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 07/22/2026 01:18:03 AM · #1
I expected this photo to do reasonably well (at least above 6) in the "Circle" challenge

and yet it only finished in the middle of the pack. Genuinely curious, what did I miss here?

Message edited by author 2026-07-22 01:20:05.
 07/22/2026 01:37:03 AM · #2
From my experience DPCers don't like statues and most voters assumed that it is not a real moon. Unfair but true.
 07/22/2026 02:21:06 AM · #3
I didn't stop to think if it was a real moon or not, I was put off by the blurriness of the moon. Not sure how you could have done anything about it within standard editing rules, but I was curious to see how much difference it would make for me anyway...



Worth an extra point, but had I known or thought about the level of difficulty you achieved, I might have given that point also.

Originally posted by MargaretNet:
From my experience DPCers don't like statues

Also this - particularly the backside of the statue.
07/22/2026 08:58:21 AM · #4
I agree with Margaret and Ken.

Ken's edit is much better, I think, but the statue is still a problem... back side and all.

Sorry!!

This happens to me a bunch. *sigh*
 07/22/2026 09:04:47 AM · #5
Interesting about the "back side" bit putting some off. Though I didn't think about it as I voted, that actually works for me - I feel as if she could be reaching for or approaching or at least walking toward the moon, off into the heavens. I gave you a middle of the pack score too, though - didn't put enough thought into it, I now think. It's really very nice for the challenge - multiple circles and all.

Message edited by author 2026-07-22 10:09:32.
 07/22/2026 09:35:34 AM · #6
Iā€™m not a big fan of statues also. Thought the composition was odd. I gave you a 6.
 07/22/2026 10:10:00 AM · #7
Interesting this talk of backsides, everything must be facing ME, I cannot watch someone else's story, it must be about me. The subject must face me, it cannot face out of frame, it can't even look at the moon, because I am here, and I must be catered to.

There's a lot of talk about what is art and what's not art, and I think a lot of that comes down to what we expect from an image, what we expect it to "do". And what we expect ourselves to "do" as a viewer. As every season of DPC makes plain to me, this is not an art site, though art is sometimes tolerated here.
 07/22/2026 10:31:39 AM · #8
Originally posted by posthumous:
Interesting this talk of backsides, everything must be facing ME, I cannot watch someone else's story, it must be about me. The subject must face me, it cannot face out of frame, it can't even look at the moon, because I am here, and I must be catered to.

There's a lot of talk about what is art and what's not art, and I think a lot of that comes down to what we expect from an image, what we expect it to "do". And what we expect ourselves to "do" as a viewer. As every season of DPC makes plain to me, this is not an art site, though art is sometimes tolerated here.


That's the interesting thing -- I find things moving away to be much more interesting that things coming towards me. I love backsides. ;P

But when I first started into photography, everyone was saying that it was an overused trope -- I think they tell so much more of a story.

I goofed, and life got busy and forgot that I hadn't voted on this challenge, and was disappointed. But I wouldn't have scored this very high. I think the colors really emphasized the blurriness of the moon. And my brain doesn't think of that blue of a moon as blurry. (that probably doesn't make sense. So let me try again.) I'm used to blurry moon photos, because without really weird focus stacking, or even farther away photos, you have a blurry moon. But if the moon was the warm yellow, or even the more grey, that I see in the sky, I think my brain might have had an easier time with it. The color of the moon made me look at it more as the subject, and then my eyes said, "nope" too hard to look at.

also, the statue from behind is an awesome idea, but it's not something that's easily recognizable. People are looking way too quickly at these.

Anyway, different temple, but more recognizable moon

angle and moon

All that being said, I've really wanted to try this type of photography -- very far away and very large moon. I don't even know where to start. But it's time to figure it out!

Message edited by author 2026-07-22 10:33:28.
 07/22/2026 11:14:43 AM · #9
Originally posted by posthumous:
Interesting this talk of backsides, everything must be facing ME, I cannot watch someone else's story, it must be about me. The subject must face me, it cannot face out of frame, it can't even look at the moon, because I am here, and I must be catered to.

LOL, that's a gross misinterpretation of at least my comment/critique. It's not that the statue is not looking at me, it's that I cannot see the statue's face - can't recognize who it is or it's significance - in or out of the moon context. It's a statue, FFS, what sense does it make that one would command attention from an inanimate object? Now, if it were a live human woman, you may have a point. But then again, I probably wouldn't be complaining about having to look at her backside. šŸ˜

Aside from that, as I mentioned, the blurry moon is what immediately threw me off on this image. I honestly didn't even take time to scrutinize the statue. My "backside" comment here was in response to Margaret's mention that statues are generally disliked on DPC.
 07/22/2026 11:26:48 AM · #10
IMO what makes the flickr image Wendy linked good, visually, is the context of including the sky. The color of the moon is better too, but the composition matters more.
Cropped tight makes it less believable.
 07/22/2026 12:51:26 PM · #11
Originally posted by Art Roflmao:
hat's a gross misinterpretation of at least my comment/critique.


it ain't personal. anyone, including me, can start an avalanche of conformity with any comment, however individual.
 07/23/2026 01:03:18 AM · #12
Thanks for the honest comments folks, it was very helpful, now I understand why the tepid reception. Cannot say I share an unconditional aversion to statues or backsides, though. Yes, a photo of a statue can be boring if it is just a straight-up photo of a statue and nothing else is going on, especially if it's shot from behind. But if the statue plays a part in a story which was not intended by the sculptor but created or captured by a photographer, well, it's a different story then (no pun intended), at least in my book. That's what I was going for here, interaction between the statue and the moon. In that story, shooting the statue from behind is warranted, even necessary, since the angel is interacing with the moon, not with the viewer. I thought this story would be interesting to ponder. Oh well, didn't work, moving on. By the way, I could easily make both the moon and the statue sharp by focus stacking, standard ruleset permits that, but I thought having the moon slightly blurry separates the statue from the moon better and emphasizes the great distance between the two, so I didn't bother.

Message edited by author 2026-07-23 01:06:41.
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