"I wandered lonely as a cloud" -Wordsworth
by posthumous

Comment:
wow. what light. beautiful.

Himba Boy
by gsal

Comment:
best of show

Fiddle
by Zigomar

Comment:
best of show

The Morning Run
by vxpra

Comment:
11.....best of show

Cellow
by De Sousa

Comment:
best of show

Asahi in Rainforest
by william88

Comment:
greetings from the critique club

Congratulations on a fine shot and high finish. You planned, you set up, and you executed well. Your idea was creative and was deservedly received well. I'm sure that you knew that you had a strong submission when you entered it. You leave me with a difficult critique!

I find it interesting that the Beer or Softdrink Advertisement was a baic editing challenge when the advertising world is all about post production. The most obvious technical flaw of the frame being the hot spots created on the bottles from your remote flash. That flash made the raindrop effect work, but gave you a problem on the subject itself. A simple post-production fix, but not available to you. A flash difusion technique could very well have reduced the glare, but then you would have certainly lost the drama of the rain and of course the magic of the particular rain drops that that are bouncing off the bottles. Interesting delema.

I imagine that the first thing that the editor at the agency representing Asahi might scold you about would be "why is there so much negative space to the right of the subject". "Where am I supposed to put the text?". And he would be right. There is too much space to the right that does not benefit the subject. You can find your answer in the rule of thirds. Your subject is two bottles of beer. Put the exact center of your subject right on the exact right third vertical line and bingo....your your subject composition falls in perfect alignment to what the human eye expects.

I've had psychologists trying to explain to me why the rule of thirds is so magicle. I still don't get it. I do know that I don't even have to take off my shoes to count the number of times I have broken the rule to a positive result.

My last comment is compositional as well. More jungle! I might have tried (without blocking the labels in any way) to create more of an effect of that these bottles were an actual product of the plant. Like I could just go and pick one. Might be a nice effect.

Very nice work! You get an 8 from me!!

russ

Message edited by author 2006-10-17 08:29:02.

despair
by tcmartin

Comment:
best of show

Heads or Tails
by jrd4t

Comment:
best of show

Sprite
by russi

Comment:
greetings from the critique club

Congratulations on your high finish and very interesting shot!!! I like it alot and find great humor in the capture. The impression that I'm going to run with is that this man is half-mad to catch this refreshment.

A couple of things technically first. I'm not sure that the reflection works for you here. The two strong competing elements, Man chases refreshment, don't need extra data, and the reflection reduces the mania, at least for me. While the rules of basic editing would prevent you from softening the hard white line produced by the counters edge, I would soften it substantially in post production.

There are strong elements to your composition that I like alot. The crazed looking man with bloodshot eyes and mussed up hair are dynamic and humorous. As well, the slight tilt of the beverage to the right gives the viewer just the slightest feeling that the beverage intends to escape.

I think that this emotion of "cat and mouse" could be strenthened with three techniques. To emphasize the excitement of the chase I might crop differently, in two different ways. First, I might add more white space to the right side. The strong visual line created by the mans gaze to the bottle I think could be strenthened by continuing that line to give the bottle somewhere to escape to. Second I might crop more narrowly to intensify the drama of the chase. Lastly, you could exagerate the bottles desire to run by tilting it even more toward the escape route therby emphasizing even further the "catch me if you can" emotion that I think is your goal here.

Very nice work. You get a 7 from me!!

russ

Dos Equis Lager Especial
by freakin_hilarious

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club!

Cogratulations on your strong finish and fine macro!

I would have no idea how the commercial photographers create condensation on beer bottles, but I imagine it is done with silicon or plastic droplets applied to the bottles in exactly the most strategic and appealing places. That way the bottle never dries out or gets soggy and they can plod along between photo and computer until they get exactly the result they want.

Under the confines of the basic editing guidelines there wasn't much you could do about the hot spot at the top of the label, nor could you crop out the the many light reflections that are so small to appear as digital noise. I'm sure that the agency producing magazine ads for Dos Equis would never have accepted all those little white specs all over their fabled Cuauhtemoc's cheek, and head dress. Interesting that this partcular challenge used the basic editing rules, when indeed the avertising agency itself is all about post production.

That's all I can say technically. Your shot is balanced, dynamic and well done. I can address the topic of brand familiarity. I know this label well because I drink beer and I live in Mexico. Many times advertisers will create such an ad just to remind the loyals they are still around. But if this ad were created to attract new customers, it doesn't include enough information. As another commenter suggests, the second X is obscured. We are pretty sure it's a beverage, because of the condensation. But can a new potential customer understand the brand? It all depends on your intent as a photographer and the medium in which the ad was to be placed.

Love your work. You get a 7 from me!!

russ