this tree has eyes
by dcb300

Comment:
Positives:
Overall the lighting is not bad and the BW is OK.

Technicals:
The toughest thing about selective desaturation is getting the color right and the boundaries between color and black and white right. That is not easy.

You had trouble on both counts. Your greens stand out like a sore thumb even though they are good in and of themselves. They just don't fit the desat. You allowed boundary colors in places it should not have been allowed and that is a cardinal sin in selective desaturation. On the other hand, in some places the boundaries are very good.

The Challenge:
Yes, it meets the challenge. But many voters will ask themselves why you picked the desat the way you did. Their conclusion will be that you did it just for the challenge and will fault the image for it and give you a low score.

Selective desaturation, more than any other technique, must be applied to invoke a strong emotional response. Yours does not do that. Voters will ask themselves why you made that choice and when they can't figure that out will vote it low.

A question you always want to ask yourself is this, will my submission stand on its own long after the challenge topic is forgotten. If the answer is no then don't submit it.

I have to make this admission. I scored this image a 2 because I felt the selective desat was not well done, did not fit the composition at all good and was just a poor choice for composition and desat.

Suggestions:
I could make a few technical suggestions for improvement but my bottom line is that it just is not the right image to submit for selective desaturation or for composition. Sorry.

Holding on to Hope
by brownsm

Comment:
Positives:
Exceptional technical quality and your selective desaturation sends a clear message for such a youthful and understandably unhappy model.

Technicals:
Tones, lighting and color are all good. lighting is very nice, overall quality is well above average for DPC. Looks like you have created a slight blue overtone in the BW(greyscale) portion of your image. Looks nice, intended or not.

You did an exceptional job with the boundary between color and black and white. That is the toughest part of selective desaturation.

Technically this is a good image. The BW tones are well captured.

The Challenge:
You scored almost .5 above the challenge average in one with an exceptionally narrow range of voting and many poor image submissions. Commenters gave it almost an 8. That is very good. Overall, voters thought this a good image despite what you or I might think about the actual average score it received.

Perhaps some voters felt it was a setup and that is why it scored so low.

Suggestions:
No suggestions.

Hearts & Bows
by Judi

Comment:
Positives:
I'd like to be a dispationate critic but all I can think of to say is "WOW". The high key in this composition makes it special. The technicals and art within this imagery are only what I dream of in my own compositions.

Technicals:
Sharpness, high key treatment and the BW is perfect in every way. Color in the ribbons is just right. The solid white BG is absolutely the right choice.

There is a hint of jaggies in your model's hair and lack of detail in her cheeks, neck and left forehead that will be interpretted as a faults by some viewers.

Off centering your model more might add more interest.

The Challenge:
Does it meet the challenge? Yes. How well it does many will ask. This image was faulted for shoehorning to the challenge by some I am sure and/or for a weakness in the desat choice.

I know, I was one of the people that did it for the later reason. I was wrong and am now ashamed. This is one of the images I scored in about .3 milliseconds. I gave it an 8. I was wrong. This is a 10 all the way. I'm angry now at myself for scoring it so low. I think I instinctively knew I was wrong at the time but did it anyway. I'm certain I was influenced by the challenge topic mistakenly or in ways I should not have been.

In my opinion, I and the voters did this image a grave diservice by giving it a 5.5.

Suggestions:
Consider doing some touchup to remove some of the "jaggies" from your model's hair. Just use the blur tool lightly... very lightly. Little is needed.

The only other suggestion I can think of is to crop off some of the left side to off center your model and have her facing into the composition more.

Other than that I have no suggestions whatsoever. This is a great picture. This image could be an award winner in other venues and would make a great addition to a photo art gallery display.

butterfly
by hanneke

Comment:
Positives:
Well composed and curiously conceived image concept. Makes the voter wonder what it is all about so gives it a lot of viewer interest. Good use of selective desaturation.

