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Why I'm Not Allowed in the Kitchen
Why I'm Not Allowed in the Kitchen
meyers


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Kitchenware (Advanced Editing V)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Location: Chicago, IL
Date: Apr 22, 2007
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/50
Date Uploaded: Apr 22, 2007

This wasn't my first idea.. Really, it wasn't. My much cooler idea, which didn't happen because I couldn't find the props, and wasn't willing to go *that* far for a DPC entry, was a shot of the knife on the cutting board with 3 carrots and a severed finger! "Oops!"

This was more of a fun shot than anything technical or artistic, and will probably get me a score around 4.5 or so, but maybe I'll make some people laugh.

My adjustments, meager as they are, were to crop, make a minor adjustment in curves, sharpen, and adding the border.

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Post-Challenge: Guess I called out my score. I should have realized DPC voters really are out for blood!

Statistics
Place: 143 out of 149
Avg (all users): 4.5196
Avg (commenters): 4.3333
Avg (participants): 4.2258
Avg (non-participants): 4.6752
Views since voting: 781
Views during voting: 393
Votes: 179
Comments: 13
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
05/04/2007 12:32:46 AM
Greetings from the Critique Club

I remember seeing this during the voting, and thinking, "Ewwwwwyyy!" I can so sympathize, I cut myself in the kitchen all the time, I'm really clumsy with knives.

Technicals:

Exposure/light looks right, your use of F4.5 gives enough clarity in the main subject while giving a soft blur to the context. The image is processed nicely, although I think I personally would prefer it without the red outer border (it looks a bit like overkill to me). Your main "technical" problem is that the blood doesn't look real, so you had trouble really selling the image. The back hand (the hand with the fake cut) looks a tad out of focus, and could be a bit sharper IMO.

From an artistic point of view, again, your choice of relatively shallow DOF works well with this composition. The composition itself is beautiful, there's enough context to give the image depth without clutter. The yellow/orange shadow is something I wonder about, I wonder if toning it down to a bit greyer would work. The apple being cut, it looks like two pieces in the hand, and the back piece looks like it is a bit too far back for it being cut realistically.

I am surprised at the score on this image - I would have thought it would score a fair bit higher than 4.5. I'm not sure what to tell you about that, except that it's hard to sell stuff to the DPC voters :) I think that the somewhat unreal feel of the photo hurt it quite a bit.

One little detail I love is the oof light spots on the blood in the sink. They make the blood look shiny wet, and that's a quirky little detail that I love.

I hope this helps.

~Ursula
  Photographer found comment helpful.
05/02/2007 10:19:56 AM
I found the blood a little too ambery to be real blood, but I still like the idea and execution (so long as no fingers were actually severed). Good work!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/30/2007 10:46:15 AM
Creative idea, but I've gotta admit it looks more like a brown sugar blend of some sort than blood, LOL :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/30/2007 02:45:36 AM
Ummm... ewwww! And I do tend to cut myself a lot which is why I stick to things you can stick in the micro instead of cooking.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/30/2007 12:46:33 AM
Well, you made ME laugh, Rob. :) DPC voters definitely want it to look like blood - I've seen comments similar to the ones you got on many such shots. I'm sure Google has some results for "fake blood" if you ever want to try a bloody shot again.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/30/2007 12:46:05 AM
I thought this was amusing - yeah, I confess I didn't buy the "blood" either, but it's a good idea.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
04/27/2007 01:48:44 AM
because you get barbecue sauce all over the place? :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/26/2007 02:27:02 AM
Great idea, but I wish the "blood" was a bit more realistic (more reddish in color).
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/25/2007 04:56:32 AM
the blood in not convincing..
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/24/2007 03:45:00 PM
Yeah, I've done that myself! The "blood," however, is not very blood colored.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/24/2007 01:31:55 PM
Should that be blood? It's not a very convincing colour.

Interesting take on the challenge. Good detail where it's necessary.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/24/2007 08:15:59 AM
Good idea & image but the border is very distracting.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
04/23/2007 04:38:03 AM
hehe nice tomatoe sauce ^_^
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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