Swishhh Cheese
by woodsey

Comment by temba:
Hey - great idea! Well thought out. A shame the lighting isn't a bit more exciting - if this had a bit more pop in the colours/contrast it would be brilliant.

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by samchad:
plagiarism is the highest form of flattery.

IMO I think this is a nice shot. When will someone do it with the Union Jack?!

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by yanko:
jmsetzler, I agree in the sense that everyone is trying to learn and trying to duplicate a technique is part of the learning process but part of the learning process is also finding your own voice and style. I think you need to combine the two. That didn't happen here. I think if a unique twist was done to the shot it would have done better since it would be raising the bar so to speak, which in turn might spur more interest into the techique itself. Instead it offered nothing new and didn't advance the style/subject forward. Just my .02 cents.

Message edited by author 2005-12-08 16:40:18.

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by jmsetzler:
'Tact' is something that is very weak here. You simply have to consider the sources. Your photo is very well done and it's unfortunate that people can't seem to find a way to give you credit for studying and attempting to perfect a technique as part of your learning process. If you go look at the portfolios of those who have given you grief about this, you will see that it would be beneficial for most of them to follow your lead of experimenting and learning by duplicating things you like. If more people around here experimented and learned by doing so, their photography would improve.

DPC is a 'game' and it shouldn't really be considered an artistic competition. In the real world, your art isn't usually judged by your competition, and it IS judged on its own merit. When you show people this image, they are going to love it and say "wow... how cool is that?" When you show it to photographers, they are going to say "I've seen this before. Why can't you be more original?"

I think you won and lost with this photo. You learned something about a technique. There is still some room for improvement there as well. You lost because the K-Mart shoppers weren't into your blue-light special this week :)

Here are some tips so you can re-shoot this and make it something extraodrinary. This is how I set mine up:

1. I shot it outside in overcast light so it was nice and even without being too harsh.

2. I place my glass about 8 or 9" above the flag, supported by four drinking glasses.

3. Depth of field here is key so I got as close as i could with my camera and shot a couple tests, stopping down my aperture until the water drops were as sharp as they could be and the background was as out of focus as possible.

Keep on experimenting with it and you will find some variations that you like :)

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by kiwiness:
I have to come in once again here.... I am so shocked that this photo got 15 ones. Those ones were not given for poor technicality, because this photo is technically very good. I am sure those ones were all given even without looking properly at the image and only on the basis that it was a take on John's shot. And some of the comments could have been given with a little more tact, after all, this is a photography site where we want to receive constructive critisism and not negative or abusive comments.

For my part, I find this photo has been done very well, and there is not too much I could critique on in way of technicality. If I had voted I would have given it an 8.

Also it is interesting to see who wrote the very first comment on this image......

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by alanfreed:
While I'm on a rampage... I think it's worth mentioning that John's version of the shot was an experiment of his own, if I recall correctly. He had read about the technique in a magazine or something and wanted to try it himself to learn how it was done. His own shot, which was certainly a wonderful image, was something he has admitted was not an original concept, but something he was trying to emulate.

And he has also stated in the forums several times that he has no beef whatsoever with anyone who tries to replicate the idea themselves.

Lighten up, folks!

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by Art Roflmao:
And I agree with you, kiwiness!
Sheesh - voters.

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by kiwiness:
I agree with you Alan!

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by alanfreed:
Yeesh... reading through the comments here, you'd swear that you took a shot of yourself flogging an elderly woman or something.

Congrats on posting a great shot, and having a bit of courage to endure the wrath of the voters here. I think it's rather hypocritical of ANYONE here to bash you for trying to replicate the original shot. After all, aren't we all trying to learn new things from DPC? Nobody else here learns new techniques from the site and tries to learn from them? Gimme a break.

It's not as if you can pull off this kind of shot in 30-seconds or anything, either. A lot of thought and preparation went into it, I'm sure, and I would bet that you have a few dozen shots of outtakes to boot.

Anyway... I gave it a 9, personally. And I think it's shameful that your effort is being condemned rather than applauded. There's nothing wrong with trying to learn a little something around here, and you demonstrated that you can do just that.

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment by viajero:
Well done. A similar shot is one of the more popular ones on this site, so I suspect you may be branded a copycat and get a few low votes for that.