>>> LPS#13 Feedback Thread

[Shay Stephens]

I will be posting my feedback shortly. Most of the judges mentioned they had a very good time judging this round. I agree, the playfulness of using light or shadow made for some very nice work to view. A couple of judges found it very difficult to get their list down to only 10. So good work everybody

[richtersl]

Originally Posted by Shay Stephens

I will be posting my feedback shortly. Most of the judges mentioned they had a very good time judging this round. I agree, the playfulness of using light or shadow made for some very nice work to view. A couple of judges found it very difficult to get their list down to only 10. So good work everybody

Thanks for the update, Shay!

For the unofficial feedback thread, it was also VERY tough to keep the list down to just 10. This was truly an exceptional round.

[Shay Stephens]

I have a ton of processing I have to do, so I will be doing the feedback in stages, first stage post 2 - 20.

2 - Povertybarn - Absolutely no idea
I like the concept, (no light, no idea), and the cool color balance works well too. The framing seems odd though, not far enough in or far enough out and it feels like an oversight.


3 - VisualXpressions - Safe Haven
Same here, the colors and contrast look great along with that glint of light, but it isn't tight enough to exclude the house, and not far enough out to include it. So it feels like the house is intruding and it is there as an oversight.


4 - MarkTodd - Sorcery 101
Love the green, very wicked witch of the west feel to it ;-) But something about the hand doesn't feel right. Almost like the hand is going to grab the ball instead of twist it to perform some evil deed. More acting in the hand, more senister emotion.


5 - rwells - Day's End...
The viewer wants to dream the fire the cowboy is enjoying. Adding the campfire would have added the context needed to complete the story I think. I can just make out grass, so I don't think he is looking at a boiler or a house fire, I can only assume a camp fire. Add a few more visual elements to make it feel complete for the viewer.


6 - mpaulie - Looking for the answers
This has a nice ethereal and emotional feel to it for me. But something is just not clicking for me. It might be the lack of a face to help cement the emotion, maybe if the left hand were on the window instead it might read left to right and feel better, I don't know. I am really unsure what it is that is holding me back.


7 - SciurusNiger - Evening Sentinel
I like the sunbeam and it has potential if the squirrel were better placed in it, and the framing could use a bit more pizazz too. The head square in the middle leaves a lot of unused space that could be put to better use. Most of the left side of the frame doesn't add much to the photo.


8 - MrsCue - "The Living Dead"
The lighting is used well to get across a horror type look, but it just isn't grabbing me. Maybe I am reading the title too seriously, but I feel a disconnect and am not getting a good response to the parody.


9 - jkenzie - Night Pool
Beautiful! And I think I would love it even more if the image were panned down a bit to exclude the black top and include a bit more of the reflection below. Love the simple composition and that blue line. Gorgeous!


10 - hurricanesteve - September Morning
Very atmospheric, it is nice when the light has a medium to radiate through like this shot shows.


11 - imax - Out Of The Shadows
Very scary! I love the dense shadows here. So dense you could almost swim in it.


12 - Travis - Cavalier
Very pretty! I am surprised more lights are not on in the building. The moon is a nice touch and I appreciate seeing that detail. Could maybe use a bit more brightness, you don't want it looking like day, but giving the light a pinch more impact might help.


13 - The Curious Camel - Lonely Rays
Wow, the light here is really the subject, and the trees are just supporting props. Beautiful!


14 - Strikeslip - Just another rock in space
I am not really seeing the theme here. There is shadow, but it is so small, a closeup of the craters at the terminator would be highlighting the shadows wonderfully. And there is light, but it is pretty flat and surrounded by black and I just can't get a good feel for it one way or the other. Light as a subject is just not grabbing me even though light is needed in order to see the moon.


15 - schmooo - Firestarter
Love it!


16 - quark - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Very cool illustration. The amount of black space is appropriate here too since you are trying to get across the idea of a beginning. I like it.


17 - Tentacion - It's A Small World....
Beautiful scene. I am not seeing "light" as the light is pretty diffuse and does not stand out as lighting per se. And I am not picking up much of an idea of shadow either. Kind of a no mans land from a theme perspective. But the photo is pretty.