Technicals:
Taking a picture through the viewfinder of another camera makes it harder to evaluate. The numerous specks and the center framing marks are from the focusing prism of the Hassleblad. Certainly their inclusion in this composition is by design, but is good? That is a dilemna for this viewer and perhaps others. It is good for artistic reasons, but not for technical ones. Makes one ask which is more important. :)

You did a superlative job with the color and BW border feathering. That is what most folks have the most difficulty with. You did it like a pro.

BW quality is good. Higher contrast works well here. You include enough tonality to make it nice, yet contrasty enough to make it unique. The composition is very, very interesting and well done. Croping the head and feet is a good decision. It adds to the uniqueness of the composition.

The Challenge:
Selective desat is a difficult challenge topic because it is both hard to do technically, but also difficult to do artistically and appropriately. The viewer wants to know WHY you made your desat choice.

In your case this is not an issue. It draws attention to what is below the butterfly wings and that adds much viewer interest. ;) (Perhaps my maleness is showing through. LOL!!!) The choice of butterfly wings for that purpose adds to the effect as well.

You scored over .45 points above the challenge average indicating that voters thought it a good image, probably for artistic reasons.

This image would do great displayed in the right art gallery. I did not score this image in the challenge and wish I had. I'm interested in the score I would have given it.

Suggestions:
No suggestions. I'm tempted to talk about the specks and centering lines but I'm not sure removing them is a good idea. I like them included. The overall composition is great. For this image, there is nothing I could teach you.

A Brick in the Wall
by BakerBug

Comment:
Positives:
Unique choice for selective desaturation. Interesting that you chose a single brick at the central focus to leave colored. The extended lines in the brickwork converging at the edge of the frame is its best feature.

Technicals:
Nicely composed. Sharpness (where it is) is good and color on the brick is not overdone as the reds were in so many of the other challenge entries.

Generally speaking extremely shallow depth of field does not work well, but in this case it emphasizes the concept that the brickwork extends to infinity. It is a bit to narrow, though. The out of focus masonry lines meeting at the left edge of the frame is a very nice touch.

The edging of the boundary of the colored brick is rough and unnatural looking, especially on the right and bottom edges.

The image is on the flat, low contrast side. It lacks both white and black points.

The Challenge:
Obviously meets the challenge. Conceptually selective desat should be easy, but it is deceptively difficult in practice. This challenge was made futher difficult because of the large number of entries and the appropriateness of desat selection has more meaning than other techniques generaly do.

Some viewers will ask themselves why chose that particular brick to leave colored? What is special about it? What purpose does it serve? How does that relate to the extended lines and the overall composition? For many those questions will remain unanswered. It is likely there is a split verdict on your desat, some thinking it a great idea while others thinking the desaturation choice is meaningless and mearly gratuitous to meet the challenge.

Your score is about .2 lower than the challenge average. That means voters felt it slightly below average but not bad. That is probably because the majority of voters felt the desat choice was weak and the color boundary needed more work.

Suggestions:
You might consider a slightly wider DOF for this composition, just enough to encompass the main red brick before it goes soft focused. Viewers like to see the entire main subject, in this case the red brick, in sharp focus.

Getting the boundary between colored and greyscale areas is trickier than it looks and is an artistic skill that needs to be practiced and perfected. You want to look closely at the natural pixel width for other boundaries in the image and select a very narrow brush width with pixel feathering set to match that pixel width of nearby boundaries and use the blur tool to make the boundary look more natural.

There is something you might consider to address the challenge topic but because of the nature of your composition this would be difficult to do. You might have tried adding a few more randomly selected bricks to leave colored. This would give the viewer purpose to your desat selection. It would emphasize the fact that brick walls are aggregates of many bricks and answer the question of why that particular type of deat was selected. More colored bricks would also direct more attention to the masonry lines.

The image is flat. Even a simple "autolevels" adjustment will immediately improve its contrast and visual impact. You need to set the white and black points in this image.

