>>> LPS#19 - Feedback Thread

[DoctorIt]

This is the official feedback thread for LPS19, Thoughts or Action...

Your finalists were:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=80840

I myself am off for the next week with no internet connection, but if you are patient, and a good group of little boys and girls, when I return, I'll post my comments as well.

[DoctorIt]

Jeroen sent me these via PM (thanks! )

01 - #47 – kwalsh – Reaction
Wow, this one fits the theme very well. A thought and an action in one. Funny idea and well excecuted. The glove is great! The only thing is the guy’s face that looks a bit grainy. Allways shave before modelling!

02 - #70 – ravic - Dancing
You want action? Here you have it. Very nice composition and the ultra limited colour range works very well here. I like the simplicity of it all.

03 - #79 – DeuceFour - Electric Concentration
Cool. I like the fish eye. What I like here is that I can buy it. It looks like a real situation. I can almost see the guy sweating.

04 - #11- jeffmeyers - My Gift
If that is real, I envy the photographer’s timing. If that is acted, she deserves an Oscar.

05 - #40 – Nikolai – Crash
If I had a photo of my wife like that, I would have it printed and framed. Very nice catch!

06 - #46 – cbsnet - Flying with a Purpose
Cool shot. This is action indeed. Great composition.

07 - #38 – ifocus – Expectation
If that is not Photoshopped, I hope the photographer used servo. I’d love to see this as a series. Looks a bit like it was done on purpose.

08 - #21 - AaronNelson - Derby Dreams
A penny for her thoughts.

09 - #14 - PaulThomasMcKee - Mind Power
Wow, very nice lighting. And again 2 for the price of one. I don’t like the guy’s face though. Maybe a reshoot with the face oof in the background, focus on the spoon?

10 - #26 – sherstone - Morning Mudras
I thought the guy was fishing. What’s he doing with his hands? I had to Google for “Mudra”. Technically very, very good and I like the mood.

[Tee Why]

First of all, let me say the top tier of entries were all very good. Who finished on top was more based on the emotional feel of the image more than anything and hence subjective. Congratulations to all the top finishers.

These are just my critiques.

seastack - Dog days of December
Great exposure, the correct amount of subject isolation from the background. Great colors/details/contrast. Excellent focus/isolation on the eye. I thought this was tops as well. However, the cropping/composition was a touch off for me. I'm prefer to compose my stuff vertically more and doing so here would I think allow the nose and just a touch more of the dogs face (just a touch more here) and also include the top of the building in the back as well. I really like this shot and the only thing that slightly bothered me about it was the composition. Great work.

Awais Yaqub - Who Will Cry For The Children?
Great emotional impact. You can really feel the anguish and the tears that the child has. Not much to critique in the timing and the emotional impact of the shot. I'd recommend a few things technically though. First the composition is a bit too centered for me. I'd personally prefer an off-center subject placed more to the right or maybe the left or a dutch angle tilt so that the shot shows more tension. The eyes are a bit too contrasty and dark. Hence it's tough to see if it's in focus/pin sharp or not. There is something bright in the right bottom corner which distracts from the image. I would recommend cropping that out or burning that so it's darker. The cooler color is nice, but I think a duotone would be even more dramatic. B/W can be powerful if you are trying to convey one thing, e.g. emotion/texture/play of lights, and I think all you need here is to see the eyes, tears, and the tension on the subjects face.

Greensquared - Dear Diary
Nice classic concept of soft window lighting. Good technically and emotionally. The cropping is a bit loose with strong dark lines running the length of the shot on the left and the bottom. I think those hard lines distract from a very soft feel of the light and the subject. I think it needs a tighter crop and a bit of vignetting to focus more on the face and the intimacy of the moment.

kwalsh – Reaction
Let me state my bias, as I'm not a fan of stages studio shots. I prefer candid or environmental portraits, but this shot I thought worked well with the topic for the competition. A nice topical play on the Mentos/Diet Coke/Explosion thing. The bottle and the subject are layered to add a slight sense of depth and what looks like a wide angle lens distorts the subject and makes the bottle and the hand look big an places emphasis there. The blurred falling mentos show a sense of drama/movement so that the shot isn't static. The diagonal line of the desk, how the Mentos are arranged, and the composition is excellent.

