texture of a palm
by lmcsweeney

Comment by srdanz:
Lindsey,
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: This is too small to analyze and enjoy! Actually, this would have been on a smaller size, even with the 'normally' sized challenge where you can go up to 640 px. You could visit some of the tutorials on resizing the image for the challenge.

Composition: Not an interesting composition overall. There isn't a single part of this photo that draws the attention to itself. Therefore, the eyes of the viewer wander all over the canvas trying to lock onto something to examine in detail, and there is nothing to stop on.

Technicals: Taking a photo when there is a strong sunlight presents a technical challenge as it is a very complex lighting setup. To avoid having blown portions of the image (like you have in the center and on the leaves from center to top-right) you need to stop down the aperture some more, and then lighten up the darker areas to balance the image. (By the way, if you populate the fields for the ISO, shutter speed and aperture in the details of a photo, it is sometimes easier to recognize why some things turned out the way they did, this way I have to guess on those). Using a fill-flash would achieve this goal, and another way to do it is to use a simple white cardboard to reflect some of the natural light onto the lighed areas.

To score higher than it did: A couple of things: Make use of the maximum available resolution. (Especially if the extra rules invite you to use 720 pixels - and this is a texture challenge where typically people look for sharp details in the subject(s)) Compositionally, try to make this image more appealing to the eyes of your viewers. Palm leaves offer nice opportunity in the study of textures. So, try taking only a couple of leaves in your frame and put them in one of the golden section points in the frame to make it stand out. Make sure your image does not have blown highlights anywhere, and that the focus is dead on.

Summary: Please keep trying. I haven't seen much of your work (you only have two challenge entries) but I would like to believe that there is more to come and that the scores will go up. DPC can help you improve, keep participating in forums where you can have your work criticized on request and you can usually receive valuable feedback. You are free to take as much as you want and discard as much as you want, because your goal should not be to please DPC public. However, you have some room for growth in general photography area, and please consider some of the comments you receive here until they get picky on details and on style that you may not want to change.

I am trying to do my best giving an honest critique - if you have any questions on this critique or if you disagree please feel free to PM or email me.

Best regards,

-Serge

Message edited by author 2006-04-20 13:51:26.

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by espy2:
I'm not much for receiving or giving comments, but since Candids are
near and dear to my heart, I have decided to give comment on every entry
in this challenge.

Unfortunately, candids of animals and landscapes are really not what I look for in a good candid. Animals are aware and both unaware at the same time of a photographer, nor do they care either way. Landscapes are really unawares. LOL..Too easy, no comfort zone lost. It's a 2 for me.

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by Skip:
if your score isn't where you would like it to be, you might want to read this thread. in addition to meeting the challenge, it would also be helpful to take advantage of submitting to the largest possible entry size.

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by norby:
Very Painterly - nice clean lines and colors.

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by marcellieb:
Too small, white balance off, Doesn't realy seem like a candid to me. Sorry.

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by photojennic:
Over exposed - easy to do with digital

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by CaseWriter21:
you can't take a candid picture of a seagull

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by tngrndream:
dnmc

texture of a palm
by lmcsweeney

Comment by fplouffe:
The photo is not a bad one, but not a top ten either. However, you choose to submit a rather small photo in the first ever challenge that allow 720x720 photographs. Even if it were an exceptional photograh, it would never score high. You got to use the maximum allowed resolution (at least in height or width) to get a chance against the rest.

ahhh
by lmcsweeney

Comment by nomad469:
color seems off to me bird is just about blown