May the road rise to meet you.by
JewellyComment by Artifacts: Positives:
Touching capture of a little girl in dreamland with a proper selective desaturation choice to emphasis her imaginative play.
Technicals:
Overall technicals are good. Depth of field, sharpness, composition and lighting are all good. It shows none of the usual digital artifacts we are used to seeing in submissions. You handled the color boundary well for this image.
The blue bow on top of her head, though supporting the theme, acts more distractive than not.
The Challenge:
129th out of 554 is a good placing in such a large challenge. You were .4 above the challenge average. Voters like this image but feel it is not top tier. The image cannot be faulted for technical quality so "wow" factor probably played a roll in a lower score. Many voters were probably jaded to selective desaturation by the time they voted on this one.
Unsure, but some voters might have thought having your model on a wall was not a good idea.
Suggestions:
You might try desaturating the top bow to eliminate that as a distraction. The wings support the main theme well already.
Consider some serious dodge and burn on the girl herself, possibly using a "vivid light" brush, to give her more "depth" and draw more attention to her. Lightening her hair and locally increasing the contrast on her dress would look nice.
Another thing you might consider to support a dreamlike theme would be an offset vignette centered on the girl.
Photographer found comment helpful.
