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permapierComment by LalliSig: Greetings from the critique club :)
First off, to be honest, I would have voted this shot a 4 and just moved on to the next shot without commenting like the vast majority of the voters seemed to do, vote a 4-6 and not comment. I am sorry but I kindof feel this is below average comapred to the vast majority of the photos in this challenge but it´s not really a bad photo either, I probably would have given it a 5 in another challenge (I put higher expectations on photos in free studies) and I thought this shot met the challenge.
The shot is simply what I percieve to be a snapshot of a family member wich has absolutely no meaning to people outside your family but is great to put in the family album. It´s not a bad shot, just not something that I find terribly interesting, this photo doesn´t say anything about the individual other than he appears to have just come out of the pool.
I am somewhat perplexed about the camera settings, especially since you used an lens that allowed you to use up to a full 2.8 aperture. The f11 and shutter of 400 kindof ruin any kind of mood the ambient lighting could have brought to this shot and also leads to the biggest problem I have with the shot, the lighting just coming from the flash.
Had you only used the flash for fill in and used more of the ambient lighting I would have found this shot much more appealing. That could just have been me but I have a feeling most people would agree. There is also those white areas at the bottom of the photo, I assume that´s part of his swimsuit but they just look like blown out/out of focus white areas that don´t really make any sense to me, almost like you had waterdroplets on the lens, I can´t really tell what that is. It´s really pulling my eye towards that area of the photo, I find myself looking towards the bottom and then to his face wich is very distracting.
On the plus side I like the attitude the model is projecting, although that doesn´say much about him like I told you earlier.
Try fixing the lighting, mainly not rely solely on direct flash lighting and use more of the ambient light you have available and maybe have something in the backround that ties in with what the individual is wearing/doing and I bet you would score heaps better.
Kind regards from Iceland, Lárus.
Message edited by author 2007-08-23 09:43:46. 
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