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03/31/2004 06:24:41 PM · #1 |
In my recent orange entry, I was expecting mid to high 5's and hoping to make it into the 6's. As you can imagine, I was a bit disappointed that I scored under 5. :(
But what really bothers me is that I received 4 comments. Three of them were 100% complimentary. The fourth was both complimentary and mentioned that a different angle would be better.
Given those comments, am I to believe that the only reason this was scored so low was because of the angle? Obviously not. That being said, if any of the people that scored this 1,2, or 3 would like to explain why, I would be very grateful. Even if you didn't score it low, or at all for that matter, feel free to input. I would just like to know what was wrong with the photo. Not a complaint, just an inquiry.
Thanks.
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03/31/2004 06:27:54 PM · #2 |
I gave that a 7. It could be the angle paired with the slight over exposed bottom petal. I must have been in a good mood when I scored that ;)
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03/31/2004 06:45:21 PM · #3 |
Running through all the entries it is hard to be fair, but I gave this a 5, though it could have easily been a six, seven if there had been fewer flowers ( Not fair I know, but I'm trying to remember why I scored it so low). Besides being tired of flower pictures, I think I wanted more of the screen to be filled with something orange, and the petals were slightly overexposed at the highlights. I found the composition, framing and focus to be fine. As to the people who scored this shot with a one, they were undeserved, but look at the fourth place finisher in this contest, one of the finest technical shots I have seen submitted here and that got three ones. Go figure.
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03/31/2004 06:46:22 PM · #4 |
I gave it a 5 (met the challenge, not so bad but not a gee that's nice)
To caveats - I'm a flower lover so I tend to score these a bit higher that most folks, and just because I offer this feedback doesn't mean I can execute all the things I can see when it's my turn to shoot ;)
I found the bright blurry spots in the background a bit distracting even though the area right around the flower was pleasingly blurry. Lighting produces a few overexposed spots but didn't add the texture to the yellow petals - these are a bit soft focus (dof or wind?) and that detracted from the shot. The main reason is the angle, this flower is more of a full frontal one (vs a calla lily that works from many angles) This profile give more space to the orange but ultimately it suffered in the aesthetic aspects.
I offer this with respect and hope it helped explain what I saw.
editted for typos
Message edited by author 2004-03-31 18:47:56. |
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03/31/2004 06:49:32 PM · #5 |
I didnt vote, but im thinking that the diamond shaped crack thing (i dont know what else to call it) kinda distracts takes away something... if only it were a bit more closed it would have been great, im guessing thats the reason for the recommendation to the different angle, it could be how bright the flower itself is, but in my opinion thats a bad reason...
the top petal of the flower has some of it's tip in what i think i see is a border, making that tip a bit darker i suppose
perhaps the stem could have been more vertical or the leaves in the background more red, if that one petal weren't so over exposed... that would be key i think.
hahaha i dont think that theres anything else i could make up... hope that helps |
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03/31/2004 06:55:59 PM · #6 |
I didn't get a chance to comment on this challenge. I would have given this a 5. I like that the flower is nice and crisp, with nice colors, and I even like the border. And while the dof is good, for me, the "busyness" of the background competes with the flower enough to take away from it's impact. I also find the blown out highlights a little distracting, and tend to agree that a slightly different angle, (or a tight shot of the flower), may have been more effective.
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03/31/2004 06:57:49 PM · #7 |
Mine mark was 5 but you know how it works: you enter voting, you see a beautiful flower in orange, then anothe, then another.... When you see the 56th or so you just look how orange it is and if it snaps your sight - you give it 6 if it does not - 4. This one is nice and gentle - it does not scratch the eye but it also does not pull like a magnet. It's a very fair 5. I do not understand those who gave 1s - I thought DPC had less 'members' like that... I believe if I saw this photo in the first 20 for voting I'd give it 6-7.
Technically, cropping bothers me a little - I don't see the oranfge as the heart of the flower, but face and the face is placed too close to the border. As well as soft frame - it does not cmpliment the soft image. But those are details and I vote on impression without much analysis.
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03/31/2004 07:25:26 PM · #8 |
| I gave it a 6 and thought it was well done. Not wild about the dark border that fades in, but I still liked it. I was little jealous because my daffodils are only 3 inches high right now. Anyway, I gave 30 comments but those were only to the high scores and low scores. |
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03/31/2004 08:19:22 PM · #9 |
Thank you all for the further comments. Amazingly, I did not even realize the issue of it being overexposed until you guys brought it up. Apperantly, I suffer from self lauding bias. ;) The other observations were also very useful.
As far as finding yourselves voting lower because you have seen the topic numerous times in the challenge, shame on you. And while I am at it, shame on me too. I know exactly what you mean. lol.
