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 09/16/2002 08:15:33 AM · #1
I'd appreciate some feedback on what I could have added or done differently with my F & V image. I got MANY comments about how they loved the composition but I feel it's missing something and that it didn't really appeal to as many people as I had hoped. Any thoughts?
 09/16/2002 08:19:29 AM · #2
Originally posted by BigSmiles:
I'd appreciate some feedback on what I could have added or done differently with my F & V image. I got MANY comments about how they loved the composition but I feel it's missing something and that it didn't really appeal to as many people as I had hoped. Any thoughts?

I think the composition here is excellent... I don't believe this image is missing anything as far as the composition goes... As I look at the image again, it appears that the light is coming from the rear of the image at about 2 o'clock maybe? I wonder if bringing the light in from the lower left angle would have made the colors punch a little more?


 09/16/2002 08:41:25 AM · #3
I gave it a 6.
To be straight (do not take it bad please) .... it's like I have nothing to say .. it's nicely done .. but ... I do not like it that much .. nothing special to me .. but I cannot say either how I would have done that specific one differently ....
Lionel
 09/16/2002 08:54:53 AM · #4
Originally posted by lionelm:
I gave it a 6.
To be straight (do not take it bad please) .... it's like I have nothing to say .. it's nicely done .. but ... I do not like it that much .. nothing special to me .. but I cannot say either how I would have done that specific one differently ....
Lionel

technically it is a well taken photo, but the composition doesn't do
much for me. I don't feel led around the picture, my eye jumps around
trying to find somewhere to rest, it seems a bit cluttered and busy
as well.
09/16/2002 08:58:24 AM · #5
Unfortunately for me I dont have any lamps at home so the 2 oclock light couldn't be helped. I suppose it could have used a little more contrast but too much makes the fruit look too bright and it appears fake. I think a lot of the f/v picture were overdone in the contrast and made to look much brighter than they really are. Not a realistic depiction but it seems to be a crowd pleaser.
 09/16/2002 09:13:05 AM · #6
I thought it was a good photo...gave it a 7. I think it was too cluttered, and the scallion at the top led my eye straight out of the photo. If you removed the rolling pin and the one scallion it would be better imho.
 09/16/2002 09:29:37 AM · #7
Originally posted by BigSmiles:
Unfortunately for me I dont have any lamps at home so the 2 oclock light couldn't be helped. I suppose it could have used a little more contrast but too much makes the fruit look too bright and it appears fake. I think a lot of the f/v picture were overdone in the contrast and made to look much brighter than they really are. Not a realistic depiction but it seems to be a crowd pleaser.

Actually, I like your photo and gave it an 8. However, I also commented that it could have been brighter. I think you could have achieved that without software - but using sunlight. I had a few folks who thought my berries were over satuated - but that's how they looked in the sunlight. I had to wait until the right time of day to get them the way I did.
I think you could have done the same. Put the grouping you had near a window, and then caught them in natural light. You should try this, even though the challenge is done.
Good luck,
Jim
 09/16/2002 09:41:43 AM · #8
technically it is a well taken photo, but the composition doesn't do
much for me. I don't feel led around the picture, my eye jumps around
trying to find somewhere to rest, it seems a bit cluttered and busy
as well.


I agree 100% with this. For some reason the lemonade bothered me as well. I kept being drawn to it and felt unfulfilled. It was too cloudy, too many seeds, not bright enough...I'm not sure. It just seemed out of place with the vegetables to me.
 09/16/2002 10:06:24 AM · #9
i have a similar question .. i thought my shot looked like a poster a chef might put up .. yet it did middlingly well .. any thoughts on that?

:)

tia,

mag99
 09/16/2002 10:37:51 AM · #10
Originally posted by magnetic9999:
i have a similar question .. i thought my shot looked like a poster a chef might put up .. yet it did middlingly well .. any thoughts on that?

:)

tia,

mag99

I scored your a 7, but didn't have time to comment. Looking at it again, I would suggest that the upper left is too bright. Also, the arrangement of the F&Vs should have been played with more. They too are in the upper left of the stand, and tend to draw the eye to the upper left bright area. Finally, the whole picture is "very white". It would be interesting to see how this looked with different backgrounds.

