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Shades of Brown to Black with a Bite
Shades of Brown to Black with a Bite
PhilXT350


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Complementary Colors II (Basic Editing III)
Camera: Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Lens: Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Date: Sep 29, 2005
Aperture: 5.6
ISO: 200
Shutter: 125
Galleries: Nature, Portraiture
Date Uploaded: Sep 29, 2005

The Golden Eagle's feathers are useful and blend well in nature.

Statistics
Place: 283 out of 318
Avg (all users): 4.0258
Avg (commenters): 3.3333
Avg (participants): 3.6273
Avg (non-participants): 4.3821
Views since voting: 812
Views during voting: 307
Votes: 233
Comments: 13
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
10/18/2005 02:38:51 AM
Greetings from the Critique Club!
"...try to use two complementary colors to compose your photograph."

This seemed to be a very subjective challenge for those submitting as well the voters. The "intended" focus of this challenge was to photograph something with 2 opposite colors in the color wheel. This can esily be checked in most photo-editing programs by simply inverting the colors and seeing what the opposite of a certain color is.

Composition:
Your composition pulls the eye right to the main focal point - the birds face & eyes. Depth of field places the background nicely out of focus. The pose is classic and powerful.

Lighting:
Your subject is well lit, but perhaps a bit harsh in the beak area. Catchlight in the eye is benficial to the realistic look.

Post-Processing:
Image overall is lacking sharpness and the fine detail that make these kind of images so strong historically speaking. A slight increase in contrast and decrease in brightness may have helped this shot overall. Your border, though simple, is not proportioned evenly, being narrower on the bottom. Not sure if this was intended or an oversight. A simple way to make a 10 pixel border in Photoshop, would be to Ctrl-A to select the whole image, then Edit, Stroke, select inside, type in 10 for the pixel width and select white, or choose a color of your choice, though white generally shows better in the challenges.

Suggestions/Improvements:
This image fell near the bottom of the challenge rankings, primarily due to the lack of really meeting the intended challenge, and am sure you realize what happened by now. Keep your eyes on the forums to see discusssions so often associated with challenge descriptions.
Things get better with time, as the site becomes more familiar to you, and your camera becomes an extension of your eyes. Keep shooting! I know what that camera is capable of and the sky is the limit!

I hope this was useful to you, and please feel free to contact me via PM if you have any questions regarding this critique or anything else relating to the site in general.

Regards,
Brad
 Comments Made During the Challenge
10/10/2005 07:47:48 PM
It's a great shot! But it seems a bit of a stretch for this competition.
10/10/2005 07:59:46 AM
Complementary colours are pairs of colours that contrast strongly when compared to each other.
Black and white are neutrals and not colours at all, and therefore they cannot be complementary colours... white shows the presence of light, and black shows the absence of light. Black and white areas next to each other do demonstrate high contrast, but high contrast gives a different visual effect than complementary colours do in a picture.

Your image demonstrates a duotone effect rather than the effect of complementary colours.

Check some of the forum discussions on complementary colours for suggestions on using colour for contrast.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/10/2005 07:15:13 AM
the yellow and blue on the beak work well
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/09/2005 04:33:54 AM
DNMC
10/07/2005 11:12:48 PM
Nice capture, but I don't see complementary colors?
10/06/2005 11:46:43 PM
Could be a little larger and a little sharper
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/06/2005 06:55:07 PM
nice shot but needs to be pin sharp to be a winner....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/05/2005 05:04:09 PM
NO, black isn't a color!
10/05/2005 02:09:59 PM
focus appears to be a bit off to me
10/05/2005 12:36:58 PM
There are no complimentary colors.
10/05/2005 09:43:56 AM
Does not meet the challenge, bird is too soft.
10/05/2005 09:28:55 AM
Nice picture. A bit fuzzy. Not really complementary colors.


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