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10/08/2011 05:00:25 AM · #1
Well, I had this entry for sep free study.

I thought it would touch 6 in score but got stranded on 5.3

I see a lot of 5's and 4's ( some 3,2,1 also but dnt care about them much ).

I just wish to know what went wrong here ?
I am thinking that it was not that people disliked it, it was just that they did not like it. hence all the 5's.

some feedback related to missing attraction would be helpful.

Thanks,
Prashant
10/08/2011 05:15:37 AM · #2
joint he club i spent 6 hours sat in the dark on the moors to get these pics and only got a 5.8 now i know i messed up on post processing and forgot to check accross a few screens as looking at it on my ipad now my shot is washed out, low contrast but on my macbook pro it looks darker. mine here //www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=976257

with yours there just isnt much to it, it an ok family portrait but photos to do well on here have to be wow, the bokeh could have been better but i guess thats your lens, a 1.4/1.8 etc would have been better. the composition just doesnt stand out as a wow shot, its crowded am i looking at the girl or the bright ball drawing my eyes attention? and the colours are a little washed out, maybe change the white balance. but there are much better photographers on here than me.

these are only my uniformed opinions and mean no offence
10/08/2011 05:56:44 AM · #3
Prashant - it is a lovely photo but for the most of us it has no 'wow' factor - the ball takes the eye off the girl is one problem. That and photos of children rarely do well in the FS.

fixed for Giles_uk

10/08/2011 06:04:02 AM · #4
I agree its a very nice family snapshot,but not really what members vote highly for in Free Study.
10/08/2011 08:42:34 AM · #5
I gave it a 6. I like the selective focus on the girl. I couldn't decide if the tongue sticking out helped or harmed the photo, but in the end, I liked it. Hard to get a high score with a child in the free study. It must be truly exceptional. I was a bit disappointed with mine as well, but thats the way it goes. I have to say that I was glad to see some different stuff in the top ten. Not the usual water drops and long exposure beach shots. Two shots with cats! They are almost as hard as children to get a high score on. Your photo is solid. It will look great on someone's wall.
10/08/2011 09:22:39 AM · #6
@ Prashant - the pic is nice enough and colourful, if you look at your voting histo you see you got plenty of 6s. But the ball detracts greatly from the girl, it's colourful and looks as big as she is. The girl is cute enough but again, she is taking a back seat to the prop. FWIW, I'd also brush a bit on the various *rules* of composition.

@ Giles - lovely shot, you're on the right road, and a 5.8 isn't anything to sneeze at, especially here, and especially in a FS challenge. You may need to figure out a way to calibrate your monitor if the image appears washy. And don't rely too much on the pp. Treat it as the icing on the cake, not a key ingredient. If you don't have a good pic to start with, no amount of pp will help! And yes, kudos on being out there all night to get the shot. But you're quite new here, and most of us think nothing of shooting a few hundred shots for a challenge entry.

My advice overall to you both - get out there and shoot. Not just a dozen frames or so, but a few hundred. Shoot stuff that has nothing whatsoever to do with a challenge, just take a simple household item and shoot it on the Manual setting, in all kinds of light, with whatever lenses you have. Essentially, get to know your gear and what it's capable of.

Hope this is of help to you both.
10/08/2011 09:29:18 AM · #7
For some strange reason, I was foolish enough to think this would do well...



I was trying to make it look like a toy,
10/08/2011 09:59:10 AM · #8
Thanks everyone for the feedback.
10/08/2011 01:01:34 PM · #9
Prashant: I gave it a 7 because I thought it was a great capture of a moment. One that deserves a place on the wall of your home. However, I didn't think it would perform much better than a mid 5 because of the lack of wow factor and not having anything special and different that would appeal to the collective. The kind of shot that most people give a quick 5 to and then press on. Not bad, but doesn't grab them either. Photos of our kids are tough because we have an emotional connection and we cannot see them them way others do.

Mike: I also gave yours a 7. Part of it was that I like these old rusty-crusties and all the wildflowers growing out of it was unique and different. The perspective was rather plain, however, and the PP was a good effort at something retro that fell a little short of what you may have been trying to achieve. If it's close enough for a revisit, I'd love to see this shot redone from a different viewpoint.

Might as well throw my own in for some feedback. The reason I entered this one was that Bear_music felt the aspect of her face being partially hidden was a major flaw. I felt it was part of what made the shot, making the subject into the relationship between the cowgirl and her horse, rather than being a portrait of her and her horse. I had to enter it and see what happened. Didn't set any records, but performed decently. So, my question is: How did the aspect of her face being mostly hidden come off on you?

