Self Framed
by RowanN

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Not a bad shot and shows that you can hold still very well for 1/10...that's not easy to do. The oof fingers add a good frame, the light on you is a little hard but not enough to nitpick about. I would try to avoid centering yourself so much; possibly try this again but have your hands framing you at a greater distance from your face, as right now I get the impression that you're not too far from the lens. Try to put yourself at the right third but eyes as they are, dodged to the left. Should make for a stronger shot.

I see that you're new here and trust me, this site will teach you a lot - including how to grow a thick skin and put up with low scores til you hone your skills a bit more and produce stronger images. Which you will do, and I have seen good work in your portfolio, and I feel that you have the basic technicals of comp and lighting down. Now it's time to push the creativity.

Hope this critique has been useful, and feel free to PM me.

Susan

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by Mark-A:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

Composition:

It's ok although something seems a tad wrong, I can't quite put my finger on it but I wonder if the scene is actually like this - to comply with the rules (as I understand them) you would have had to have taken the shot of the two people with the camera in the same position and for the scene to be one - to my eye it looks like the fork might be two different locations although I could be way off the mark :)

Technicals:

Assuming the scene is a single scene capture and for the purpose of the critique I will assume it is one complete scene, the shot is quite well taken, there seems to be fairly good focus but the left hand person seems a little flat.

Post-Processing:

I assume from your notes that there was not much editing done however I do think the shot would have benefitted from a little more contrast and quite a bit of sharpening, I am not sure if this would have bought more detail out in the main tree in the image though and for some reason I keep being drawn to this area and to me it seems there should be some detail in the bark but there is very little other than shadows so my eye is left wanting here especially.

My Opinion:

I like the idea I just think you need to work on the execution a little and then on your post processing, however this kind of shot could well see you getting Posthumous ribbons when the technicals are up to par.

Hope this was of some use, should you wish to discuss any part of the critique further please feel free to PM me.

Good luck in future challenges!

Mark

Self Framed
by RowanN

Comment by blindjustice:
Nice light for such a shot.

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by RowanN:
Thanks for the comments people.

Pelican, I just used two images of the same person and fixed it all up in photoshop.

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by jagar:
This is actually wonderful.

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by PennyStreet:
good one... staged or not, it doesn't matter. Love the low pov.

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by JamesDowning:
Given a little more quality, this image could have really hit it on the nail for me. Maybe it's just a matter of sharpening - or the lack thereof, but something is lacking a bit technically. Conceptually I really like it though.

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by KfirLevAri:
I don't like the colors that much, but the picture is very well directed.
May be simple black and white could have helped it, I'm not sure.
Anyway, great concept.

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by Melethia:
Nice use of the theme. I like how the slender, young tree in the center defines the decision point - the beginning of each path.

Decisions
by RowanN

Comment by pelican:
Twins? Body double? or Photoshop? Watch out for that fork in the road, a little less shadow on the figure on the left perhaps nut nicely done.