Agila - contemplate
Technically this is a very nice shot with good play of dramatic tones and excellent processing. The only thing that bothered me about the shot was that the cold blue tones were too dominating. I think this is the intended point of the shot but it just didn't work for me. So this is more of a personal taste issue and not a real critique in my view. I think if the sky was warmer, it would separate the sky from the water more and make the shot warmer.

urbanaries - Chocolate Cake nirvana
I liked this shot, I thought it had good composition, great timing, and good focus with a narrow depth of field to isolate mainly the mouth and the finger. I can almost taste the chocolate myself. I think most of the issues were with the processing. I personally would make the background darker by a stop or so. That would further isolate and focus attention to the mouth/finger. I would also like to have seen a slightly softer lighting on the mouth/finger as well so that not as much detail is lost. This is an artistic shot, so you don't have to see every detail at 100% crop or anything, but I just found that the chocolate lost too much detail. I wanted to see it and taste it in my mind more. Great, now I'm hungry. Who's got chocolate? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? :)


Izzy Garavito - I can't hold it any longer!
The thing I like most about this shot is the nice lighting. A few technical things bothered me though. First the cropping is a bit too tight for me. What I think makes the shot is the anticipation on the dogs face and I think it would have been better if more of the face and both eyes were in the shot. I think the depth of field may be too shallow as the eye is slightly out of focus. It's tough to get a portrait to work with out of focus eyes. The shot is great but I think if the eye(s) were in focus more, it would add to the shot more. More on depth of field, I wish the food in the foreground was more in focus. It doesn't have to be in perfect focus, but just a touch more. So overall, nice concept/lighting that I think may benefit a touch more from a deeper depth of field and a wider composition.

Hoofclix - Doppelganger
Nice multiple exposure shot, I'm assuming since both subjects look the same, and a nice sense of motion with the moving chess piece. I just didn't get as much emotional or visual impact as the other shots. I thought the tone was a bit cold and would prefer a duo or a tritone to the b/w conversion for more warmth and texture to the image. The composition is a touch flat without any sense of forced perspectives, so that may be another issue as well.

Binghott - photographing
I thought this was a technically well done shot with a good focus on the eyes and a shallow depth of field for good isolation, and vibrant colors. However, I didn't get an emotional response out of the image. The colors are very vibrant, lighting is excellent, but the background, on both sides of the subjects face is a bit distracting. I'd consider shooting with darker things in the background or burning them in post processing. Once again, I'm into vertical compositions, especially for a head shot and feel that if the hands and the camera wasn't cropped off and the negative space on the sides of the face were cropped out by the vertical composition, this would clean up things a touch.

ravic - Dancing
I went back and forth on this shot. I liked it and then didn't and back and forth. I like the dramatic effects of the moving fabric and the leaping dancer overall. However, I'm not a fan of the background. It's too void and it looks too abstract for my tastes. I am not sure if the red subject is due to the lighting or processing, but would prefer less red and more colors if possible. I am not sure if the subject could be shot from another angle but right now it's a bit too flat for me. Perhaps if the dancer was coming into or out of the frame at an angle, it would add more sense of depth. The foot on the left is a bit overexposed and blurred. If more of the subject was blurred it would blend better, I think I would either prefer more subject movement blur or no subject blurring except the fabrics the the dancer is holding. This is a minor point though.

Sorry for the ramblings.
TY

[HoofClix]

Thanks for the critique from BOTH of the judges who posted thus far. I really appreciate the detailed comments from both.

Tee Why, I am curious, however, to know who you actually voted for and why, your comments on those. I truly will not be offended if you didn't actually vote for my entry, but your comments refer to comments on the final selections, not who you voted for. (If I thought what you did about mine, I wouldn't have voted for it!) I'm truly not offendable here, so if you come across time to give us critique on the ones you voted for, that would be also great!

[Agila]

here's the original shot, it is actually warmer.
I'm torned between warm and bluish tone, my wife likes the latter so i just listen to her


thanks to the judges

Originally Posted by Tee Why

Agila - contemplate
I think if the sky was warmer, it would separate the sky from the water more and make the shot warmer.

TY

[Tee Why]

Originally Posted by HoofClix

Thanks for the critique from BOTH of the judges who posted thus far. I really appreciate the detailed comments from both.

Tee Why, I am curious, however, to know who you actually voted for and why, your comments on those. I truly will not be offended if you didn't actually vote for my entry, but your comments refer to comments on the final selections, not who you voted for. (If I thought what you did about mine, I wouldn't have voted for it!) I'm truly not offendable here, so if you come across time to give us critique on the ones you voted for, that would be also great!