 09/16/2002 10:38:16 AM · #11
Mag, personally, I didn't really understand it... because you didn't have the ingredients of a Caesar salad! Also, the vegetables were in those little neat arrangements. It seemed a bit spartan to be displayed on that pedestal. Something more rich and overflowing, with lots more veggies and a dense arrangement, would have seemed more appropriate to me.

I'm posting comments in the forums like this because I was a bit busy to comment much during the week. I'm relieved I even managed to vote on them all!
 09/16/2002 10:59:20 AM · #12
gotcha. i didnt call it 'ceasar's salad' but 'a salad FOR ceasar'. the point was they were presented on the pedestal for the emperor .. oh well .. :) .. i had some one comment that those veggies werent even known in europe until 1500's, which was sort of beside the point, but anyway, lol ..

as far as the whiteness and the overexposure, this is the version that I REALLY REALLY LIKED The Good ONE ..

The overexposure was purposeful because it imparted a glowing angelic quality to the image, but I knew that if I submitted it, everyone would assume that it was an accident, and not on purpose ;). So I went with the one I did, which, imo was kind of boring .. oh well :):)
 09/16/2002 11:11:21 AM · #13
I liked your photo. and you placed fairly well, I give it an 8, I think you should print it, frame it, and enjoy it. If I could tell you how to make I more eciting image, I would not have finished in the 100's.

Originally posted by BigSmiles:
I'd appreciate some feedback on what I could have added or done differently with my F & V image. I got MANY comments about how they loved the composition but I feel it's missing something and that it didn't really appeal to as many people as I had hoped. Any thoughts?


 09/16/2002 11:17:56 AM · #14
i think this was a nice classy shot. . i think the colors were a tad drab though, and prolly could benefit with a little more lighting from the front :)

good luck in the challenges!


Originally posted by BigSmiles:
I'd appreciate some feedback on what I could have added or done differently with my F & V image. I got MANY comments about how they loved the composition but I feel it's missing something and that it didn't really appeal to as many people as I had hoped. Any thoughts?

 09/16/2002 11:19:39 AM · #15
Originally posted by BigSmiles:
I'd appreciate some feedback on what I could have added or done differently with my F & V image. I got MANY comments about how they loved the composition but I feel it's missing something and that it didn't really appeal to as many people as I had hoped. Any thoughts?

BigSmiles,

I scored it 9 because I like the shot. I didn't give it 10 because I felt there was something not quite right but wasn't sure what. Having read all of the comments, most people are seeing something missing or thinking it's too cluttered, badly lit and the like. I think it has nothing to do with light and overall composition, I think this has more to do with orientation. It looks like everything in the shot is competing for space in the horizontal plane. I think you should reframe the shot in landscape and then post it here and see if the folks here can see an improvement. I think they will… It would be an interesting experiment, and perhaps we could all learn from the result – what do you think?

James


 09/16/2002 11:30:41 AM · #16
I gave it a 5. I agree with many of the comments that it's well composed. Although I do think some of the items in the bowl are slightly underexposed... shadows maybe? The reason for not voting better than a 5 is that it's too simple to me. I guess I'm learning that I am not a fan of still photography. Just not interesting.

Not saying you need to do that Alien Landscape stuff, hehe... but just something that doesn't look like all the others.

/thinks to self and remembers that his own shot looked like the others too!
09/16/2002 11:57:59 AM · #17

Originally posted by BigSmiles:
[i]I'd appreciate some feedback on what I could have added or done differently with my F & V image. I got MANY comments about how they loved the composition but I feel it's missing something and that it didn't really appeal to as many people as I had hoped. Any thoughts?

BigSmiles,

I gave your photo a 9. It reminds me of barbques in the summer when the family gets together. Every one in the kitchen and outside just enjoying themselves. Ya, I like your photo. For the lighting, It looks like you took it outside on a sunny day. That adds more appeal to the photo. Thats my thoughts. :)




 09/16/2002 12:18:24 PM · #18
BigSmiles,
i think you have the making for a very nice shot. to me it is just too flat, which is due to your lighting. i also think it is too busy for such a tight cropping. i would loose the rolling pen. i know you said you didnt have much to light with. i think putting a light on the back wall to make it more white than grey would make things pop a bit.
i also was just playing with it in photoshop and you could have helped the contrast some with adjusting your levels.
i'm not saying i could do any better i am just approaching this as an art director and what i would tell the photographer that placed this on my desk.
nice effort.
 09/17/2002 01:19:53 AM · #19
It makes me nervous replying to posts like this. Partially because I don't know what I'm talking about so who am I to say what someone else is doing wrong, and partially because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But I think you've posted similar things twice now, so I'll give you my honest opinion. Please take this in the spirit of helpfulness that I intend.

