturation or curves and levels would have helped this pop and brought out more detail in the darkish Deer.

Final thoughts: Obviously a keeper and it must have been a great feeling capturing this shot, still loveing the colours here - well done.

Message edited by author 2009-08-21 18:01:21.

The Headstones
by snaffles

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club

First Impression: Hmm, have looked at this for a while now and the jury is still out on whether I like it or not.

Composition: I like the composition and the foreground stone leaning helps give impact to the image. I'm wondering if an even lower perspective would help chop the trees from the top of the foreground stone?

Subject: I did wonder if this had been an idea for the death challenge and it might even have score better in it. I've never heard of the band (am an old man now) but am sure its out there ;)

Technical:I think this is the area that confused me when first viewing the image. The 'issue' here is the image appears to have been oversharpened - probably to allow us to read more of the gravestone however, it messed with the treetops, the edge of the gravestone and also the grass bottom right. I like the lighting on the foreground gravestone but it looks false on the background stone.

Final thoughts: I didn't vote in this challenge but would probably have left a 5. Now, if you had taken the image on a moonlit night with some moody clouds then a 6 would have been my starting point. BTW, you should try a lensbaby, they are made for images like this!

The Maltese Falcon
by dryn

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club

First Impression: The background is what upsets me in this shot and makes me think it was more of a 'grab' shot than a well thought out composition for the challenge?

Composition: Other than the background I like your composition and (for me) the best part by far is the oof head. I'm guessing many of your voters just perceived this as a poorly taken image but since I am able to see your comment that it was intentional then I'm more impressed. Here at dpc sharp and shiny most often prevails and if the basic 'rules' get broken (intentionally or not) you tend to get hit with low votes.

Subject: I've already mentioned the background bothering me but overall its a compentent take on the challenge (even if its not from Malta lol). I'm guessing for your oof head to have had more impact the entire wing being in sharp focus would have helped.

Technical: Back to the bg again, the t-shirt is quite blown as is the birds neck and the overall image is a little flat.

Final thoughts: I admire your effort for trying to add another dimension to your image, something that is not often appreciated by the masses at dpc though you may find a few lovers of breaking the rules for 'arts' sake.

Freedom: A Photographic History of the African American Struggle
by brianlh

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club

First Impression: Yup, I think your comments say it well, "not the best shot aesthetically". For me this is little more than a snapshot somebody might take of the monument rather than trying to convey the story behind the book.

Composition: Whilst your main subject (the guy on the bench) is well placed in the frame I do think the background takes away much of the impact of the shot and (for me) this would have worked better as a much tighter crop on the monument

Subject: I think and dnmc voters would be pretty mean to think any image doesn't match the book title so yes, this meets the challenge for me but the image wouldn't make me pick up the book to read.

Technical: Your sole commenter mentioned the harsh light and is quite right, The guy on the bench appears almost in shadow on my monitor and I'd have liked to have seen more of him. Focus is ok and I can read most of the writing on the monument.

Final thoughts: This probably scored about right in the challenge but with a little more care and time am sure this could have been much better (though understand your reasons for not hanging around lol).

Fields of Gold
by thomasjessen

Comment:
Greetings from Andi via the Critique Club. First off congratulations on a new PB Thomas, that first 6 is just around the corner!

First Impression: Very close to being an excellent image, for me the colours, hue/saturation and shadows are a little too harsh when they should have been softer.

Composition: Not quite a central horizon but think a lower viewpoint and less sky would have helped the overall feel of the image. Placing the main bale in the bottom left of the image might have added as well.

Subject: I think the image might have suffered a little when you attempted to get the colours to be gold (and thus fit the title)

Technical: For me what lets the image down is the lack of detail in the front of the main bale and its screaming for fill in flash to complete the image. The only area in sharp focus on my monitor it the bale on the horizon and cloud to the right of it and for me the main subject should be sharp. I love the sky, nice rich blue with the whisper of cloud.

Final thoughts: A nice image, looks like late afternoon/early evening with the long shadows and hint of pink in the sky top left. The lack of detail and too central horizon (for me) lets the image down a little though the voters liked the image, its your pb (at the time of critique) and thats what counts so congratulations!