10/08/2011 01:05:57 PM · #10
For what its worth, I gave it a 7. I liked how whimsical the picture was.
I do think that the foreground ball was distracting for many. And some people just like giving children low scores because they are Grinches ;-)
10/08/2011 01:13:37 PM · #11
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Might as well throw my own in for some feedback. The reason I entered this one was that Bear_music felt the aspect of her face being partially hidden was a major flaw. I felt it was part of what made the shot, making the subject into the relationship between the cowgirl and her horse, rather than being a portrait of her and her horse. I had to enter it and see what happened. Didn't set any records, but performed decently. So, my question is: How did the aspect of her face being mostly hidden come off on you?


This is exactly what makes art beautiful. No right or wrong. What you perceive as a plus some might see it as a flaw. I am also on the same boat that thinks her face being partially hidden is exactly what makes this shot special. Great entry! Perhaps a little softer processing might have gotten you a higher score since soft processing with horses usually works nicely.

Message edited by author 2011-10-08 13:20:19.
10/08/2011 01:30:41 PM · #12
I gave this one a 7, but like others found the ball distracting. I based my score on the clarity of the image around the score which I felt was very well done. I think a tighter crop of the girl with the ball removed would be a much more engaging photograph.
10/08/2011 02:01:09 PM · #13
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Mike: I also gave yours a 7. Part of it was that I like these old rusty-crusties and all the wildflowers growing out of it was unique and different. The perspective was rather plain, however, and the PP was a good effort at something retro that fell a little short of what you may have been trying to achieve. If it's close enough for a revisit, I'd love to see this shot redone from a different viewpoint.


Thanks Steve, I wanted to take the shot more from the front of the truck, but the the background would've included a big ugly building, and I would of had to stand in a busy intersection to take it. I was going to attempt to change the perspective using PS, but I ran out of time and I wasn't sure it was legal.

I like that her face is hidden, I think it would be a little cheesy and lacking emotion (of the relationship)if the other way around.
10/08/2011 02:28:17 PM · #14
Originally posted by sinistral_leo:

Thanks Steve, I wanted to take the shot more from the front of the truck, but the the background would've included a big ugly building, and I would of had to stand in a busy intersection to take it. I was going to attempt to change the perspective using PS, but I ran out of time and I wasn't sure it was legal.

That's the kind of thing the viewer has no way of knowing. I've gotten similar comments, where the commenter had no way of knowing the suggested change in viewpoint would make the picture worse because of other elements.
10/08/2011 03:44:51 PM · #15
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:

Prashant: I gave it a 7 because I thought it was a great capture of a moment. One that deserves a place on the wall of your home. However, I didn't think it would perform much better than a mid 5 because of the lack of wow factor and not having anything special and different that would appeal to the collective. The kind of shot that most people give a quick 5 to and then press on. Not bad, but doesn't grab them either. Photos of our kids are tough because we have an emotional connection and we cannot see them them way others do.

Mike: I also gave yours a 7. Part of it was that I like these old rusty-crusties and all the wildflowers growing out of it was unique and different. The perspective was rather plain, however, and the PP was a good effort at something retro that fell a little short of what you may have been trying to achieve. If it's close enough for a revisit, I'd love to see this shot redone from a different viewpoint.

Might as well throw my own in for some feedback. The reason I entered this one was that Bear_music felt the aspect of her face being partially hidden was a major flaw. I felt it was part of what made the shot, making the subject into the relationship between the cowgirl and her horse, rather than being a portrait of her and her horse. I had to enter it and see what happened. Didn't set any records, but performed decently. So, my question is: How did the aspect of her face being mostly hidden come off on you?


i gave your horse and rider shot an 8 my and was my third picture in the challenge behind the red tail and wheeping willow on a 9(i reserve 10's for truely outstanding pictures|) which both didnt do as well as i expected. i grew up with horses and build horse sand schools and stables as my job so spend a fair amout of time rd horses and loved the cander and honesty of your shot.

YO_spiff yeah you are right, dissapoint is wrong but thought might tip the 6.0+ as that my goal as im a new member like you say and having a real renaissance with photography this last 6 months and ive seen much improvement, to be fair im an all in camera man. might adjust level slightly but its all trail and error and can mask crudely but that my pp skils. i messed up on this one as i rushed it between being a single dad a company owner and all other lifes complications. sky could have been better i'l paste what i added to the pic here. i shot 550 that day and this month according to aperture ive shot 44567 images. but i do need to shoot more and am now confident enough to shoot anyone and anything

here's what i put about my photo

it was torches(flashlights) in my hands an LED little maglite the blue one and a big 4 D maglite the yellow light. i dont really know post porcessing so i messed up i think, i tried to layer mask in the rock at front to get a better light but somehow messed the sky up juliboc says

with hindsight i should have maybe masked the light tails into the second picture as the sky etc is much better on the second image, live and learn though

heres the original straight out of the camera


heres the one i used to try and light the front rock better


not sure how i messed the sky up :( pretty disappointed with the score, average vote from participants and commentors was 7 non participants was 5.8? best photo ive taken for a while but obviously not glossy enough, better start learning all about post processing to get the DPC look.

this from the same night was my alternative choice


here are all of them from this set //www.flickr.com/photos/cyberprop/sets/72157627666890159/
10/11/2011 12:53:58 PM · #16
Originally posted by prashant_168:

Well, I had this entry for sep free study.

