Real Glass(es)
by ursula

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club, Ursula!

Composition: A good simple setup without distractions. Nothing spectacular but it concentrates on the glasses to show the refraction.

Lighting: I think there is a bit too much contrast. The paper is full white and the border of the glasses is pitch black. I think a bit more nuances in lighting would improve the photo.

Focus: The DOF is very wide. The letters in the background are still pretty sharp. Did you try a more narrow DOF? I think that would look better, but that's personal preference. I can see some strange pixels among the letters in the shade of the glasses. I don't know if ot comes from oversharpening in postprocessing but it looks like that. Also did you use some kind of despecle filter? I would expect more detail in the sheets of paper (at the botom of the photo).

Challenge: Yes, challenge met. You actually show an attribute of glass. I like that more than some of the other photos which seem to contain a glass object for the challenge but the photo is not really about the glass.

Creativity: I think the photo lacks drama. It's not a bad shot but I miss something which makes it special. Maybe a ring with a fine engraving in a dark language could have helped ;-)

Ok, I hope I could help.
Ciao,
Stephan

Fragile
by stephan

Comment:
Hmmm.... To be honest I'm a bit disappointed by the average score. I thought a photo with a clear message and being more on the emotive side would do better than this.

Some responds to the comments:
- There can't be a blue tint, because I actually did desaturate all colours except red.
- I used a 1000 Watt lamp for lighting to get a small aperture, so that everything is in focus. Maybe this was a bit too much because someone said it looks like I used a flash.
Lighting from the side would have been a bad idea in my opinion because then there would be an even more nasty shadow from the heart. But I used a smaller lamp from the upper left side, to get some refractions in the glass to make the edges better visible.
- Some said it's oversharpened. Well, normally I get comments complaining that the focus is too soft, so I used unsharp mask in post-processing. I thought that for this subject sharpness was vital, but maybe I overdid it ;-)

Ok. Thanks for oyur comments. Until next week :)

Hot set o' wheels
by Maverick

Comment:
Greetings from the Critque Club, Ben :)

Composition: I basically like the composition. There are only some minor things I would like to suggest. First I do not understand your use of the mirror. The reflection is barely included and to me the "additional" yellow wheels in the reflection distract from the "real" yellow wheels. I think it would look better when you would have used a plain white surface, like the background.
The other thing which bothers me is the shoelace on the right side of the photo. The wheels obviously are the point of interest here, but the shoelace conceals the rear part of them and blocks the view.
Then some would say that the almost perfect white background is disturbed by the little grey shadow from the edge of the mirror (left side of the photo). But in this case I think it even fits because it prolongs the line of the wheels and thus strengthens the composition.
The tight crop on the top is no problem in my opinion.

Lighting/Colours: The lighting is great. Sunlight always is the best :) I also like the colours. Desaturation of all colours except one is almost a classic but I like it everytime and in your case it adds to the message of your photo. Maybe red wheels instead of yellow ones (by a little hue adjustment) would have increased the "hot" impact even more.

Focus: The shallow DOF is good because it gives the photo depth. But I understand that somebody commented that he would like to see the top in focus. The point which is in focus (the "nose" of the shoe) is not very interesting itself, so your eyes start wandering around. There is some writing and the knotted laces which on the top which draw attention of the viewer, but when you look there, it is blurred. I don't know how the photo would look like when you switch the focus points, making the rear in focus and blur the front. Probably not a good idea, so the other solution would be to blur the top even more. But that's only a minor issue.
Another idea would be to add motion blur by moving the skate during exposure. That would make the photo much more dynamic and I think it would fit great to your "hot wheels" theme.

Challenge: Yes, challenge met, although without knowing the theme, the photo would rather convey a "sports" message.

Creativity: It's a nice idea to use a skate as your subject for this challenge. A clever setup to get the skate stand up.

Ok, that are my suggestions. If you want to further discuss about this photo, feel free to email me.

P.S.: I think it's extraordinary how you give additional information to your photo, e.g. teh detailed photographer's comment and the setup shot. That makes it much more interesting to look through your photos and I can learn from your information. Just wanted to say that. Thanks :)

Put Out To Pasture
by TerryGee

Comment:
Terry, I like the colours and the washed out look. I'm undecided about the fence. On the one hand the upper lath goes right across the car, but on the other hand it gives the car a "setting" (looks like a rural environment, even when it may be not).

Boat on the road
by Remie

Comment:
Remie, you truly were "robbed" as people use to say. It baffles me how such a photo can get such a low score. The composition is great! Only the border is a bit big.

Electric Midnight Express
by magnetic9999

Comment:
It's a classic compositon but the lighting is really great. Beautiful colours! Congrats on your win!

X-ray frames
by kiwiness

Comment:
Congrats on your win, Gary! It's a great concept and very well done!

faith in chaos
by stephan

Comment:
Focus, focus, focus. It's always the same people complain about ;-) I liked the fuzziness.
I understand that the "Pi" connection couldn't be understood by many, but I thought that the image would be interesting to some more people. Seems that I was wrong. :-/

Anyway, thanks to the people who commented and said that they like the photo.


P.S.: As described in the photographers comments, the image is colour inverted and not infrared.

Message edited by author 2003-04-30 07:18:28.

LadyHeart
by Warp

Comment:
I like the composition and the depth of field. Unfortunately the Ladybug is hard to see. It just screams for more red colour. Did you desaturate it?

Major Fauna
by Morgan

Comment:
I like the composition and the narrow crop on the elephant. However, the lighting seems to be not so good. There are white highlights on the ears and the tusk.