May the road rise to meet you.
by Jewelly

Comment:
Positives:
Touching capture of a little girl in dreamland with a proper selective desaturation choice to emphasis her imaginative play.

Technicals:
Overall technicals are good. Depth of field, sharpness, composition and lighting are all good. It shows none of the usual digital artifacts we are used to seeing in submissions. You handled the color boundary well for this image.

The blue bow on top of her head, though supporting the theme, acts more distractive than not.

The Challenge:
129th out of 554 is a good placing in such a large challenge. You were .4 above the challenge average. Voters like this image but feel it is not top tier. The image cannot be faulted for technical quality so "wow" factor probably played a roll in a lower score. Many voters were probably jaded to selective desaturation by the time they voted on this one.

Unsure, but some voters might have thought having your model on a wall was not a good idea.

Suggestions:
You might try desaturating the top bow to eliminate that as a distraction. The wings support the main theme well already.

Consider some serious dodge and burn on the girl herself, possibly using a "vivid light" brush, to give her more "depth" and draw more attention to her. Lightening her hair and locally increasing the contrast on her dress would look nice.

Another thing you might consider to support a dreamlike theme would be an offset vignette centered on the girl.

I M A G I N E
by stevieian

Comment:
Positives:
Pose, capture and lighting angle are the strengths of this composition.

Technicals:
Color is fine. Lighting angle is good but the right side of the face is a little overexposed and flat looking. Use of noise reduction is good for producing a soft look but may be overdone.

Its a small thing but the wrinkles in your model's shirt is a slight distraction.

The Challenge:
Meets the challenge for a color portrait and scored almost right at the average for the challenge. Voters felt this was an average portrait. Probably the two things that held it down in scoring is the overexposure of the face and the slight overuse of noise reduction.

Suggestions:
The most noticeable oversmoothing is on the leather couch or chair he is sitting in. One thing you might try is to apply noise reduction on a separate duplicate data layer then add a mask to that duplicate layer and paint out the the oversmoothing in the chair. That way you retain the smoothing of the face without getting unnatural smoothing in the chair. It is the best of both worlds. :)

You can try this and I don't guarantee it will work but you can add a 50% greyscale layer and then burn in the right side of his face to bring back more detail if it is there. There are other things you can do with the original that would also retain detail in her face assuming it was in the original and just lost in post processing.

Remember to get clothes properly placed when doing portraits. That is worth checking once, twice and three times after each pose change. :)

Message edited by author 2007-05-30 13:24:34.

splat ... !!
by vikas

Comment:
Positives:
Racket ball is a very fast game and hard to capture. You did a great job with this capture. Very well composed and captured sports image with good technicals.

Technicals:
What is most amazing about this image is that you could get such great clarity and good stop action at f/4.2 in a 1/60th of a second exposure.

Sharpness, color and exposure are all very good. Composition is excellent.

The vertical corner of the wall behind your racket ball model is a significant distraction. There are a couple cracks or something in those walls as well behind the player that cause minor distractions.

The Challenge:
Obviously meets the Sports II challenge and not only that it is just one fine capture.

You finished over .4 above the challenge average and almost .6 above the overall DPC average. Voters thought this image good but not a top level performer.

Voters were probably bothered by the vertical corner of wall behind the player. Other than that there is nothing wrong with this image. I wasn't bothered by that line so scored it "10" myself. I still like it and don't see any reason to change my score.

Suggestions:
In basic you can't do this but clone out the vertical corner and other two lines near the player's head and you may find the image even more appealing than it already is.

This would make a great stock image. Some folks might think looking like stock is a bad thing. I'm not one of them.

The Tee Shot
by BHuseman

Comment:
Positives:
Perspective and moment of capture are fantastic and are the strengths of this composition.

Technicals:
Black and white tones and contrast are good. Sharpness borders on being overdone and might just barely cross the border in the area surrounding the club head.

The brightness and color of the ball is overexaggerated for selective desat and has an unnatural look about it. That is not good given it is the main subject.

The Challenge:
Yup, meets the challenge. Voters get the idea about keeping your eye on the ball and it is a nice clean hit but the technical implementation of the desat detracted greatly from the composition. Unfortunately the overdone yellow color and unrealistic color border hurt it a lot in voting. Other than that is is very nicely done. I scored this a three because of the very gawdy color on the ball.

Suggestions:
As would be true in many of the submissions backoff on the overall color saturation and it would have made for a better selective desaturation entry. Also consider reducing the sharpness of the grasses surrounding club a little.

See No Evil
by okiesisi

Comment:
Positives:
Well setup and executed image. Very nicely done. Colors not overworked. Overall superb technical quality.

