Hot Night in Delawareby
rmlphotoComment by Artyste: Greetings from the Critique Club. My critiques are generally geared towards trying to help you improve your score within DPC, and not on any true "artistic" merit of the photograph itself, unless it relates to DPC voters and scoring. Please keep that in mind as you read this.
Initial Thoughts
white flame-ball in top corner very over-powering, and using a "sexy" model is a little cliche.
Composition/Content
Quite a number of people chose the "hot model" route in this challenge, and it's not an altogether bad choice. Male voter demographics are rather large. Knowing that, however, you generally still need a very good technical photo to really score high, even with the best looking models. For me, and others have noted, your choice to have the furnace opened has kind of taken away from this shot. Yes, it helps convey "heat" a little more, but it also overpowers the shot, your model, and the lighting. Your composition is nice for your choice of including the flame, but I think you'd have done better cropping closer in, leaving the flame out, giving the background a nice red/hot "feel", and maybe spritzing the model to simulate sweat. Just a suggestion of course, but as your photo stands, one can't help to just be distracted by that nuclear ball of flame.
Background
Just a touch busy, but it's that ball of flame that keeps standing out for me. Kind of the "lesser of two evils" thing.. but I do believe you could have conveyed heat without it, and not caused it to be the focal point of your photograph.
Camera Work/Technical
Nice work to expose this, given the intense light you had to work with in areas. You've lost detail in some parts of the model because of the glow, but not to the point where it detracts too much. I am impressed with how well you've captured most of the model given the lighting conditions though.
Digital Processing
Not much information given, but I do see a little too much over-smoothing here. For me, it doesn't really help to convey the "heat" element. A little more perspiration on the model (real or fake), would have helped sell that idea for me. Otherwise.. everything looks pretty good.
Fits the Challenge
Well, it fits the challenge, but as I've noted, probably could have fit it much better. I'm left struggling with what exactly it was you were trying to say was heat here.. the model, or the great big ball of flame. Unfortunately, for me, they are such conflicting elements that "both" doesn't really work.
My Opinion of the Photo
Well, obviously I'm not a fan of the flame, we've covered that, but I also don't really like the gratuitous use of a "sexy model", even if the challenge lent itself well to such a thing. However, having said that, you've pulled it off rather well, for what it is. Less smoothing, more emphasis on one or the other element in this shot, and a tighter crop, might have helped you score better than you did.
Good luck on future challenges.
Photographer found comment helpful.