I thought it would touch 6 in score but got stranded on 5.3

I see a lot of 5's and 4's ( some 3,2,1 also but dnt care about them much ).

I just wish to know what went wrong here ?
I am thinking that it was not that people disliked it, it was just that they did not like it. hence all the 5's.

some feedback related to missing attraction would be helpful.

Thanks,
Prashant

Might of been better if the ball was alot smaller working as an anchor point leading the eye to move to the child.
10/11/2011 01:41:40 PM · #17
Originally posted by prashant_168:

Well, I had this entry for sep free study.

I thought it would touch 6 in score but got stranded on 5.3

I see a lot of 5's and 4's ( some 3,2,1 also but dnt care about them much ).

I just wish to know what went wrong here ?
I am thinking that it was not that people disliked it, it was just that they did not like it. hence all the 5's.

some feedback related to missing attraction would be helpful.

Thanks,
Prashant


I scored it an 8. I thought it was very well composed and I liked the use of depth of field.

That said, I learned long ago that some folks don't like pictures of children, puppies, flowers, insects, etc... They vote down photos based upon thier feelings of the subject. (in fairness i have to admit that I have a hard time voting fairly on anything with a cat in it... I'll often skip voting on them if I can't find it in me to be fair and vote the image) I use to find low scores of anything with my children to be disappointing and a little offensive. I've learned to shoot what i want and not worry about scores.

My average vote on photos with my children is considerably lower than others of my photos. But i also like them a lot more than my images of skylights that won a ribbon.

Message edited by author 2011-10-11 13:42:47.
10/11/2011 01:50:30 PM · #18
Steve, I gave your shot a 6. I should have given it a 7. Good tones, strong composition. The lack of a face is a plus for this shot, but show me a picture with her face in it and it might be better, depending on the picture.
10/12/2011 04:50:27 AM · #19
Thanks again for all the inputs.

I too agree (now) that the ball should have been occupying less space.
10/31/2011 01:51:27 PM · #20
Prashant --

I think the problem is people tend to look at people first. No reason the ball couldn't be the subject, though, as I recently learned with my street macro, if a human is in focus everyone focuses on the human.

Message edited by author 2011-10-31 13:52:01.
10/31/2011 02:09:02 PM · #21
I don't have to tell anyone I am disappointed from voting in this site many times (not only for my photos but other well done photos that replaced somewhat poorly, but this one real hurt me! I thought I had the subject correct, executed nicely with hint of humor but still got 5.5 !

10/31/2011 03:18:36 PM · #22
what's wrong with 5.5?
10/31/2011 03:27:25 PM · #23
Originally posted by posthumous:

what's wrong with 5.5?


Nothing wrong with 5.5 for a photo deserves 5.5... I thought that photo would go up to 6. I know "I thought" has no meaning in this place but sometime I am pretty sure about my work... I still am sure about this one and that's way the disappointment.
10/31/2011 03:32:51 PM · #24
Originally posted by FocusPoint:

Originally posted by posthumous:

what's wrong with 5.5?


Nothing wrong with 5.5 for a photo deserves 5.5... I thought that photo would go up to 6. I know "I thought" has no meaning in this place but sometime I am pretty sure about my work... I still am sure about this one and that's way the disappointment.


People who complain about 5.5's remind me of Lake Woebegone, where every child is above average.
10/31/2011 03:47:29 PM · #25
Originally posted by posthumous:

Originally posted by FocusPoint:

Originally posted by posthumous:

what's wrong with 5.5?


Nothing wrong with 5.5 for a photo deserves 5.5... I thought that photo would go up to 6. I know "I thought" has no meaning in this place but sometime I am pretty sure about my work... I still am sure about this one and that's way the disappointment.


People who complain about 5.5's remind me of Lake Woebegone, where every child is above average.


I don't think you are getting the point here though. 6 is the number most of us want to achieve here and that's why I gave that photo as a sample of disappointment not getting there. My goal is to get at least 6 every challenge, that's my goal. If someone's goal is 5, than I believe he or she would complain about 4.5 and not getting 5 instead. I DO understand I won't get 6 on all images I entered, and I can judge myself afterwards for the results (and not complain about them all). There are very few times that I am pretty sure of my work... and this shoe photo was one of them. I can't explain it more than saying "this is DPC", and no I will not just go for "that's what voters decided, so shut up" mentality either.
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