Sorry, I wasn't sure if I'm suppose to comment on my picks or the winners. I think I did vote for your shot somewhere about #8-10. Perhaps DoctorIt can pull up my list.

[Tee Why]

Originally Posted by Agila

here's the original shot, it is actually warmer.
I'm torned between warm and bluish tone, my wife likes the latter so i just listen to her


thanks to the judges

Nice shot. Man, the composition is very strong. Kind of locks the viewer's attention to the shot and won't let go for a while. This is pretty darn good straight out of the camera. My personal approach would have been in PS, to select the sky out and make it more saturated and warmer and then select the water and cool it down.

I really do see that you were going for a cool temperature feel to the shot. I prefer a warmer sky and cooler water. Just my personal preference.

[Izzy Garavito]

Tee, thanks for your critique and quick response. You're right: I myself would have liked more DOF. It was a very candid shot, and would have loved to be able to recreate it

Here's what I used:

I would have rather used speedlights to have more control and a faster shutter speed--the dog kept moving around and the low lighting was a pain.

[Tee Why]

Wow, impressive results from such a simple lighting set up.
Moving dog heh? Have you tried doggie valium???
I kid... I kid... ha ha

[PaulThomasMcKee]

Jeroen wrote:

"09 - #14 - PaulThomasMcKee - Mind Power
Wow, very nice lighting. And again 2 for the price of one. I don’t like the guy’s face though(emphasis added). Maybe a reshoot with the face oof in the background, focus on the spoon?"

I don't like the guy's face much either, but I've kind of gotten used to it over the years .

Seriously, Thanks for your vote and your critique! I really enjoyed this round.

-paul

[sherstone]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

10 - #26 – sherstone - Morning Mudras
I thought the guy was fishing. What’s he doing with his hands? I had to Google for “Mudra”. Technically very, very good and I like the mood.

He is fishing - fishing for thoughts -

Thanks for the feedback - I also enjoy reading the take on all the others as well.

[DeuceFour]

Originally Posted by DoctorIt

03 - #79 – DeuceFour - Electric Concentration
Cool. I like the fish eye. What I like here is that I can buy it. It looks like a real situation. I can almost see the guy sweating.

Awesome, Thanks for posting this, its nice to know that I was on the correct track with the theme and the picture, looking forward to entering the next one!!!

[AaronNelson]

Originally Posted by PaulThomasMcKee

Jeroen wrote:

"09 - #14 - PaulThomasMcKee - Mind Power
Wow, very nice lighting. And again 2 for the price of one. I don’t like the guy’s face though(emphasis added). Maybe a reshoot with the face oof in the background, focus on the spoon?"

I don't like the guy's face much either, but I've kind of gotten used to it over the years .

Seriously, Thanks for your vote and your critique! I really enjoyed this round.

-paul

Jeroen, those are fighting words, and incase you didnt notice this paul guy can bend spoons with his mind!!! so you better watch out!...

hey and thanks for the vote on my oldest little girl (and no i will never let her jockey.)

[binghott]

Originally Posted by Tee Why

Binghott - photographing
I thought this was a technically well done shot with a good focus on the eyes and a shallow depth of field for good isolation, and vibrant colors. However, I didn't get an emotional response out of the image. The colors are very vibrant, lighting is excellent, but the background, on both sides of the subjects face is a bit distracting. I'd consider shooting with darker things in the background or burning them in post processing. Once again, I'm into vertical compositions, especially for a head shot and feel that if the hands and the camera wasn't cropped off and the negative space on the sides of the face were cropped out by the vertical composition, this would clean up things a touch.

thanks for your feedback! i think you made some good points, and of course i should've used a darker background, but this shot is actually part of a series in a bathub filled with colorful toys and stuffed animals. thanks again! i'm just thrilled that my image was picked!

[jziegler]

Originally Posted by Izzy Garavito

Tee, thanks for your critique and quick response. You're right: I myself would have liked more DOF. It was a very candid shot, and would have loved to be able to recreate it

Here's what I used:

I would have rather used speedlights to have more control and a faster shutter speed--the dog kept moving around and the low lighting was a pain.

Are those just halogen worklights? Never thought to use them for photography, good (low cost) idea. Your shot was one of my favorites this round, and I understand VERY well the difficulty of dealing with dogs as subjects.