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10/03/2007 01:47:14 PM · #1 |
I considered the negative space when composing this image. The water and sky combine to make a lovely S curve. Start lower left in front of the large rock sweep around it to the right then back left in front of the larger formations then sweep again right behind the large formations to complete the curve.
There are secondary S curves found in the rise and fall of the large rock formation.
Also it is possible to see a gentle S curve starting at the sun moving left around the small formation on the right then sweeping back to the large rock lower left. much more of a stretch but never the less notable.
For me I didn't see this image as a shoehorn of any sort.
Message edited by author 2007-10-03 13:49:30. |
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10/03/2007 01:50:58 PM · #2 |
I see the S-curve now that you point it out, but I think the photo needs to speak for itself--especially in a challenge. The majority of the commenters did not see the S, and I can understand why.
It is still a great shot, nonetheless. |
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10/03/2007 01:53:21 PM · #3 |
IMO, an S curve, implied or actual, needs to lead the eye naturally through the photo. This one took my eye in a counter-clockwise circle, from rock to rock.
I do see what you're referring to but, for me, it was simply not strong enough to be a factor.
Hope this helps you understand why not everyone agreed with you :)
(It's still a lovely shot, though!)
Message edited by author 2007-10-03 13:55:41. |
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10/03/2007 01:53:42 PM · #4 |
One can see the S if it's pointed out. However, the natural flow of the eye on this shot is to bounce back and forth between the two rocks which dominate the composition. The eye launches out from this back and forth pattern to grasp the waves and sunset, but always returns to this back and forth.
While one can find an "S", it is not doing what an "S" is supposed to and thus becomes irrelevant.
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10/03/2007 01:58:44 PM · #5 |
Well, Jason, my eye doesn't bounce like yours, but it also didn't follow an S shape through the picture.
Doesn't matter, William - the point is that many people saw something other than what you saw. That's the nature of these challenges. The game is to find something that most people see as meeting the challenge and like.
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10/03/2007 02:00:00 PM · #6 |
| The S-curve concept in a photo usually dominates the composition as to draw the viewer through the frame. In this photo, I don't feel that the s-curve is the dominent compositional factor. I feel that by croping some off the sides of this photo it may have been more prevalent. That being said it's a nice photo that you can still be proud of, voters just felt that it didn't quite fit the challenge. |
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10/03/2007 02:01:20 PM · #7 |
I agree I had a hard time defining the S curve in the photo even though its an awesome photo.
I guess I have the same problem with 'implied'. I submitted a photo that was meant to be very simple and showed an "S". What I was trying to do was lead your imagination through the image and not necessarily your eye. Even though I will bet most people traced the outline of the S with their eyes. I guess this incorrect on my part. I guess in these challenges you either be very direct or you get burned at the stake???? |
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10/03/2007 02:28:28 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by treimee:
I guess in these challenges you either be very direct or you get burned at the stake???? |
Truer words were never spoken.
Just remember that DPC is one audience with one typical mode of operation. Don't assume that all photography works that way. :)
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10/03/2007 03:29:45 PM · #9 |
| Levy thanks for the advice! I guess being my first challenge on the site I learned a lesson the hard way??? |
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10/03/2007 03:34:32 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by treimee:
Levy thanks for the advice! I guess being my first challenge on the site I learned a lesson the hard way??? |
On a gentler note, it's not that voters here are stupid, slow, or banal. I think it's more a function of hundreds of entries to go through, an enormous variety in culture, and a large number of languages (including Aussies, Brits, and Americans, who don't always understand each other).
So sly references or allusions to "well-known" cultural events or items can fall flat. Nothing made that clearer to me than the "famous last words" challenge. To me, that was OBVIOUSLY about phrases that come back to haunt the person who said them. But to a non-English speaker, it was probably equally obvious it's about the last words famous people uttered before they died.
And there are plenty of other miscommunications.
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10/03/2007 03:40:28 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by treimee:
I agree I had a hard time defining the S curve in the photo even though its an awesome photo.
I guess I have the same problem with 'implied'. I submitted a photo that was meant to be very simple and showed an "S". What I was trying to do was lead your imagination through the image and not necessarily your eye. Even though I will bet most people traced the outline of the S with their eyes. I guess this incorrect on my part. I guess in these challenges you either be very direct or you get burned at the stake???? |
Here's my 2 cents...
Almost every single photo out there can have an 'implied' s-curve. You can use the literral letter S, or imagination, or negative space or however you want to define it. But that doesn't mean it meets the original intent of what an S-curve photo is.
For the photo in this thread I saw the s-curve that was being implied but it does not fit the category. Not because its implied or takes a little imagination but because of what several people here have pointed out (beecee, drachoo, etc).... you have to work hard to get your eyes go through the s path and to find it in the first place. The flow is not natural for the eye to do the S path.
Let's take the challenge out of the equation or even the style name of s-curve out of the picture (no pun intended)... would you, looking at the photo for the first time, say that your eyes would flow in an S pattern through the photo? Obviously this will be near impossible since you took the photo and have studied it and edited it, but just trying to show it from a different perspective.
Now that s-curve has been defined you can go outside the original intent, but then you have a different category for it and you fall into a niche and have to accept that. Its not about 'getting it', but rather if people agree that your pushing of the boundaries is acceptable to them, its art after all.
Every challenge has those that try and push the boundaries of the original intent, some successfully, others not, but that is why i think we do not have a DNMC option for entries... it boils down to a personal choice, no black and white answer for it being right or wrong.
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10/04/2007 09:30:58 AM · #12 |
Originally posted by EyeTrap:
Now that s-curve has been defined you can go outside the original intent, but then you have a different category for it and you fall into a niche and have to accept that. Its not about 'getting it', but rather if people agree that your pushing of the boundaries is acceptable to them, its art after all.
Every challenge has those that try and push the boundaries of the original intent, some successfully, others not, but that is why i think we do not have a DNMC option for entries... it boils down to a personal choice, no black and white answer for it being right or wrong. |
Point well taken. Going forward I can say that I will definitely have a different perspective of my subject matter!
I guess the saying holds true "one man's treasure is another man's trash"? |
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