| Author | Thread |
|
|
05/30/2003 07:02:05 AM · #1 |
My Matrix shot was this one:
//www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=21839
I thought the comments I got were intriguing and a little annoying. The "pills" are candy, yes. They're Smarties (English ones). The reason I used these is that I remember being sent home from school as a kid with big glossy brochures that warned parents of the dangers of leaving pills around where children could get at them, and they showed big photographs of side by side comparisons of pills and sweets. Smarties always featured. I assumed this hasn't changed greatly (perhaps it has) and they would make reasonable pill substitutes for the challenge. Perhaps I was wrong - although one person who commented was fooled and remarked on the similarity to candy as though they really were pills.
What really annoyed me was that most of the comments I got were not about the picture but about the sweets. Several people, who are supposedly observing carefully in order to judge the merits of the picture, mis-identified them. They're not the same shape as M&Ms, they're larger and flatter. They're even less like Skittles. I found it quite disappointing that most of the comments weren't about the picture as such, but just pointing out that I didn't use real medication for the shot, and identifying it badly at that. It was a bit disappointing.
Oh well, my Duotones picture is doing better in terms of score and comments and I didn't enter anything for Home.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 08:09:05 AM · #2 |
I didn't get a chance to comment on the Matrix shots - but reading through your comments I think you can learn a couple things. 1) Many people commented on the clarity of the photo - good job there. 2) A few mentioned the lighting - could you have changed something to avoid the harshness? 3) Comments about only the candy probably meant you didn't quite achieve what you were looking for. Is there another position you could have taken the shot from so that the candy used looked more like "pills" to the viewer? Perhaps moving a bit further away - Is there something you could have done to achieve more of a "Matrix" look to the shot using the same idea.
Learn what you can from the comments - and be happy that 15 people took the time to leave one for you!
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 08:40:59 AM · #3 |
Hawkida, I learned very quickly here that people usually don't like straight-on, forced flash shots especially in macros. It tens to be very harsh and a little unnatural looking. As far as the candy comments go, well they are smarties, no trouble to tell that. I guess in a lot of peoples minds candies, Smarties more specifically, didn't convey the dark/heavy underlying theme of the Matrix (which I know nothing of, never saw either movie). Hope this is helpful.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 09:21:59 AM · #4 |
Hrm. Maybe because the way the shot is framed, it's blatantly and only about the red-and-blue objects, and therefore everyone was commenting on the red-and-blue objects? There isn't much to say about the composition, lighting, etc.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 10:33:14 AM · #5 |
It also might have helped if the title included something about candy. Something like, "Blue Pill, Red Pill or Smarties?" That way, people would know that you purposely used the candies and had a meaning behind it. But in the end, I have to agree with the comment of the hard lighting with the flash being so close.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 11:30:27 AM · #6 |
I usually try to comment on the main subject in the shot, so I probably would have mentioned them as well.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 11:38:16 AM · #7 |
Thanks for all your input. I guess I'm just a bit annoyed that comments like "They're skittles!" are not only wrong but not actually helpful by themselves. I do appreciate comments left, but I kind of want them to be of more use.
In terms of the lighting, I couldn't do much about that with the HP618 camera. I think I'm doing a lot better with my new camera and I'm definitely learning from both shooting and reading the site.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 11:52:04 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by hawkida:
Thanks for all your input. I guess I'm just a bit annoyed that comments like "They're skittles!" are not only wrong but not actually helpful by themselves. I do appreciate comments left, but I kind of want them to be of more use.
In terms of the lighting, I couldn't do much about that with the HP618 camera. I think I'm doing a lot better with my new camera and I'm definitely learning from both shooting and reading the site. |
I did my best shots with my HP315. Can't seem to get along with this new Olympus E10. Havn't been taking many pics at all lately. I think that stating that they are candy could let you know that this is something that stands out very much in your photo. maybe they got the candy wrong, but those are definately NOT the smarties that we buy here in MI. Ours are like a fat coin shaped with flat edges, and indented in the centers. I have a pack right here in front of me. So I would not have guessed them as smarties either.