Technicals:
A very challenging image for desaturation. It was done much better than the majority of submissions. Tough boundaries are especially natural looking.

Though done well, you may have retained to much color in the composition in to many areas.

Lighting and contrast are decent though there is nothing in the lighting that specifically draws a lot of viewer interest.

The Challenge:
You got nailed by the lack of a "Wow" factor, not technical quality. Not saying that is right, just saying it is something DPC voters are perpetually searching for. Counted cross stitch just doesn't get voter juices flowing. LOL!!!

It is possible that so much color remained that it harmed it in voting. Voters generally expect just the main subject colored in selective desaturation. The use of color in several different areas might have been confusing.

Suggestions:
You might consider removing all color from the image except the 'see no evil' stitched frog and the needle and thread next to it. The bundled thread and other frog on the package could be left black and white. Color in those areas might be overdoing it.

remember seek (forgetting find)
by mk

Comment:
Positives:
Nice high short range contrast, particularly with the fingerprint and hand lines. Details are exceptionally well captured.

Technicals:
General technicals are very good. Given the high contrast, the sharpness is exceptional with the fine detail you captured. Brightness and lighting are right. The middle finger of the top hand is oversmoothed compared to the rest of the composition.

The boundary of color and BW is done very very well, considering how narrow it is.

If applied, dodge and burn is applied properly. If it was and I can really tell for certain that means you did an even better job. :)

The Challenge:
You scored almost .5 above the challenge average and by DPC standards that is pretty good. For this challenge that means voters liked this image a lot more than the others.

I only scored this image 6. For me that is actually scoring it lower than the group did. The reason for that is I felt the color in the shell was to intense for the composition. There was also a question in my mind as to the meaning of the colored parts of the image. There wasn't one for me. Both contributed to a low score. It is fairly rare for me to score an image so close to the group average. I'm usually far on one side or the other. :) Think I voted this image low.

Suggestions:
Just one... you might consider backing off the overall color saturation on the shell to make it more muted. The brightness of the yellow overwhelms the BW portions of the image.

Holding on to Hope
by brownsm

Comment:
Positives:
Exceptional technical quality and your selective desaturation sends a clear message for such a youthful and understandably unhappy model.

Technicals:
Tones, lighting and color are all good. lighting is very nice, overall quality is well above average for DPC. Looks like you have created a slight blue overtone in the BW(greyscale) portion of your image. Looks nice, intended or not.

You did an exceptional job with the boundary between color and black and white. That is the toughest part of selective desaturation.

Technically this is a good image. The BW tones are well captured.

The Challenge:
You scored almost .5 above the challenge average in one with an exceptionally narrow range of voting and many poor image submissions. Commenters gave it almost an 8. That is very good. Overall, voters thought this a good image despite what you or I might think about the actual average score it received.

Perhaps some voters felt it was a setup and that is why it scored so low.

Suggestions:
No suggestions.

Hearts & Bows
by Judi

Comment:
Positives:
I'd like to be a dispationate critic but all I can think of to say is "WOW". The high key in this composition makes it special. The technicals and art within this imagery are only what I dream of in my own compositions.

Technicals:
Sharpness, high key treatment and the BW is perfect in every way. Color in the ribbons is just right. The solid white BG is absolutely the right choice.

There is a hint of jaggies in your model's hair and lack of detail in her cheeks, neck and left forehead that will be interpretted as a faults by some viewers.

Off centering your model more might add more interest.

The Challenge:
Does it meet the challenge? Yes. How well it does many will ask. This image was faulted for shoehorning to the challenge by some I am sure and/or for a weakness in the desat choice.

I know, I was one of the people that did it for the later reason. I was wrong and am now ashamed. This is one of the images I scored in about .3 milliseconds. I gave it an 8. I was wrong. This is a 10 all the way. I'm angry now at myself for scoring it so low. I think I instinctively knew I was wrong at the time but did it anyway. I'm certain I was influenced by the challenge topic mistakenly or in ways I should not have been.

In my opinion, I and the voters did this image a grave diservice by giving it a 5.5.

Suggestions:
Consider doing some touchup to remove some of the "jaggies" from your model's hair. Just use the blur tool lightly... very lightly. Little is needed.

The only other suggestion I can think of is to crop off some of the left side to off center your model and have her facing into the composition more.

Other than that I have no suggestions whatsoever. This is a great picture. This image could be an award winner in other venues and would make a great addition to a photo art gallery display.

butterfly
by hanneke

Comment:
Positives:
Well composed and curiously conceived image concept. Makes the voter wonder what it is all about so gives it a lot of viewer interest. Good use of selective desaturation.