Setting white and black points
Yours, like almost every image, requires some white point/black point adjustment. That is because pixels are rarely recorded by the camera across the full luminosity range from pure black to pure white when you take the picture. That is normal. You can see this in your histogram (luminosity) display in an image editor where the curve does not extend all the way from far left to far right. Your histogram needs adjustment on both sides.

"AutoLevels" makes that adjustment according to how the software thinks it should be done. Instead, you can control it by hand by adding a "Levels" adjustment layer and dragging the black point triangle on the far left to the right to meet the luminosity curve and by dragging the white triangle on the far right back toward the left to meet the luminosity curve. This sets white and black points to your actual luminosity curve. The best part is you can fine tune it to look just 'right'.

The grey triangle in the middle sets your grey point which controls midtone contrast. That is worth playing with as well.
End Setting white and black points

Message edited by author 2007-05-29 06:23:04.

silky white flower
by dcb300

Comment:
Positives:
This is your highest score for an image submitted in a DPC challenge and you should be pleased with it. You captured a nice floral and its technicals are generally good.

Technicals:
This is "silky smooth" because the noise reduction you applied contributed to it and you did not overdo it. Sharpness is fine and not overdone. It is easy to oversharpen images. I know, I do it all the time. LOL!!!

The image is on the low contrast side. It looks a bit flat. Composition is OK but not spectacular. Overall lighting is decent. It does not have overexposed or underexposed areas like we often see in much higher scoring images.

The Challenge:
It meets the challenge though some voters will fault any and all flora images regardless of quality. That is a thought that should be kept in the back of your mind every time when deciding what to photograph should you want a higher score. Not saying not to do it, just saying to keep it in mind. Well done floral images will generally score well despite the prejudice as we see all the time in challenges.

You placed 59/140 so was viewed by DPCers as slightly above average for the challenge. That is not a bad thing.

Suggestions:
Looking at it now I can see a couple other things you might consider for improvement.

If you apply a simple "Auto Contrast" adjustment to this image in post processing it will improve brightness and contrast immediately and give this image more impact.

More advanced concepts such as vignetting and dodge and burn could be used to add more viewer interest to the composition and direct viewers to the areas of the composition where you want them to pay attention.

You might consider a tighter crop on the left, top, and bottom to remove more of the stem of the flower. It would give the flower more image real estate and remove some of the less interesting detail.

Goodbye Train Whistle Blues
by Hipychik

Comment:
Positives:
Framing, perspective and interest are the strength of this composition. What does this image mean is the question every viewer will ask. What is the little girl thinking?

Technicals:
General technicals are OK. It has no serious defects. That is always a good thing. The perspective using the tracks, though cliche, is very good.

Don't know if you did anything special in post processing to make the tracks look more interesting, but they do. Color, light... something.

Sharpness is not overdone. Outside the tracks the color is just OK; color and detail needs better definition in those areas. Sky neither hurts nor helps the composition.

The Challenge:
Ya know, it meets the challenge well but some voters will probably still fault you for lack of creativity anyway. Not a lot but some.

Your near 5.9 score is very good by DPC standards and was .4 above the average given in this particular challenge. DPCers like this picture!

I gave your image a "7". That means I think it was average. I faulted it mostly for technical and artistic reasons. The artistic reason was center framing your model. The most important position in THIS image is the foreground. You gave that to the tracks, not to your model. I felt your model should have occupied that space and the tracks subsidiary to that. I think it would have supported the challenge topic better as well.

I know, you are gonna wonder about me for this, but it hit me that this image lacks detail and appealing color in the vegetation on either side of the tracks. Outside your model, I was immediately drawn to that. Its lack of color and detail is a viewer disappointment.

Suggestions:
Frame your model lower and in the foreground for greater impact. She will also occupy more space which will be good to. Use post processing to bring out better greens and more detail in the vegetation on either side of the tracks.