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03/31/2004 08:39:10 PM · #10 |
I gave it a 4. It think it is a good shot, as good as I ever do. I believe I scored it under five because (1) the yellowish pedals predominate over the orange flower cup and (2) at that point I probably had seen enough flowers for one night. Also, I think my average scoring is a bit low, so I am going to work on scoring things a point higher to get my average right at five.
Since you asked, what about my my entry:
It got a dismal 4.3. I thought it had great color and was an incredibly dignified looking peep. I thought everyone loved peeps.
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03/31/2004 09:00:01 PM · #11 |
I didn't get to commenting on all of my 4 scores as I'd hoped, but here goes.
The border takes away from the brightness of the flower. Great DOF, but the angle just seems a little...blah. Perhaps from more infront or below, but the above doesn't give us the full effect. There is more yellow than orange, and the orange is not the main subject of the photo. Really beautiful clarity, but the colors, angle, and border hurt it.
(Also left comment on photo)
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03/31/2004 10:22:18 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by stevens:
I gave it a 4. It think it is a good shot, as good as I ever do. I believe I scored it under five because (1) the yellowish pedals predominate over the orange flower cup and (2) at that point I probably had seen enough flowers for one night. Also, I think my average scoring is a bit low, so I am going to work on scoring things a point higher to get my average right at five.
Since you asked, what about my my entry:
It got a dismal 4.3. I thought it had great color and was an incredibly dignified looking peep. I thought everyone loved peeps. |
I had left a comment on this one but will add an after thought I had. A but of light, even just a hint, to the back of the peep (oh Easter HURRY UP! I need my peep fix!) might have added a bit more depth to the pic.
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03/31/2004 10:46:22 PM · #13 |
Per your request in the forums....
I love the shape of the daffodil. It is a common flower. I see them all over the place, but this doesn't diminish the actual beauty provide by its shape and dimensions. The brilliant color variations that are available among the various species of this flower are great subjects for photography. There is a lot of fine detail to work with on this flower.
Now.. you are wondering about the results based on the challenge...
Elements of great photographs include shape, perspective, textures, and color for starters. Your subject has strength in shape, texture, and color, so you definitely have a subject worthy of exploration with the camera. The perspective from which you choose to photograph it will also make or break the shot.
Perspective:
I think the perspective you chose is ok. I can't see anything blatantly wrong with it. What other perspectives did you explore? If I had approached this subject, I probably would have made 5-7 distinctly different shots based on perspective alone.
Color:
The yellow and green combination are complementary of each other. They just naturally work well together. The variation in yellow presents some nice eye candy on this subject as well.
Texture:
This blossom has some distinctly interesting texture that could be highlighted in various ways.
Shape:
I think that shape is the strongest element of this, especially when coupled with the color. The contrast that could be created here with these shapes against the background are quite powerful.
Problems:
Light and background... Your background does not support the subject at all. Even though it is outside the depth of focus, it is distracting and full of contrast that is somewhat irritating. The amount of light that is falling on your subject is a bit harsh. It creates some lost detail in some of the highlights and it also creates some shadowing that creates extra unnecessary contrast.
How to rectify these issues:
1. Different time of day or different weather conditions... the direct sun is your enemy in this image. You could also create a portble 'cloud' to diffuse the direct light or have someone stand in the way of the direct sun to put this bloom in the shade.
2. Eliminate the unpleasant background. You can achieve this by shooting at night using artificial light or a flash and finding the correct exposure to fully darken the background. You could also place a sheet of a variety of colors of posterboard behind the flower to eliminate the background.
Some people will balk at removing the natural background. However, in this particular photo, the natural background doesn't work for me. If you want to maintain the natural background, you should choose a flower in a different location with an acceptably supportive background to work with.
:)
(also posted to photo)
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03/31/2004 11:17:11 PM · #14 |
John, my admiration of your quality of comments is only seconded by my admiration of your photography. Thank you very much for your time and thanks to everyone else that has commented. I learned something from everyone. Sadly, that particular dafodil is no longer with us (thanks to an overly curious 2-yo daughter), but there are several others that I will try recapturing this week. I like the idea of using artificial backgrounds and will try that. I had taken that photo from many directions, but the background I went with was the best available. In the other directions was a fence and an old jonboat that I really should get around to disposing of.
Sidenote: Stevens, I left a comment on your Peeps photo on the photo page. I had not voted on it since I made an effort to comment on all the photos I did vote on (well, most). As such, I only had time to vote for the minimum requirement.
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03/31/2004 11:18:52 PM · #15 |
I find that because your light is so harsh on the flower that it creates unsightly highlights and shadows on the flower petals. If you still believe that this was the shooting angle that you liked best, you may have wanted to consider either using some fill flash to lighten the shadows, or maybe using a white reflector to bounce some light on the flower petals.
Then, if you would have metered off of only the flower petals with spot metering it would have darkened the background even more so and you woudln't have that ugly background competing for attention and probably would have reduced the blown out highlights. The boker of the lens of your cam, like mine, I don't find to produce pleasing blurred backgrounds. |
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