What is the matrix? It's control of the human mind by technology. Today's matrix? The television. After about 50 tries, this shot was just cropped a little, the hue was tweeked a little, then resized and sharpened.
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Place: 93 out of 140 Avg (all users): 4.5143 Avg (commenters): 3.6667 Avg (participants): 4.3506 Avg (non-participants): 4.6090 Views since voting: 1005 Votes: 210 Comments: 7 Favorites: 0
You have had a lot of feedback since you posted about this shot, so I will quickly tell you what I think. I think it's the back of some dude's head and I can't tell what's on the other side, computer, television, whatever - and I don't get the connection to "Today's Matrix" because the Matrix is our entire lives..not what holds our attention. But you know now everything you need to about this shot. Happy shooting in the future!
For what it's worth, I gave it a 7, which for me means:
(a) it fits the contest
(b) it fits it pretty well
(c) no blatant stupid technical flaws
(d) no particular specific lighting/cropping/composition nitpicks that I can find
(e) not completely boring and devoid of artistic interest
(f) doesn't leap out at me and make me say, 'Cool!'
So there you are, an after-the-fact comment explaining my vote. :-> Though I think you can see why I didn't say so before. I didn't have anything specific to say about it.
I agree with hawkida in that the bulk of the photo is the back of a head, which isnt all that interesting. Also already noted, is the fact that you can easily assume this is a computer monitor (I did)instead of of a television.
If television what what you wanted to represent the matrix, THAT should have been more the focus. Instead of shooting behind the head, how about from the side, and you could see some couch potato slumped permanently into a chair, hand fixed to a remote, eyes bloodshot from the glare of the tube. You could go even further, and with some imagination, find a way to put the television on top of a guy's shoulders, implying his head is a TV, thus he is the TV, today's matrix.
I was going to work some verion of this for the Home Sweet Home challenge, implying that TV has become the home. I knew it'd take more work than I had time for.
In short, the concept was not necessarily poor, just the execution. Staring at the back of a head is generally boring. ;)
You asked for more specific comments... Well, the image doesn't grab me. It's not very interesting to look at - the back of someone's head needs more of a twist than this. To be honest, I didn't know it was a tv screen, it could have been a monitor. It seems sort of static and I'm generally not engaged by it.
I can see clear links to the movie and so it fits the challenge criteria but it's a long way off being something I'd ever want to hang on my wall.
In terms of composition, I think if I were doing the shot I would want to see more of the head - it looks awkward cut off at the bottom that way. Also, the shot is very dark overall. While the characters on the screen contrast with that they're a little garish and not particularly interesting to look at directly. My gaze is directionless as it runs around this picture looking for the focal point.
I find it difficult to offer in depth critiques at this stage as I know my own submissions are nothing special and full of faults. As you asked directly I thought I'd make an exception here.
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