Easing the Swelter
by RKT

Comment:
Nice still life. Image quality is excellent and color fine. Including a portion of the mirror adds interest to the composition. The blue in the reflected ceiling is great.

Though it is obvious what you connection to the challenge topic is there will probably be narrower thinking voters that will not buy it, even though it is supposed to be what darkness means to YOU.

If there is a technical flaw it is that the focal plane is the wall instead of the center of the perfume bottles. If you had did that or took the image with a naroower aperature to increas e the depth of field then you could have had the front bottles in as clear of focus as the wall, draps and mirror. They are slightly soft as is.

Overall this is an very good picture, but probably will not achieve the score it deserves.

Future Lost
by ilwil

Comment:
Composition fits the challenge well. The technical quality of this image it top notch. You have created an excellent scene. The clarity and mid-tones are superb. Everything in the composition fits right down to the rain streaked window, tear drop and wedding band.

Voters will have some difficulty with the believablity of this image and you may get a few low votes because of it. Though it is certainly possible, voters will have a hard time believing that you could capture such a powerfully sad candid moment right during the challenge week of a "darkness" challenge. It looks setup, but they will feel the setup is very good.

You might have considered not including the album in the composition. It is obvious through the expression, the pose, the window and the bottle of JD that this person is obviously distraught and reflective over something overwhelming to her.

For a photography challenge like this it is better if you don't tell them exactly why she is distraught but let them speculate. This image gives the viewer plenty to think about without the album. We know her sadness has to be powerful enough to drive her to drink during the middle of the day. It could be over the loss of a child as is shown here. Or it could easily be over sadness because of being molested during her childhood. Or it could be bcause she is in an unhappy marriahge and is longing for a happier life. There are many imaginative ways the viewer could explain what they see and that would drive their curiosity to know more.

On the technical side the contrast is just a touch weak and that darkening the blacks slightly to get a true black point might be needed.

That having been said... this is a terrific image and should be a top finisher in the challenge. Kudos to you!

Solice of Clouds, Sleep of the Arctic Fox.
by Suntiki

Comment:
Generally speaking this is a decent picture and might make an excellent candid portrait of a pet or zoo animal.

Voters will give this a low score because they will feel it is being shoehorned into the challenge as an excuse to post a pet picture.

Technically there are couple things that could be improved in this image. The white coat of the animal is overexposed in the center. That should be corrected. It is made even more pronounced because the wall behind it is in deep shadow.

The animal surroundings add little to the composition and most of it could be cropped out. That would remove the very distracting semi-circular area on the lower left side of the frame that makes the view ask, "What the heck is that?". Overall there is too much shaded area in the frame and it is better to minimize it. Cropping would also remove the distracting white stripe below animal's head.

I see him... No one else does...
by frozensun

Comment:
There are a lot of blurred abstracts like this in this challenge. The diffeence between yours and most of the others is that yours has exceptional quality and 'clarity' for a blurred image. It is a nice technical achievement and should score high because of it. Removing the noise from the composition was a good idea. You have superior tonal range.

Terrific job!

Calmness of Night
by alanfreed

Comment:
Superior technical quality of a fine nightime image. This image will place very high in voting. A ribbon is possible here. Clarity is phenomenal, it has great detail and the reflections in the calm water are spetacular.

Only two small items. You might chose to crop just a "smidgen" off the bottom of the frame compositionally. There is some haloing along the treeline of the near horizon that you should get rid of for printing.

Kudos to you for a great capture.

Grok the Dark
by Mick

Comment:
Hmmmmm... I see young Thomas is out taking more award winning photographs. Only this time he is the subject.

Super solid silhouettes of Thomas and the rocks. Clouds are dramatic and reflections in the sand make for an overall very nice composition. It is an excellent technical achievement that will score well with voters not because of where it is at, but because of the quality of the work. Good pictures usually require very little work. I bet very little post processing was applied to this one.

This reminds me of one of a favorite 'people' silhouettes in the desert I took:
//www.pbase.com/azleader/image/37772417

In both cases I get the distinct feeling the photographer must be seeing something pretty spectacular if they are chosing NOT to photograph what we are seeing.

Message edited by author 2005-06-22 02:11:32.

Darkness : Deep Inside
by Tej

Comment:
Easily one of the best images submitted for this challenge. High technical quality and lighting is superb. Good use of the rule of thirds and a rock sold black background. This has the makings of a ribbon winner.

Life Through Aged Eyes
by LucidLotus

Comment:
Concept for the challenge is good but the composition might not make it with the voters. Good full range of tone from black to white.

Excessively and purposely grainy images typically do not do well at DPC. That is because voters tend to think that is done more so to mask poor quality image than to make an artistic statement in an abstract way.

It won't be because voters do not "get it" but rather that they do not feel that you put much effort into the composition and that it is not 'true' high quality that they give it a lower score.

Tunnel Lights
by chisholmsmith

Comment:
Great RGB (red, green, blue) colors in this nice abstract. Good technical image.

Typically abstracts do not do well at DPC. This directs the viewer's eyes nicely but does not provide a central focal point that might hurt it some in the voting.

"Stories With Unhappy Endings"
by cheekymunky

Comment:
Excellent image. Very good color, lighting and capture. Composition is very fine with the singer occupying the dominent position of the frame and the backup guitarist being behind and smaller. Very good image clarity.

There is little to fault in this image. You are to be commended for a good technical photograph. It should place very high in voting.