18 - Nikolai - The path of the righteous man
This is a great combination of themes for me. I get strong light and shadow messages from this photo, and they are both very complimentary to each other. Love the pattern repetition too. Beautiful!


19 - pemmett - The mind of a child
Try this as an option, crop the left side away and keep the right side and see what you think. The asymmetry I think helps the photo a lot. The double light bulb reflections look odd to me, and by cutting down the middle of the nose, you only include one light bulb which seems less artificial.


20 - HarleyPugs - The Poker Player
Some posing help here might, I hope, be beneficial. The right hand is cut off by the table, so having it rest on the table or even holding the drink would give it something to do. The ashtray could probably be assumed and not shown just for the sake of visual simplicity, or at least move it farther out of the frame so it takes up less space. And either load it with ashes or clean it out 100%. A hint of background might also help provide some visual separation between the shoulders and the background, it almost looks like a floating head and arms only ;-)

More to come later...

[pemmett]

Originally Posted by Shay Stephens

19 - pemmett - The mind of a child
Try this as an option, crop the left side away and keep the right side and see what you think. The asymmetry I think helps the photo a lot. The double light bulb reflections look odd to me, and by cutting down the middle of the nose, you only include one light bulb which seems less artificial.

Shay, Thanks again for the great feedback. Is this the kind of crop you were referring too? Thanks.

[rwells]

Originally Posted by Shay Stephens

5 - rwells - Day's End...
The viewer wants to dream the fire the cowboy is enjoying. Adding the campfire would have added the context needed to complete the story I think. I can just make out grass, so I don't think he is looking at a boiler or a house fire, I can only assume a camp fire. Add a few more visual elements to make it feel complete for the viewer.

Shay,

Thank you for taking the time to post feedback on our photographs. It helps to see where and why the picture(s) come up short for the judges.

In my case, I liked the photograph, but thought it lacked the "elements" to make it a solid entry. I really wanted a bedroll and the fire in the photo, but certain constraints didn't allow it. At least it did partially draw you in, just couldn't complete the sale...

Sometimes you just gotta go with what you got

[The Curious Camel]

Originally Posted by Shay Stephens
13 - The Curious Camel - Lonely Rays
Wow, the light here is really the subject, and the trees are just supporting props. Beautiful!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, soooo many beautiful shots I wasn't sure if I'd make it in

[Shay Stephens]

Originally Posted by pemmett

Shay, Thanks again for the great feedback. Is this the kind of crop you were referring too? Thanks.

Ya, that is what I was thinking. But, what do you think? How do you feel about the photo pre and post crop? Would you do something different?

[richtersl]

Originally Posted by pemmett

Shay, Thanks again for the great feedback. Is this the kind of crop you were referring too? Thanks.

I love that crop!

[pemmett]

Originally Posted by Shay Stephens

Ya, that is what I was thinking. But, what do you think? How do you feel about the photo pre and post crop? Would you do something different?

Thank you so much for your input, it's really helpful

I had toyed with this crop before which i really like, but I fell in to the trap of loving my daughter's face too much I think that this kind of crop really works well on close ups of faces.

I had also tried this close crop


which I also liked as it felt that she was almost trying to peek out of the photo.

In the end I probably could have done anything and I would have liked the result, which is probably not what I should be aiming for. How would you suggest I approach this situation? Don't take pictures of the family for the LPS? Get others input when using a family shot?

Cheers/Peter
(From a very wet Philippines)

[Shay Stephens]

Originally Posted by pemmett

In the end I probably could have done anything and I would have liked the result, which is probably not what I should be aiming for. How would you suggest I approach this situation? Don't take pictures of the family for the LPS? Get others input when using a family shot?

Learning self critique can be a big help. Sit back and critique the photo. What message is it communicating as opposed to what you want it to convey? When you can begin treating the photo as tool of communication, it helps to disassociate you from the personal attachment.

Sometimes just accepting the photo as a base and seeing where else you can take it helps too. Exploring the bounds of what the photo can convey can help you zero in on its strengths and weaknesses because you are actively looking for them. Even if you wind up not using any of the alternatives, you will have a better understanding of what the photo is actually doing and if that meshes with what you wanted or help you to reformulate the idea and reshoot a photo that communicates that idea stronger.

Those are some ideas anyway that would still let you shoot family hehehe.