Technicals:
Taking a picture through the viewfinder of another camera makes it harder to evaluate. The numerous specks and the center framing marks are from the focusing prism of the Hassleblad. Certainly their inclusion in this composition is by design, but is good? That is a dilemna for this viewer and perhaps others. It is good for artistic reasons, but not for technical ones. Makes one ask which is more important. :)

You did a superlative job with the color and BW border feathering. That is what most folks have the most difficulty with. You did it like a pro.

BW quality is good. Higher contrast works well here. You include enough tonality to make it nice, yet contrasty enough to make it unique. The composition is very, very interesting and well done. Croping the head and feet is a good decision. It adds to the uniqueness of the composition.

The Challenge:
Selective desat is a difficult challenge topic because it is both hard to do technically, but also difficult to do artistically and appropriately. The viewer wants to know WHY you made your desat choice.

In your case this is not an issue. It draws attention to what is below the butterfly wings and that adds much viewer interest. ;) (Perhaps my maleness is showing through. LOL!!!) The choice of butterfly wings for that purpose adds to the effect as well.

You scored over .45 points above the challenge average indicating that voters thought it a good image, probably for artistic reasons.

This image would do great displayed in the right art gallery. I did not score this image in the challenge and wish I had. I'm interested in the score I would have given it.

Suggestions:
No suggestions. I'm tempted to talk about the specks and centering lines but I'm not sure removing them is a good idea. I like them included. The overall composition is great. For this image, there is nothing I could teach you.

A Brick in the Wall
by BakerBug

Comment:
Positives:
Unique choice for selective desaturation. Interesting that you chose a single brick at the central focus to leave colored. The extended lines in the brickwork converging at the edge of the frame is its best feature.

Technicals:
Nicely composed. Sharpness (where it is) is good and color on the brick is not overdone as the reds were in so many of the other challenge entries.

Generally speaking extremely shallow depth of field does not work well, but in this case it emphasizes the concept that the brickwork extends to infinity. It is a bit to narrow, though. The out of focus masonry lines meeting at the left edge of the frame is a very nice touch.

The edging of the boundary of the colored brick is rough and unnatural looking, especially on the right and bottom edges.

The image is on the flat, low contrast side. It lacks both white and black points.

The Challenge:
Obviously meets the challenge. Conceptually selective desat should be easy, but it is deceptively difficult in practice. This challenge was made futher difficult because of the large number of entries and the appropriateness of desat selection has more meaning than other techniques generaly do.

Some viewers will ask themselves why chose that particular brick to leave colored? What is special about it? What purpose does it serve? How does that relate to the extended lines and the overall composition? For many those questions will remain unanswered. It is likely there is a split verdict on your desat, some thinking it a great idea while others thinking the desaturation choice is meaningless and mearly gratuitous to meet the challenge.

Your score is about .2 lower than the challenge average. That means voters felt it slightly below average but not bad. That is probably because the majority of voters felt the desat choice was weak and the color boundary needed more work.

Suggestions:
You might consider a slightly wider DOF for this composition, just enough to encompass the main red brick before it goes soft focused. Viewers like to see the entire main subject, in this case the red brick, in sharp focus.

Getting the boundary between colored and greyscale areas is trickier than it looks and is an artistic skill that needs to be practiced and perfected. You want to look closely at the natural pixel width for other boundaries in the image and select a very narrow brush width with pixel feathering set to match that pixel width of nearby boundaries and use the blur tool to make the boundary look more natural.

There is something you might consider to address the challenge topic but because of the nature of your composition this would be difficult to do. You might have tried adding a few more randomly selected bricks to leave colored. This would give the viewer purpose to your desat selection. It would emphasize the fact that brick walls are aggregates of many bricks and answer the question of why that particular type of deat was selected. More colored bricks would also direct more attention to the masonry lines.

The image is flat. Even a simple "autolevels" adjustment will immediately improve its contrast and visual impact. You need to set the white and black points in this image.

Setting white and black points
Yours, like almost every image, requires some white point/black point adjustment. That is because pixels are rarely recorded by the camera across the full luminosity range from pure black to pure white when you take the picture. That is normal. You can see this in your histogram (luminosity) display in an image editor where the curve does not extend all the way from far left to far right. Your histogram needs adjustment on both sides.

"AutoLevels" makes that adjustment according to how the software thinks it should be done. Instead, you can control it by hand by adding a "Levels" adjustment layer and dragging the black point triangle on the far left to the right to meet the luminosity curve and by dragging the white triangle on the far right back toward the left to meet the luminosity curve. This sets white and black points to your actual luminosity curve. The best part is you can fine tune it to look just 'right'.

The grey triangle in the middle sets your grey point which controls midtone contrast. That is worth playing with as well.
End Setting white and black points

Message edited by author 2007-05-29 06:23:04.