The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by Tranquil:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First off, welcome to DPC! Glad to see some new submitters here.

A strong first entry --- 5.1388/47% is nothing to be ashamed about. As far as working with this image itself, I would have liked to see a closer crop on the face, which is the focal point of the photo. By getting rid of the distractions, the major element really stands out and is more obvious to people. This also helps give it a less of a snapshot feel to it as the viewer subconsciously realizes that extra time and effort was put into the making of the photograph. When people see a snapshot on DPC, they tend to vote it down because the effort is not there. To me, this was borderline and overlooking some things, I gave it a six as above average.

If I were to go back to this location and reshoot for this challenge, I would have braved the snowbanks and gotten nice in and close to the hydrant. In that instance, without worrying about a distracting background, you could then really understand the focal point immediately and more obviously than in the way you have presented it here.

Techinically, this shot is not terrible. The focus is fine and on. The snow seems underexposed which is a common fault in modern camera light meters. The way around this is, if your camera has the options to manually overexpose the shot by 2/3 of a stop or more until the snow is a nice white color. You could always bracket exposure to assure that you get the right exposure. Alternatively, you could use a handheld light meter to measure the amount of light falling on the snow rather than the amount of light reflected off of the snow which you camera reads.

Overall, I think this image is good, but there is always room for improvement. Good luck with you future submissions!

If you have any questions or comments feel free to Private Message me from my Profile.

Lee

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by graphicfunk:
Very cute. Bumping up.

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by crgdavis:
Cute. Nice find. Maybe smige tighter would have been better.

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by KaDi:
Sharp! There's just no question why you took this photo. Snapshot-like, sure. But show it to an uncorrupted grade-schooler and their sure to laugh at what you saw and perfectly conveyed. ( I suppose you could also color correct so that there's less of a yellow cast to the snow, but I live in a valley where this is the reality.)

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by Tuckersmom:
I might have cropped it a little tighter on the top to get rid of the houses

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by nova:
The snow hat really makes this face. A closer portrait and shallower depth of field would improve the shot. (6)

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by eqsite:
Cute! A tighter crop might have worked a little better.

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by scrum8:
Sort of busy. I might have gone for a horizontal drop and try to eliminate more of the foreground and background.

Oops, thanks for the PM. That was a typo. I meant Crop instead of Drop. Anyway, I thought if you had cropped it Landscaped instead of Portrait it might have focused more on the hydrant.

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by Tiberius:
Would be better with a tighter crop. The subject was very good and fitted the challenge. A close up or fill the frame would be my suggestion Good find though

The Watchman
by Andrem

Comment by SandyP:
Yep. . . the face sure jumps right out at you, with his snow hat on and everything :) Good job