Hinomaru
by Yo_Spiff

Comment:
great abstract image. I love the colors and the composition

Descent
by franktheyank

Comment:
I love the monochrome conversion that was done. There's a lot of dodging and burning on this but it really works well with this image.

Old School Square
by JuliBoc

Comment:
going have to find out how you did this without getting your reflection in the shot. I see your shadow but no reflection...

February Zen
by davidw

Comment:
Interesting minimalist approach. Just wish we had a bit more detail in...what ever the heck that is on the horizon.

Wintry Wheatgrass
by scox

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club and congrats on entering your first Challenge!

My first impression of this image unfortunately is the missed focus. My advice to remedy this? Well...shoot a lot. Shoot everything and anything. Fill up a card and just practise using your camera's auto focus. Get a feel of how to get your camera to focus exactly where you want it. Open up the pictures when you get home and see how you did. The side benefit of doing this is that if you get to shoot that once in a lifetime shot and you only have a fraction of a second to bring the viewfinder to your eye, frame the shot, get focus and fire you'll be ready.

The other thing to try is to use a bit more depth of field. Using a smaller aperture like f/8 would bring more of the scene into focus while leaving the background blurred out nicely. A large aperture (remember that smaller numbers for aperture mean a wider aperture) will get less depth of field which can be helpful but in cases like this less of your subject is in sharp focus.

The composition is okay but it just doesn't feel entirely planned. The top of the grass has been cut off and I don't believe that's intentional. I do like that you placed the grass on the one side and used the background fence to balance out the image.

In terms of the challenge? I can see it but I don't believe its the strongest subject for the challenge. Voters unfortunately like to be beaten over the head with the obvious. The less mental hurdles the better. (We voters aren't that bright remember). Still, it wasn't totally unrelated and given the time of year its pretty tough to do better.

Overall it was a good scene to shoot and definitely worth exploring. You did pretty good on your first challenge. good luck on your next one!

Little Gardener sees Garden Orb on Garden Shed
by Abra

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Congrats on entering your first of what I know will be many entries here at DP Challenge. Not a bad shot for your first entry and certainly better than what I entered.

Interesting scene laid out here and it definitely tells a story. The connection to the challenge isn't immediately apparent from the photo itself so the title had to be used to reinforce what you are going for. Generally (in my opinion anyways), if you need to use your title to tell the viewer why it fits the challenge they probably aren't going to be convinced anyways.

Challenge aside the shot does have potential. The boy's eyes take you straight across the frame to the spider on the left. The shed itself has interesting verticals.
I like the panaramic crop as it does work with the scene as you've presented it. The use of the border is ok here in my opinion. Borders are used to help contain the image so it stands out from the grey (in the case of DPC) background. Its a good thickness too and doesn't detract from the image.

Unfortunately the biggest issue with this image is the background. You have a very bright object in the background and an object in a very distracting blue tarp. Tough to frame a shot and keep an eye on all those things but in some cases your background is even more important than your subject or at least just as important. Remember, just because your aren't setting up all the elements doesn't mean you don't get to decide where they are when you look through the view finder. (i.e. move your feet!)

Not too shabby for your first time. Keep shooting and we all look forward to your next submission!

Winter Coat: "Stocked With JOY!"
by 777STAN

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club!

I guess the first thing I will say is that despite being a Constructed by Man challenge, voters probably weren't looking for actual people. You have to go down to 51st place to see a picture with a person even in the frame and even then the primary subject isn't a person. My guess is that the voters came down hard for that.

So challenge aside the picture itself has some potential. I think there are some problems with exposure that are hard to deal with in this light. The background is quite bright. In itself, this wouldn't be a problem if it were consistent. I think all photographers have troubles with a distracting background from time to time. I guess in this case we should be happy we don't have that tree on the right growing out of of her head.

There is also a really bright highlight on her hair but her face is exposed nicely. I would suggest, under exposing a bit and using flash to light her face. The alternative is to get her in the shade which might be a better option anyways because this background doesn't offer anything that you want. (for example interesting colors)

Composition works for me and the focus is pretty good. There's a tiny bit of reflection on her glass but you've handled that pretty well. (Incidentally if you see glare etc in glasses, one trick I've learned is to bring the arms of the glasses up a bit to change the angle. I thought that might be a useful tip to pass on).

As a portrait this isn't bad. I think the biggest downfall is the lighting and the background. Definitely a shot worth exploring though.

Home at last
by DanDare

Comment:
A shallower depth of field would have helped bring more focus to the shows. That being said I really like the light you've captured here and the colors really draw the viewers eye to the shoes.

Walk This Way
by MaryO

Comment:
Not really seeing the shoes so much as the dog. The light and the composition force me to think that the poodle is the subject.

My, How We've Grown
by franktheyank

Comment:
lovely juxtaposition to tell the story.