Back and Front
by Wildpurple

Comment by tanguera:
From critique thread.
I honestly wasn't sure what the subject was! The lighting here is definitely some of the best I've seen in your indoor shots, but the subject is...what? It's a very busy, very messy, very colorful jumble and I just don't know where to look.

Follow the River
by Wildpurple

Comment by tanguera:
From critique thread.
A solid entry for this challenge. But so much potential was left on the table: a better time of day, bringing out details in the shadows, dodging the highlights in the water to make the "leading lines" more evident... I would be interested to know your processing (if any).

My Transportation
by Wildpurple

Comment by tanguera:
From critique thread.

Another image with good potential, although subject-wise this is more about movement than transportation. I still like the out-of-the-box thinking on it, but it probably got additionally hammered because of technical issues: blown highlights, blur on dashboard, uninteresting dashboard (a good crop could have solved that), the wire and GPS on the windshield...

The Greens Monster
by Wildpurple

Comment by tanguera:
From critique thread.
This could have seriously been in the top 10, subjectwise. It's adorable, and well set up. Your nemesis is lighting. You don't need expensive lights. You can shoot this next to a bright window (with white curtains - you don't want direct light), or with a very bright halogen lamp. When the lighting is this low, it creates a color cast (yellow in this case), makes the colors murky, and adds a lot of noise.

Purple
by Wildpurple

Comment by tanguera:
From critique thread.
This image has good directional lighting, and the instinct to focus on the highlights is good. However, there are a number of blown out petals, and I'm not sure what's going on with the colors, why the beautiful darker purples are instead gray. Finally, the disembodied bloom is confusing. What is it you want to say about this flower?

Wooden
by Wildpurple

Comment by tanguera:
Critique from thread
This is a solid image with a lot of potential, and a good subject choice for the challenge. But it is representational, and not interpretational. Here is a fence.

This could easily have scored much higher with some different choices, principally lighting. Here it is flat, with everything having the value. In fact, the eye is drawn more to the bright areas of the background, between the slats. In short, it's a very generalized image without an indication of where you want us to focus our attention.

Playing My Records
by Wildpurple

Comment by tanguera:
Critique from thread. In general, I feel that your images suffer from I call "context" - it exists only for the person who takes the photo, and thus is more meaningful and interesting to them because they know the story behind it, or when/where/what was happening when it was taken. The view does not have access to any of that, and thus the image alone is not interesting.

Image choice: Extended FS are where people bring their A+++++ game. I'm more interested in knowing why you felt this image fit into that category. It would certainly be appropriate for challenges such as vintage, or music.

Technicals: the lighting is flat and dull, the focus is neither sharp, nor blurry enough to be an artistic choice, and it's quite noisy. The tilt does add a sense of movement, and the color certainly is eye-catching.

Back and Front
by Wildpurple

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Critique per your request: I can tell you were trying to use some nice soft evening light coming in the window, and you used the better camera (I also have an EM10 Mk2, though it is now my backup body after buying an EM5 mk3.) The lighting looks a bit weird here and I think that is what hurt it. Strong shadows that put an edge on your subject instead of it being soft and pleasing. Perhaps this was actually shot at night, so the light coming in is harsh lights from outside instead of soft and pleasing sun. Also shot at ISO 1600, though the EM10 should be able to handle that without any visible noise at this viewing size.

I see I gave it a 5 in the challenge.

Message edited by author 2023-03-17 00:48:42.

Still Life
by Wildpurple

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Critique per your request: I like this and I see I gave it a 6 in voting. For me that means I liked it but it didn't blow me away or have strong personal appeal. Nice colors.Perhaps what kept it in the mid 5's is that it wasn't abstract enough. I see my own entry in this challenge, which I really like, didn't quite hit that magic 6 either.

I like to do abstracts, but they don't tend to have mass appeal. They do better when it is an abstract themed challenge topic. When I enter an abstract in a non-abstract challenge, I don't expect it to do anywhere near the top.

Purple
by Wildpurple

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Critique per your request: The edge of the flowers against the background is harsh and I'm not sure the selective color works for this, though I see what you were trying to highlight by using it. Selective color is tricky and I don't do it often. I think I have just one photo of mine in my personal faves that I did selective color on.