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01/31/2003 09:43:25 AM |
Hello from the Critique Club - Sorry I'm late. Life intervened in the form of a sixteen year old son, a stop sign, and the side of my car. Son is fine, car is not.
I'm glad, actually, that I waited to review your photo because in the meantime I have calibrated all the monitors that I use and now your road looks much better. I can see the children in your other two submissions too. I think that many people who vote do not have their gamma thing adjusted and therefore see a photo like this one very dark. There were several comments about it being to dark, which it is not. And while I'm on the subject of voters, remember that this is an amateur bunch. Some do not even own cameras. In your case you lost a lot of points because people couldn't read the sign. If it had been a familiar US roadsign which have standard recognizable shapes it wouldn't have been an issue, but it is in arabic and people wanted to know what it said. We Americans are a narrow minded bunch. We forget the rest of the world exists.
Looks like I have started out with the negative stuff so I"ll continue and then get to the good stuff. Another reason I think you are not gettting the scores you deserve on all three of your previous entries is that they are "too small". You are not taking advantage of the maximum size allowed. I think this is a mistake because you lose a lot of potential for detail if the image appears smaller on my screen. Lonely road is only 328 x 476 pixels when the rules state that you can use anything up to 640. Why not take advantage of the max?
That's the end of my bad comments- just that voters are picky and that pixels are lacking. Now the good comments. This picture is STUNNING!
Lonely Road is a perfect photograph in all respects. Where can I start? It is a masterpiece of composition!. First it is divided into thirds, that magicly pleasing division based on the biology of a humans field of view. The lower third is darker and weights the upper two thirds of sky.
The leading lines of the road go to a vanishing point in another thirds position. All the curved lines lead into the picture, nothing leads out. It feels like a black hole. Even the lines of the clouds are pointing and swirling towards that distant destination. The uprights of the road signs (I don't care what they say) all contrast with the curves of the road, but they, too, tilt slightly inwards as if they are being sucked into the vortex. I love the repeating patterns of the dots and dashes. The dots in the center strip are echoed by the dashes at the edge of the road and again but the concrete barriers which are dashes with dots on top. Lovely. Texture in the foreground smooths out in the background and reappears in the sky.
Black and white is the perfect choice. The grey tones are all muted except for the road sign which stands out by being dark. Nothing is bright white. Nice. Another advantage of chosing black and white is that I think it makes the photo sort of universal. For me, and where I live, I imagine that there is an ocean out to the right, beyond the barriers, and that the buildings on the left are coastal. But I can also imagine how it could be interpreted as snow over there, or sand, or a large lake. No matter what you think you see it is in the "vast nothingness" category, or maybe I mean "vast nature-being-stronger -than-man feeling". The road is clinging to the frontier of overpowering landscape and weather. Just barely holding on, maybe about to be flooded, or blown away. The little human buildings on the left look fragile and temporary. And there is no one there. Lonely lonely. Lonely because there is barely a trace of humans. The road signs and lamp posts don't feel like they were put there by people, they feel like part of the landscare. Only the building looks man made, but maybe deserted. ANd lonely because of the hugeness of the sky and land you show, a person would feel very tiny. Would he even cast a shadow? None of the road posts do.
Techinical stuff? all perfect, perfect focus, perfect lighting, perfect BW balance, perfect post editing (if any, maybe the photo was perfect to begin with), percect focus....um what else is there? I'm sure it is perfect even if I forgot to mention it.
This is a very tight, professional, controlled, planned out photo. Nothing extraneous to the visual or emotional message was included. I hope you continue to submit. The rest of us could learn a lot by studying your images. Next time, please, make the picture bigger. You deserve to win some ribbons here.
Now the disclaimer - remember that this is only my opinion and I am not an expert, far from it.
Message edited by author 2003-02-04 12:05:20. |
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 Photographer found comment helpful. |
Comments Made During the Challenge  |
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01/26/2003 02:20:25 PM |
| I honestly think that you have the potential here to make a really good shot. For some reason, the way you have caputreded it here has missed out on justice that the shot deserved. |
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01/24/2003 09:52:24 PM |
| Interesting. Is that sign in Arabic? I really like the curve of the road, and the way the sign and lamps lean into the frame. The road leading toward whatever's under that hotspot in the sky works for me, too. Would like to see this bigger, though, and a little less grainy if possible (although the graininess is consistent with the feel of the pic). |
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01/23/2003 07:02:19 PM |
Sure does look lonely, but can't read any of the road signs. What do they say?
perhaps just too much sky? |
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01/23/2003 05:32:34 PM |
| title and b/w go well with this photo |
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01/23/2003 08:02:38 AM |
| Nice shot. Is that Arabic writing on that sign? |
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01/22/2003 08:54:25 AM |
| Nice use of the medium (black and white). The low horizon adds to the feeling of desolation. Maybe a gradiant filter would have decreased the white out in the clouds and allowed for more contrast in the clouds and scenary. |
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01/21/2003 11:42:04 PM |
| It's a lovely b&w, with lots of atmosphere, but the road really steals attention from the sign. Framing is interesting - lot's of sky, but it helps create the mood for the photo. I just wish the sign played a more significant role in this photo. |
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01/21/2003 08:48:47 PM |
| Is that fog or a storm coming in? |
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01/21/2003 08:16:24 PM |
| I can't read any of the road signs. I see them, but can't figure them out. Looks like a storm a coming up. Decent B&W, but feel I should be able to read at least one road sign for the challenge to be meet. I'll still give it a 5. |
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01/21/2003 08:01:58 PM |
| Nice picture, very good title. Even though I can't read arabic, I think I would have liked to have seen the sign better. 7 Swash |
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01/21/2003 03:32:21 PM |
| It's a nice, moody shot, but I feel I want to be able to read the sign. |
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01/21/2003 12:19:46 AM |
| Nice curve, but the signs don't do much for to help me figure out the subject. |
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01/20/2003 09:42:13 PM |
| This image could be larger, but I like the use of B&W, and the composition. Very lonely feeling. 7 |
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01/20/2003 06:12:14 PM |
| Can't read that sign? Are you supposed to be able to? |
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01/20/2003 11:08:57 AM |
| too bad the sign is so hard to read. it looks like its part in arabic would would have made the picture more interesting in my opinion because it would have added to the exotic-ness (at least from my perspective) of the composition. |
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01/20/2003 10:47:28 AM |
| Is it just me or can you really feel the isolation in this picture? Great shot...8 |
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01/20/2003 12:31:43 AM |
| I wish that I could have read the sign |
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