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05/22/2007 05:12:17 PM · #1 |
The following is opinion that may not reflect the view of the majority
Selective desaturation is a good topic for a DPC challenge because it acutely exercises these two important aspects of photography:
1-Artistic expression
2-Technical skill
Most DPC challenges will be weighted more toward one aspect or the other.
Artistic Expression:
Selective desaturation is a photographic technique used as a very powerful metaphor to highlight an object or concept in ways full color or BW alone cannot achieve. Usually the photographer has a specific message and needs selective desaturation to convey it. When selective desaturation emphasizes the main subject it can be very moving. If it doesn't, it often ruins the composition.
The great danger in using selective desaturation is to make it relevent to the composition. Failing at that will result in a lower score.
Technical:
Selective desaturation is more difficult than most people think. The amount and intensity of color allowed, AND making the boundaries between the colored parts and the BW parts look natural often requires very real artistic skills. It requires the same skill level needed for sky replacements and compositing objects from separate pictures together into one composition. That isn't easy. If you don't get it right, the image looks faked and the colored part is more distracting in the composition than it is supportive.
In other words... it is easy to ruin a perfectly good photograph.
Combining artistic expression and technical skill:
This is the goal of selective desaturation. Achieving the one without the other leaves an image incomplete and it is obvious for even the most casual voter to see.
This also makes voting on these types of images more difficult. You can have very high technical quality with an image that looks for all intents and purposes as if the photographer was mearly applying the technique gratuitously. Unfortunately, that is commonly done at DPC and the reason it gets a weak reception from many photographers here.
Voters can be left with one or two dilemmas. One is how to vote an image of high technical quality with a weak theme. The other dilemma, of course, is a powerful message muddled by technical mediocrity. Either or both sinks the image.
My Impressions:
After voting this challenge I found the percentage of 10s I give to be about the same as other challenges(around 10%). In that regard it appears to be a 'normal' challenge with the usual percentage of great images.
What isn't normal, for me anyway, is that I scored close to 40% of the images either unsatisfactory or outright failures. That is HUGE to me. I normally vote less than 15% of the images unsatisfactory or lower and often that percentage is below 10%. DPC submissions generally are very good so the percentage I rate unsatisfactory is usually small. A score of 6 or below is in the unsatisfactory range for me.
The reason I voted so many images unsatisfactory is because they failed badly on the technical side moreso than the artistic side.
This is the first DPL challenge, it is a difficult one and it has a huge number of entries. That combined with the fact this is probably the first attempt at selective desaturation for a lot of folks explains the overabundance of low scores.
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05/22/2007 05:23:34 PM · #2 |
| When the challenge is over, if you don't mind, I would love for you to comment on my entry! What you say in your post make a lot of sense to me, and I really appreciate you putting it into words. |
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05/22/2007 05:23:39 PM · #3 |
I'll think I agree with you.
But: I'll think it's better to try and submit it than just say: it's not good enough. Just let the voters decide and learn from this experience. |
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05/22/2007 05:36:20 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by BakerBug:
When the challenge is over, if you don't mind, I would love for you to comment on my entry! What you say in your post make a lot of sense to me, and I really appreciate you putting it into words. |
If you want a critique just PM me and you will get one. No guarantees it will be "right" but I'll do the best I can. :)
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05/22/2007 05:40:24 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by hajeka:
...
But: I'll think it's better to try and submit it than just say: it's not good enough. Just let the voters decide and learn from this experience. |
Very wise advice! Learning from the experience, though, can get painful sometimes. :) ;)
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05/22/2007 05:45:02 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by stdavidson:
Very wise advice! Learning from the experience, though, can get painful sometimes. :) ;) |
What's painful? Submitting good things is (very) nice, but you learn the most from your mistakes. |
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