A Secret Unfolds
by persimon

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This is a unique kind of shot for me to critique because while I like this a lot, I don't like it at the same time...

I like this a lot because it is at first appearance this is an awesome soft focus shot with a very simple color scheme! You know what they say, you only get one shot at a first impression. In that you definately have succeeded.

Then I start to look at it closer. You have processed almost all the character out of this lovely flower. The petals have no texture left. Towards the center left of the shot the petals blend into one another. You have no detail left in the highlights. The shadow arc that runs around the top half of the frame is a rather wierd color. The more I see this, the more I want to see that isn't there...

So you have captured or should I say post processed a shot that makes me stop and look at it. In a way that is a success. However, I'm not looking at it longer to see what I like, rather I continue to look at it to see why it looks off.

I don't know if I have captured in words my photographic emotional reaction to this shot, but this is the best I can do...

Yours
TC

Good night...
by carsound

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Let me preface my comments by saying this: I don't normally cut and paste comments, but I just finished a critique on a shot very similar to yours. Since most of the points from that shot apply here, I'm going to use this approach. I want you to know ahead of time so that if you look at my other comments you don't feel cheated...

I see that this is your very first entry into a challenge here at DPC. Please don't let your low score discourage you from future participation!

At first glance it appears to be just a snapshot. There is nothing wrong with a snapshot but they only really have value to the person who took them or those that know the subject well. To everyone else there is not really anything to hold their attention.

This shot could be improved in many ways. The first thing is the angle that you shot from. This looks like you shot it from a standing or seated position and from slightly above the subject of the shot. In other words you shot it from YOUR point of view. When shooting kids and pets this doesn't work so well. You need to get down to THEIR level and shoot them more directly! This may mean getting down on your hands and knees or even lying right on the floor. Try this sometime with your dog. Shoot him from a standing position then again from down at his level. You will see a significant improvement assuming you can keep the dog from licking the lens. :-P

The next thing that would help to improve this would be to take out any element of the shot that doesn't really ADD to the shot. In this case it would be the various different blankets and comforters on the bed. The different colors don't fit well together and even clash in places (dark blue against the white.)

Your lighting here is not very creative. It looks like you used the flash on the camera. You can see this in the harsh shadow behind the dogs right ear (left in frame) and the way the coat glows where it faces the camera. It takes all the depth out of the shot and makes it appear very flat. One of the first things that I learned when I arrived here at DPC was to NEVER use the flash on the camera as is. Sometimes you need to use it but most times you can get away without it with some care. Use a tripod to keep the camera still with the slower shutter speed. Use other lights to light up the scene preferably from one side or the other. Use more than one light. One for the main lighting and another to fill in the darker side a touch (this could even be a simple reflecter like a piece of white poster board). If you think that you MUST use your flash you can difuse it a tad by taping a couple layers of tissue paper over the flash. This will help to soften it up. You say that you tried for 2 days to catch a shot of the dog on your bed. With a little planning, you could have your lighting set up ahead of time for just such a moment

The angle that you shot from here is not very flattering to the dog. One of the first things that I noticed is you shot right into his left ear (right in frame) and that's not the most attractive part of a dog. Choosing different angles to shoot from and taking several shots will give you more choices when picking the final shot.

I know that this is a lot to think about when trying to take a picture but if you practice and take lots of pictures, soon it will be second nature! Once again, please don't be discouraged by your score or your placing in the challenge. We all started somewhere and even the best photographers take bad shots once in a while! I'll be looking forward to your future shots.

Hope this helps
Yours
TC

Flower Girl
by gwendy

Comment:
Leaving the color in the flower IMHO adds nothing to the shot...
TC

Double square
by srugolo

Comment:
Very nicely done! Very nice idea! Very cute model (hope she got an ice cream cone at least!) Best that I've seen in challenge so far!
Kudos
TC

Art Deco
by DrAchoo

Comment:
You shoulda made the people in the room to the left of the sign turn off their damn lights so ya coulda got a good shot... :-P
TC

COMFORT FOOD FOR TWO
by hotpasta

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

It looks like you will be subjected to the second of my critiques in a very short time! Unfortunately this time I do not have any photographers comments to help me see what you were trying to achieve with this shot. Well I'm sure we can come up with some good comments anyways...

This shot begs for me to use the like/don't like format so here goes.

What I like: The overall composition of this shot is very nice. I especially like how the handles of the spoons and the cut of the cake have the same angles. This gives the shot an interesting appearance. I like how you kept the compostion simple also. Everything in the shot appears like it has a place in the shot. There are no elements that look like they don't belong. Nice focus and nice simple color scheme.

What I don't like: The overall appearance of the shot is kinda flat. I think this is because of your lighting. It appears that you used natural light which is good. It appears that the light came from an angle slightly behind the subject which doesn't work so good here. It also looks like the subject was some distance away from the light which means the light wasn't quite strong enough to help pull out the textures of the shot. It's these textures that are important to giving the shot depth. I'm also kind of put off by the angle from which you shot this. You shot from mostly above looking down. This makes for a nice round plate, but looks kind of awkward. If you look at most food shots in magazines or advertisements, they tend to be shot from a lower angle. This tends to be more appealing. Your shot also appears to be a touch soft. With a food item like this, I don't think soft focus really works. It also doesn't go over well with the voters.

Give the shot more light. Shoot from a lower angle. Nice sharp focus. Work on these elements and I think you will see a marked improvements in these types of shot. The cool thing is that this is a shot that you can really practice with (untill you can't stand it and eat the desert anyways!)