Lush
by krnodil

Comment:
Positives:
A very nicely conceived and executed image. The interplay of light and shadow is its best feature.

Technicals:
Sharpness, color, tonality and arrangement(for those of us that like abstracts) all are very good. Red always seems to be an eye appealing color.

The center is a little dark.

The Challenge:
Your image scored almost 5.7; good by general DPC standards and above the 5.48 average for the challenge. Basically DPCers are trying to tell you that the image was above average but not super good. My speculation is they liked it but thought it weak in the challenge topic area. They probably thought it lacked "wow" factor to.

I scored your image 9. I like abstracts, feel it meets the challenge nicely and think it is very good technically. When I can't find a lot to fault an image for I give them decent scores. I see no reason to change my thinking on this image.

Suggestions:
Perhaps you might consider lightening the center with a little "vivid light" painting on a 50% greyscale layer using a white brush to bring out more central detail in an eye appealing way.

Message edited by author 2007-05-25 13:36:19.

Heavens Realm
by wooglin

Comment:
Positives:
Traditional in-camera technicals - DOF, focus, lack of noise - are done well. You will never go wrong with central focus on the eyes. The mottled lighting is its best feature.

Technicals:
Though the general in-camera technicals are not bad the "No Edits" approach was probably not the way to go. Even a simple "AutoContrast" selection improves contrast and gives the image more impact. The background does not overwhelm the composition, but then it doesn't add much viewer interest either. The mottled lighting is OK but more should be done with it to bring that out.

The tops of the wings are to close to the edge of the frame and that acts as a distraction. Near center framing is not bad, but not all that interesting either.

Edit vs. No Edits
Purist photographers feel that post processing is overdone and destroys the accuracy of photographic images. They feel if you do the job right in-camera then no post processing should be needed. DPCers often brag about how little post processing they applied to an image.

Non-purists feel cameras are incapable of capturing a scene as it really is so post processing is necessary to bring that out for either accuracy or for artistic expression.

Which is right? Probably both to a certain degree. Only a fool would depend on post processing to "save" a badly conceived and captured image. But equally foolish is the belief that cameras in their current form can accurately capture and record reality.

The Challenge:
This image will come across to many voters as nothing more than a photograph of an art object and you were faulted for that.

The viewer's first impression when looking at this image is not "silky smooth". Yes, if you look closely you can see elements of that, but if the viewer must do that then you are doomed. DNMC hurt this image. Also, besides that there is just not a lot to excite the viewer. All those things combined is why voters gave this a significantly below average score.

I voted this image 7. In my voting that means it is average, "C" level work. I gave you credit for lack of significant defects and, with effort, meeting the challenge... In other words, a "C". My issue was whether or not to give you an unsatisfactory "D" (6 in my case). Voters essentially went with a low end DPC "D". I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I'm not so sure they were not more correct than I.

Suggestions:
If possible leave more space above the wings to keep them away from the edge of the frame. If that is not possible them crop smaller and clip them to remove the distraction.

Apply "AutoContrast" at the very, very least for post processing. This image would benefit greatly from additional advanced editing like dodge and burn and color enhancements. A little post processing sharpening never hurts. It only hurts when overdone.

My son's image placed 5th in this "silky smooth" challenge. I hope I do not embarrass him by saying this, but his needs many of the same types of post processing yours does, including even "autocontrast". His would have scored higher and might have even ribboned if he'd done the same type of post processing yours needs.

Smooth Move
by basssman7

Comment:
Great job and nice capture. I noticed that 5 of the top 10 images in this challenge were water flow shots. Yours is an excellent water flow capture processed just right. It is one of only two of that type I scored 10. My son and I both went together and took water flow pictures for this challenge. I was dissatisfied with mine after post processing so did not enter but my son entered one of his and it placed 6th overall. His was the other 10 I gave to a water flow picture and I felt yours was the only other one that could have beaten his.