Anyway, they were probably suggesting that you use real pills, and that the candy just doesn't work for the topic.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 11:54:21 AM · #9 |
Presumably people making the "They're so obviously candy" (and really, nitpicking about whether they're right about what kind of candy they are just seems silly) comments thought they WERE being helpful; they were saying "If you want to stage a picture like this, be more realistic". As others have pointed out, with the focus being on the candies, naturally they're going to attract comments. I would've said something about them myself if I had had time to comment on the Matrix photos.
You do realize you can't find Smarties in the U.S., right? Or, rather, there's something called that here, but they're entirely different candies.
Message edited by author 2003-05-30 11:55:12. |
|
|
|
05/30/2003 11:56:27 AM · #10 |
I commented on the image and ALMOST mentioned the "candy" aspect of the subject but decided it could result in a rant, whether public or internal to yourself. ;)
To me, personally, the theme being "the Matrix" and the photo being what I thought was rather clearly of candies didn't make sense to me without explanation (thought maybe you didn't remember what the pills looked like in the film or figured "eh, good enough" because they were red and blue). On a purely dpchallenge level, you can take "constructively" from the comments that the viewers didn't think that the subject was the best one to meet the theme because they didn't understand what you were going for. That is valuable information in itself, I think. The image is technically good, if not a popular shooting style, so people commented on the subject.
Perhaps if the smarties had been in a child's tiny hand, that might have better gotten the point across without words...?
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 12:13:15 PM · #11 |
my pic for the matrix challenge also included "the red pill, blue pill" theme,
except I made the monumental mistake of leaving my prop upturned, so a few ppl commented on the fact "the blue" pill said "Starburst"
yes i used Starburst Joosters, except they don't do a blue one, nobody commented on that.
so take comfort in the fact that even though people commented on the candy, they are not connoisseurs!lol |
|
|
|
05/30/2003 12:13:48 PM · #12 |
USA Style
Message edited by author 2003-05-30 12:16:39. |
|
|
|
05/30/2003 01:25:09 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by aurora:
my pic for the matrix challenge also included "the red pill, blue pill" theme,
except I made the monumental mistake of leaving my prop upturned, so a few ppl commented on the fact "the blue" pill said "Starburst"
yes i used Starburst Joosters, except they don't do a blue one, nobody commented on that.
so take comfort in the fact that even though people commented on the candy, they are not connoisseurs!lol |
Yeah, in fact I commented myself to that effect. It was a shame because your overall image was great but that detail really stood out and detracted. Perhaps that was my problem, too, but people didn't say that, they just said "Candy!"
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 01:25:28 PM · #14 |
aahhhh...Smarties! An old favorite.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 01:35:23 PM · #15 |
Your smarties look like what we call Swizzles. Not sure of the scale, though - Swizzles are very small - about 5mm across.
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 01:36:19 PM · #16 |
Be happy for the comments! I scored in the same range as you, but got only three comments, none more than about 6 words, and none really addressed what was bad or problematic with my shot. So, on the one hand, at least you had an idea of what people were reacting to. On the other, I know it's frustrating when people react to something that seems frivilous or irrelevant to you. But I guess that's the tricky part of communicating through images - sometimes what gets communicated has nothing to do with your intention.
FWIW, while I get the pill/candy connection you were going for, if I recall correctly, the pills in the matrix were more capsule shaped. So maybe that didn't help - not only did the look like candy, but they didn't look like the pills in the movie. And, hopefully, some of the other comments here helped as well.
And, I do recognize those sized/shaped smarties - they used to sell big foot-long tubes of them in my high school during lunch (in the US), and I'd power through a whole pack during my 5th period class. That did wonders for my concentration the rest of the afternoon! But the picture hbunch posted is the most common "form" of smarties we see here. |
|
|
|
05/30/2003 02:58:11 PM · #17 |
You can't get (Rowntree?) Smarties in the States. Imagine, we have something in Canada you can't get in the US. Remember the old theme, "when you eat your Smarties do you eat the red ones last?"
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 03:03:53 PM · #18 |
For absolutely no reason, I really must share, then go back on topic.
American Smarties (the concave powdery sugar pill things) make an EXCELLENT lil' candy sandwich when you stack two of them with a nice chocolatey M&M in the middle. White or orange Smarties work best.
Yum!
That is all. :)
|
|
|
|
05/30/2003 06:45:30 PM · #19 |
| Yuck! And the worst part is, now I gotta try it! :-) |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 08/06/2025 05:14:20 AM EDT.
