My daughter, Cassie, walking along the local railroad tracks. What a good sport! :)
PP:
Levels layer
Dupe layer for dodging, burning, and cloned out telephone wires - applied soft focus filter
Gradient layer - black n white effect at 70%
Hue/Saturation level
resize
save for web
Statistics
Place: 124 out of 191 Avg (all users): 5.1309 Avg (commenters): 4.5000 Avg (participants): 4.7468 Avg (non-participants): 5.4018 Views since voting: 744 Views during voting: 269 Votes: 191 Comments: 5 Favorites: 0
Hello, and greetings from the Critique Club. The critique you are about to recieve is tailored for DPC challenges alone, and is not intended to be seen as an artistic critique per se.
Initial Thoughts
A nice photo, looks oversharpened in areas, despite the blur effect.
Composition / Content
This is rather nice compositionally, although the human subject has been minimalized perhaps a little too much. The scene over-powers here and takes away from the "destination" aspect, at least for me. The tracks lead on to a destination, sure.. but the small figure just seems lost and gratuitous. Artistically, I can see a point that destiny is, traditionally, about being lost and finding our way.. but artistically isn't what I'm worried about when I critique.. and as the image stands, I do believe that voters just weren't grabbed by it because of the lack of a strong connection.
Background
A nice lead off into the distance, but the haze kind of works against you here I think.. lending to a flat color. This might have worked a lot better in a soft sepia tone, or in "hyper-reality".. more of an enhanced color to help the "dreamy" look.
Camera Work / Technical
A nice exposure, but the color is just too flat overall. Your focus is good, but I think maybe using an aperature of f/8 would have helped even more.
Digital Processing
While I generally like the soft-focus effect, and while I can see why you'd use it in a photograph like this, I think it probably turned off too many voters. It's a little strong in areas, and only helps obscure your human subject that much more to my eye. The gradient layer probably contributed to the flat coloring, which is also usually a negative with voters, especially for landscapes or pseudo-landscapes. It works well for portraits or candids.. but landscapes with a desaturated look rarely do well in my experience and observation. There are also areas that look a little oversharpened, but I see that you use the DiMAGE Z2, and I've noticed this "oversharpening" effect from photos of that camera before, and suspect that it's an in-camera thing.
Fits the Challenge
While it fits the challenge on more levels than it appears at first glance, the factors I mentioned above kind of minimize that.. at least on a technical/visual level that is so important to a DPC entry. I think having your human subject more prominent in the scene would have helped this out a little.
My Opinion of the Photo
It's a nice dreamy photo with some wonderful artistic value. I like the statement that I myself can see in it.. the long and hazy road to our destiny.. if it exists. However, on a DPC level, it just falls short in a few areas. It's always a battle.. trying to find a good compromise between what we want to say, and the quest for a better score. Good luck in future challenges.
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