Shadow: The darkness following sunset.by
NaldComment: Hello, I'm jp and I'll be doing your critique today.
*This is a Critique Club Comment*
This critique is DPC challenge-specific, hence it may not apply in the real world.
Inital Impression
Cool!! Clouds and light and shadow and bright!! Sorry, that was not meant to rhyme.
Technical
I like saturations and I like it here, I feel the sunset hues are nicely saturated. The brightness seems dominating, I don't mind it but voters probably did as it takes the eye away from the excessively interesting clouds! Clouds could have used more rangeto bring out detail - this would help offset the overpowering sunset.
Eyeflow (To give you an idea of how someone else views your photo)
My eye starts at the bright sunset and lingers there for a second or two, then a quick once over on the top and a linger on the clouds left of the sunset. Then I notice the lights at the bottom of the image. From there I go back to alternatingbetween the clouds on the horizon and the sunset, with quick once-overs across the image.
Relevance to Challenge
I see shadows therefore quite relevant to the challenge.
Overall
It takes a minute to realize what's happening in the photo which doesn't bother mebut it probably bothered voters who want the ess-than-thirty-second photo -- ie, hit me in the face because I'm flying through voting. I feel more detail in the clouds would have helped as they would bring the drama of what's happening more into play.
I feel the photo is underrated but not by much - the lack of cloudy details takes away from the overall majesty of the sunset. IMO this photo begs, screams, pleads with whomever will listen: this medium is far too small for me - make me bigger, much bigger ... at least 20" - then those pesky cloud details will really come out. This really deserves to be printed, I hope you have one on your wall.
Bottom line
Challenge wise pretty good, real-world on a wall it's a winner.
I hope this helps. If you have any questions please don't hesitate in PMing me.
-jp
Photographer found comment helpful.
