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Ice cream social
Ice cream social
jdixonsd


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Pink II (Basic Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II
Location: California
Date: Aug 18, 2009
Aperture: 11
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/15
Galleries: Still Life
Date Uploaded: Aug 18, 2009

Croped, add noise, Saturation, Gaussian blur.
The Ice cream is made from powder sugar, butter, corn syrup, and food coloring.

Statistics
Place: 156 out of 161
Avg (all users): 3.1329
Avg (commenters): 3.1667
Avg (participants): 2.9661
Avg (non-participants): 3.2193
Views since voting: 693
Views during voting: 272
Votes: 173
Comments: 7
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
08/28/2009 05:19:55 PM


Critique Club Critique

First Impressions
Good concept, effort gone into set up but the technicals and angle let the image down.

Photograph Information, Technicals & Composition Review
Ok, after reading your Photographer's Comments I can see that you deliberately added noise, however it appears that there may have been some noise in the original photograph, that coupled with the lack of selective focus and some apparent camera shake (apologies in advance if wrong) and then adding gaussian blur on top, have decreased the quality and interest in the photograph, in my opinion. However, as mentioned, the processing seems to be deliberate, so unless this was an 'artistic vision' of yours that has resulted in a finished image that you are content with, I can only tell you what I, as a viewer, see when viewing this image. What I see is a poor quality image that has no strong interest in the subject or composition to 'override' any technicals - hence turning it into an artistic style image.

A slow shutter speed of 1/15 sec. and small aperture/large dof of 11 and an elevated ISO of 400 will all contribute to the flaws I mention above, which means to counteract them, you'd have to put more effort into lighting, stability (tripod), etc. If you were wanting a final product that was very grainy and full of noise, you would have to have some interesting elements in the image to carry that through and/or complement the noise - as is, I don't think that this image does that.

Composition, the angle of the image isn't showcasing the ice cream and glasses well and the visible separation and lines in your background fabrics is distracting.

As an aside, looking at how you made the ice-cream - is that edible? I wonder if you made it especially for this Challenge.. interesting.

Looking at your title, brings perhaps another edge to the concept which I might have missed initially - are you portraying these two glasses in a personified way? You don't mention this in your comments, so I'm unsure. If that was the case, I don't think that the concept has been conveyed.

It certainly is 'pink' and so fits the Challenge that way, but again, the other technical and compositional elements actually dominate the image so much that the color/s become a lower priority to the eyes.

Comments, Score & Placement Review
156/158 and a score of 3.13 is super low. I suspect that most were seeing a snapshot type image and did not linger long. That, as well as of course not knowing that you were deliberately aiming for a certain processing with your image (rightly or wrongly - but either way, it is your vision).

An average of 3.16 from your commenters: All echo the same sentiments about the noise and there are a few especially helpful and suggestive comments there too. Glad to see you found them all helpful.

Summary
Good concept in the set up, but the noise concept would require special attention to composition and quality to pull it off. Keep up the creativity and experimentation, you'll refine your style with images such as this. Just have to be willing to take the 'knocks', when you create something 'unorthodox', which you seem able to do. Next time you try a particular concept and seek a critique, putting in some detail in your comments will help members of the Critique Club give more constructive and 'aimed' criticism.

edit: typo

Message edited by author 2009-08-28 17:25:05.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/25/2009 02:34:25 PM
Too much noise.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/23/2009 10:04:40 PM
very very noisy picture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/22/2009 08:06:55 PM
Cute idea, but for me this image suffers from a lot of noise, and being generally rather flat in tone.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/22/2009 01:18:56 PM
The one on the right is kinda shaped like a heart, I wonder if isolating that single cup and putting two spoons in it would've given it a "story" of young, '50s era love...at least that's what I think I would see.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/20/2009 10:49:05 AM
Why so grainy?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/19/2009 03:44:39 AM
There was so much more you could have done with your subject. As presented, the composition is dull and static. The lack of shadows makes for a flat image, and the overall graininess doesn't suit the photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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