Flip Flop Sandalsby
stephanComment by e301: Hi stephan - 'revenge' time? Your critique club moment ...
I think this was one of the more memorable photos from the trends challenge: it doesn't quite make it into my favourites, but very nearly.
I guess you won't be finishing things on that TFT screen again then, huh?
I'm not really sure what I most like about it - it's one of those shots that somehow defies my powers of interpretation. The composition is different: using the thirds but in a vertical manner is an odd thing to do, but effective; the intensity of the grass' green is excellent, especially set against the washed-out look of the flip-flops; the slight progression from dark to light up the image is intersting too - allows a dynamic contrast around the subject and still keeps the background as an important element. I did, and still do, find the border hugely distracting: whether that's just me, but I absolutely loathe coloured borders - they feel like they're cheating my eye, saying 'look at this colour', or 'isn't this clever, I can choose a colour from my picture', or more seriously an attempt to fool the eye into processing the colours of an image differently (in which case why not do that in processing?). I can see the use (and use them myself) of black or white borders to emphasise the overall feel of an image - like being able to choose the colour of wall for your art to hang on, but these coloured tricks ... anyway, drifted off-topic a little there.
48th place isn't so bad, I guess. I think that's because it's a pretty static image - besides the points I've mentioned (and I'm not sure a lot of people appreciate that stuff here), there isn't a lot to it: the lighting is very good, but not immediately eye-catching, the composition isn't orthodox, and it has a feeling of your having over-processed it (where did all the red go?), without producing an effect that will really nail people.
Good luck in future
ed
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