I'm reading a great book now, "Inner game of Outdoor Photography" by the late Galen Rowell who recently passed away, along with his wife, in a plane crash. It's really a collection of essays, most of which were published in Outdoor Photography over the years. One of them, Learning to See, starts with this paragraph: "Lastingly successful art triggers audience responses that are ready to happen in the culture as a whole. Regardless of how perfectly a photographer's work renders a subject, it is bound to fail unless it strikes that chord that elicits a common emotional and visual response."

I think this is a good summary of what's happening with your photos. I think your picture is very good technically, but it doesn't strike a chord with me (I gave it a 6, which is sort of my top score for "well done, but doesn't move me"). Your picture is composed of basically 3 objects: a bowl of fruits and veggies, a rolling pin, and a glass of lemonaide (or lemon water?). But you don't give us any clue about what these items are doing together. Why is that rolling pin there? Whose drinking the water? Is it a common emotional experience for us to visualize these three objects together?

Photographs that make us feel something do so by triggering emotions that we've already collected over the years. I think your photo fails to trigger that emotion because it's hard to see a story about those three particular objects grouped togther. It's not usually helpful to say "now what WOULD have worked...", but think about an image with your bowl of salad stuff, and a loaf of bread, and a bottle of whine. Or oil & vinegar. Or a candle. In other words, try and make it easier for us to feel a story behind the shot.

By the way, this book has some real gems. And not just about outdoor photography, but about all photography and art in general.

Chris
 09/18/2002 12:23:41 AM · #20
The long winded prose

* This message has been edited by the author on 9/18/2002 12:22:43 AM.
 09/18/2002 08:40:37 AM · #21
I gave you a 7. I didn't like the lemon in the drink not being perfectly clean. Maybe im Nitpicky but i wouldn't put in my drink that way. Its still a shot to be proud of.

Tim
 09/18/2002 08:47:48 AM · #22
Chris, I think that is a pretty good explanation. Technically perfect photos don't make them a 10 score every time. Subjectivity has to play a role, as you described...

I'm dealing with a photo that I submitted this week that I think it technically great. I don't think my photo is striking the proverbial 'chord' in many though.


09/18/2002 08:59:03 AM · #23
I also agree with chris I try and follow these guidelines when entering a chalenge unfortunately not often meeting them! Is/does my image
•Technically correct (exposure, focus, etc.)
•Good composition.
•Tell a story or create a mood
•Have a high impact to the viewer
•Fit the theme of the Challenge
I also try and vote on these guidelines and very rarely give below a 4
and whilst I would like to score high I initially joined this site to broaden my photographic eye! By trying to photograph all the challenges I attempt photographs I never would have before!


 09/18/2002 09:19:51 AM · #24
Originally posted by sulamk:
I also agree with chris I try and follow these guidelines when entering a chalenge unfortunately not often meeting them! Is/does my image
•Technically correct (exposure, focus, etc.)
•Good composition.
•Tell a story or create a mood
•Have a high impact to the viewer
•Fit the theme of the Challenge
I also try and vote on these guidelines and very rarely give below a 4
and whilst I would like to score high I initially joined this site to broaden my photographic eye! By trying to photograph all the challenges I attempt photographs I never would have before!




Based on that, I would like to ask you about your comment on my photo this week when the challenge is over :) I got a 5 from you (NOT complaining) and it was broken down:

Lighting: 4
Composition: 5
Appeal: 5

In my photo this week, the lighting played a major role for me. You can't really tell in the photo, but it was quite difficult to light and get the result i was looking for. I shot about 75 images, varying the lighting on each one until I found what I wanted. Since you scored mine slightly below average on the lighting aspect, I would love to hear more about it :) Once again, I'm not complaining :)

 09/19/2002 01:50:21 AM · #25
John I have remarked a few of the lower ones up on the lighting I discovered that I had a screen adjustment problem which was affecting the way I was seeing the images! I hope yours was one of them!
Please will anyone who feels, that I have marked down on the lighting pm me by Friday as I am going away for 4 days and I will take a second look!
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