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GinaRothfelsComment: Posted this in the forums but putting it here too for future reference :)
I'm not being horrible or anything, just saying why in my opinion it didn't score well. You asked :)
Firstly the subject isn't very interesting to me. I see zips every day. It's closer than I normally see one, but other than that there's nothing unique about it. There is no interesting lighting and just the one element in the whole frame. It also seems overly contrasty to me, and that makes the patterns in the denim hard to look at, it hurts my eyes after a while. Also, it's not sharp, it looks like you may have tried to sharpen it on the wrong radius which could explain the contrastyness too. The angle is flat on and the composition is centered, no interest really added there. To be very honest I would have scored it a 3 or 4. There's just nothing to it that makes me want to vote higher.
I think it probably did well on the smaller site because, just as was the case on DPC in the very early days, people not exposed to as much photography as we are here may see it and think "wow, that's really close!" or something, I dunno. Here, most people have probably taken the same shot,I know I have... "Hmm, I've got my macro lens on, now what?" I look down... "Ah ha!".
Also don't forget that it was in a free study. People expect much more in them and there was much much much higher competition than normal. That would also have something to do with it.
Sorry if I sound mean here, just trying to say it how I see it, rather than sugar coating it :)
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