Greetings from the Critique Club
by strangeghost
The first three parts of this critique are written based purely on examination of your photo. "Final thoughts" is written after reviewing your score, photographer's comments, and voter comments.
TECHNIQUE
The first thing that strikes me is how dark the left side of the bud is. If it looks this way on my relatively bright LCD, I bet it was way too dark for some voters using CRTs. The predominantly gray background leaves the image feeling a bit flat to me. Focus is pretty good, though it looks a little soft at the upper right tip. You've preserved good detail throughout most of the image, but there are areas on the darkened side of the bud that are apparently completely black, and the leaf (?) on the lower left side is very dark. It appears as though you were shooting in a very low light situation, with ISO800, 1/45th and a pretty wide open aperture. Is that overcast sky background or is this a studio shot?? I can't tell.
COMPOSITION
I like the off-centered composition, but it feels like that flower is pointed the wrong way. I'm sure it's a very subjective call, but because of the way the bud is leaning to the right, it seems as though the negative space should be on the other side, with the bud angling toward the open area. It's not bad the way it is, but it leaves me with a vaguely unbalanced sense of the image.
EMOTIONAL IMPACT
This photo does not have a lot of punch, IMO. It's technically adequate (except for the very uneven lighting). Its overall gray appearance feels a bit flat. I wonder if a tighter crop and more attention to the richly textured detail might have helped make it more interesting?
FINAL THOUGHTS
Regrettably, you left no photographer's comment to help me understand how this photo was made. When you request a critique, please help us out by leaving some sense of why you shot the shot, what obstacles did you have to overcome, what were you happy or unhappy with, etc. Your commenters during the challenge were a bit sparse, but they seemed to like your picture very much. Your final score of 5.2 put you right in the middle of a very large pack (huge challenge) but must have been a little disappointing to you. |
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