Yours
TC

my dog, Jack, my man's red hat and the remote
by Signaturecards

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

I see that this is your very first entry into a challenge here at DPC. Please don't let your low score discourage you from future participation!

At first glance it appears to be just a snapshot. There is nothing wrong with a snapshot but they only really have value to the person who took them or those that know the subject well. To everyone else there is not really anything to hold their attention.

This shot could be improved in many ways. The first thing is the angle that you shot from. This looks like you shot it from a standing or seated position and from above the subject of the shot. In other words you shot it from YOUR point of view. When shooting kids and pets this doesn't work so well. You need to get down to THEIR level and shoot them more directly! This may mean getting down on your hands and knees or even lying right on the floor. Try this sometime with your dog. Shoot him from a standing position then again from down at his level. You will see a significant improvement assuming you can keep the dog from licking the lens. :-P

The next thing that would help to improve this would be to take out any element of the shot that doesn't really ADD to the shot. In this case it would be the red hat and the remote control. The hat is especially distracting as it is such a bright red color and the rest of the shot is more muted. It just screams for you to look at it and takes all the attention away from your pet.

Your lighting here is not very creative. It looks like you used the flash on the camera. You can see this in the bright spot on the couch cusion and in the harsh shadow behind the hat. It also takes all the depth out of the shot and makes it appear very flat. One of the first things that I learned when I arrived here at DPC was to NEVER use the flash on the camera as is. Sometimes you need to use it but most times you can get away without it with some care. Use a tripod to keep the camera still with the slower shutter speed. Use other lights to light up the scene preferably from one side or the other. Use more than one light. One for the main lighting and another to fill in the darker side a touch (this could even be a simple reflecter like a piece of white poster board). If you think that you MUST use your flash you can difuse it a tad by taping a couple layers of tissue paper over the flash. This will help to soften it up.

The last thing that I can think of off the top of my head to help improve a shot like this is to get closer! This will first off help with the extraneous elements of the shot. It will also allow your camera to record more of the detail (texture in the dogs fur for example). It will also force you to think more about the overall composition.

I know that this is a lot to think about when trying to take a picture but if you practice and take lots of pictures, soon it will be second nature! Once again, please don't be discouraged by your score or your placing in the challenge. We all started somewhere and even the best photographers take bad shots once in a while! I'll be looking forward to your future shots.

Hope this helps
Yours
TC

Lightning Pen
by clyp

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Your lack of photographers comments does not help to tell me what you were trying to achieve with this shot. This makes it a bit tougher to do an in depth critique but let's see what we can come up with anyways...

The overall concept of this shot is very sound! I like how you have a nice diaginal line running through the shot. You did a nice job of lining up the 'writing' with the pen. It actuall does appear to be coming out of the pen tip. You also have nice colors and a good overall color scheme!

The lighting on the pen itself however is a little confusing. It appears on the top half of the pen to be coming from one place. On the part of the pen you actually hold on to it's coming from all around. On the tip of the pen it appears to be coming from a different angle. The total effect of this is confusing to the eye. Another thing that is a bit confusing to the eye is that even though you have light seeming to come from different angles, the overall look of the shot is very flat. Was the light that you used to create the 'writing' the only light in the shot?

The pen itself also does not seem to be truly in focus. It doesn't look like soft focus, it actually looks OOF. This doesn't go over very well with the voters here.

What could improve the shot? Having never tried this type of shot I'm not sure. I know that I would really like to see it brightened up a bit and I would like to see the pen sharper. I think that these two improvements alone would have taken this from a nice shot to one that stood out of the crowd.
Yours
TC

Dancing Light
by anindya

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

I am not a big fan of the Abstract type of photography as displayed here, but this is actually kind of nice. You have very nice colors and great lines! You have great cropping from top to bottom. However, the first thing that really caught my eye was how tight it seems to be from left to right. To me this is a bit of a distraction. I like how most of the shot appears to be motion blurred or soft but the white light in the very center is rather sharp. This is a nice contrast!

If I had to guess on the low score I would say it is a combination of this being an abstract type of shot and the challenge theme. The challenge was Paint with Light. To me and probably most of the voters this means lighting up a subject with lighting that you control and move. In effect painting the part of the subject that you want to pop. While you do have moving light here, it is the light that is the subject and not a subject that is painted with the light...

Hope this helps
Yours
TC

Coupled for Eternity
by KiwiShotz

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This is a very hard shot for me to critique because, through no fault of the photographer, it doesn't hold much interest for me... I do like the idea for the challenge though.

What I like about it: The overall concept for the challenge is interesting. It's kinda wierd how you can see something out and about and then a couple of days later there's a challenge that fits it... I like the shadow in the frame, but it looks a little off to me. Kind of a blueish cast to it that keeps drawing my attention.

What I don't like: I don't like how the bottom half of the shot (where the subject matter is) is so dark compared to the top half of the shot (the negative space so to speak). A little fill light would help that out. Perhaps as simple as some reflected light. The window in the top left corner is very distracting as well as the line just under it at the side of the frame and above the gray wall. The spot on the wall at about 1:00 at the very top draws my eye also. The subjects themselves look like they have some awesome detail work on them. However, because they are so small it's very hard to see it. Also because the primary light is coming at them so directly, it makes them look a little flat. This light also makes rather harsh shadows behind their heads.

I think that this is a very interesting scene and would love to see you revisit it at different times and different angles and see what else you can come up with. I think this would be a very cool pic if you could catch it with a bit of snow on it...

Keep shooting!
Yours
TC