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12/16/2011 07:58:35 AM · #1
This is not a complaint post. I only would like to know what was wrong for you in this image. When I planned it I thought I was creating something special. During the editing I realized that there were too elements and that the scene was weird and here on DPC surrealist things are not really appreciated. What I want to say is that I was not entirely satisfied with my image, but still I can't understand how I could get 15 votes under 5. Any advice?



Message edited by author 2011-12-16 07:59:26.
12/16/2011 08:10:16 AM · #2
My problem with it was the lack of creates. To me, this challenge was about showing life after man, and I wasn't seeing "life" in this photo.
12/16/2011 08:10:53 AM · #3
Alex,

You already pointed out the fact the picture is probably too crowded, but what I think is the main weakness of this picture is the fact it's lacking a clear subject, imho. The challenge was about showing "creatures that will rise after man is gone", but your image is more about an apocalyptic landscape, and one cannot clearly see these creatures. There are some signs of life here and there, but it is not the first thing that you see when looking at the frame.

Just my 2 cts.
12/16/2011 08:18:46 AM · #4
Originally posted by gyaban:

Alex,

You already pointed out the fact the picture is probably too crowded, but what I think is the main weakness of this picture is the fact it's lacking a clear subject, imho. The challenge was about showing "creatures that will rise after man is gone", but your image is more about an apocalyptic landscape, and one cannot clearly see these creatures. There are some signs of life here and there, but it is not the first thing that you see when looking at the frame.

Just my 2 cts.


Thank you guys, I really appreciate your words.

Christophe, this is exactly what I thought after seeing the final image. Too many things and the main subject, that is what I started from, was barely understandable. My idea was to show a tree with road signs from the brenches, like a creature son of pollution (and that's why I put also the tree on the right). Too many things and not a clear subject, that was the problem. Anyways, in this challenge I've seen some of the top ten images with human presence and with a not perfect editing, that's why I was surprised that my score was low, even if votes must always be respected!
12/16/2011 03:17:40 PM · #5
Similiar to what Gyaban said...but a clear rule to follow with any form of photography or digital art is 'if it doesn't need to be in the image, then don't use it'. Basically keep it simple, look at the storyline and if there is an element that does not play an important part in telling the story then get rid of it. In this challenge Gyaban got 5 votes under 5 whilst I got 8, so no matter how well you do the image you are always going to get the low votes from somewhere. DPC tends to like realistic or believable, clean and easy to understand images. Remember, you only have 4 seconds to get your viewers attention. Anything over 4 seconds and you have a successful image. You may not win, but you have a better chance of getting a higher vote. And they add up in the end.
12/16/2011 06:42:46 PM · #6
9th place and still QQ ... c'mon dude :-)

ETA: oh yea, i think it's great

Message edited by author 2011-12-16 18:48:06.
12/16/2011 06:57:59 PM · #7
I felt it was lacking in direction. There was no clear theme or objective for the composition, but rather felt like a disparate collection of images that had no obvious link.

In addition to the image feeling discordant, i felt that it didnt quite meet the challenge of life after man. Your elements are predominantly inorganic, which wasn't quite along the lines of the challenge description.

12/16/2011 08:11:27 PM · #8
For me there was nothing wrong. I liked it (7). In my opinion low scores some times come from people that understand the challenge on a different way than you. But that's just my idea... I started on DPC just a few weeks ago!!
12/16/2011 09:21:49 PM · #9
Originally posted by gcoulson:

I felt it was lacking in direction. There was no clear theme or objective for the composition, but rather felt like a disparate collection of images that had no obvious link.

In addition to the image feeling discordant, i felt that it didnt quite meet the challenge of life after man. Your elements are predominantly inorganic, which wasn't quite along the lines of the challenge description.


Couldn't have said it better, really. I think you fell in love with the wrong image. We all do. Time to move on.
12/17/2011 05:45:29 AM · #10
As I've said before, I didn't want to complain, but I'm here because I want to understand the limits of my image :)

Yesterday afternoon I was thinking of my last images and almost the ones I love the most are the ones that scored better. This is not a rule I guess, but surely is a fact.

My best works are the first two on my top ranking:



There's only one image that I still really love that didn't score as I expected:



What Judi said is true:

Originally posted by Judi:

'if it doesn't need to be in the image, then don't use it'. Basically keep it simple, look at the storyline and if there is an element that does not play an important part in telling the story then get rid of it.


Here there were too many elements, even if I wanted to convey a surrealist image.

Originally posted by gcoulson:

I felt it was lacking in direction. There was no clear theme or objective for the composition, but rather felt like a disparate collection of images that had no obvious link. In addition to the image feeling discordant, i felt that it didnt quite meet the challenge of life after man. Your elements are predominantly inorganic, which wasn't quite along the lines of the challenge description.


I partly agree agree with you but I disagree on a few points: this was not a disparate collection of images - the road signs are what people left and they became part of the trees, or in some way they became organic themselves. My mistake was not using only the tree with the road signs - this way they became only an element of the image and not the prominent part of it as I had thought at the beginning when I was planning this artwork. What I can say is that I didn't convey the meaning of this work, even if I don't see how people see this image as slightly DNMC: there are 2 enormous insects, strange dinosaurs and birds in the background, a tree with road signs where there would be branches and etc. :)

Thank you all, guys!
12/17/2011 08:15:58 PM · #11
The main thing for me is that the background drowns out everything else.
12/18/2011 06:37:32 PM · #12
My straight opinion (and really not wanting to sound rude):

It looks photoshopped (in a bad way) to me. None of the elements appear to be part of the same scene and could have been positioned/blended in a much better way to make them look natural. You said yourself you're not happy with the image so I'm not sure why you're unhappy with your >6 score? Had I voted I would have probably given it a 5 for effort (possibly a 6 dependant on the quality of the other entrants), I'm sure it took you a fair while to make, but the image doesn't work and if I rated it purely on its own merits I'd have been one of your <5 votes too I'm afraid.
12/18/2011 09:51:05 PM · #13
very simple: too dark.

Even I had trouble enjoying the weird elements because they're obscured by darkness. I gave you a 5, though.
12/18/2011 10:31:01 PM · #14
I would not be surprised by any mark if I were you. And I doubt that people do not appreciate surrealist images. But they seem to appreciate a lot stories told by means of clear illustrations. Incidentally, I do not think that we shall do digital illustrations here at DPC.
Your image is made of bits and pieces and where you fall into illustration (Eiffel tower) the image is losing its power. I appreciate the lack of creepy people and such - marked your submission with a 6 - you showed total devastation and no other form of life and this responds perfectly to the challenge.
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