Fierce Hot Anger
by aurorab

Comment by MinsoPhoto:
This was one of my favorites of the challenge. Not really eye candy but fun to look at and interesting. This will be posted at Posthumous Ribbons, part III

Almost Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades
by aurorab

Comment by karmat:
and body odor. oh wait that is "close." nm. hahahah

Fierce Hot Anger
by aurorab

Comment by texxsmith:
Wow, he's angry!

Fierce Hot Anger
by aurorab

Comment by Silent-Shooter:
Does that say: "MOJO"?

When Spray Paint Attacks!!!
by aurorab

Comment by sarampo:
Hello Shannon, greetings from the Critique Club!

First of all, welcome to DPC, I see that you've recently joined us, I hope you're enjoying it so far :)

Regarding your photo, don't be discouraged because of the placing.
Your original idea was very good, and it shows creativity in a challenge where you didn't have an alternative, and that got you higher marks from the commentators.

Composition
Considering that this was a planned shot, you could have made a much bigger emphasis in the main subject of your photo. For example, not having the OOF (out of focus) red car on the right, it would make the central toys much more visible, and like this it was a distracting point.
The can of spray is a very inventive touch, but the way it is you can hardly perceive that it is a can. It's too out of focus.

Lighting
One good technique to light up toys, is to have two light sources (can be desk lamps, flashes, etc) one from each side, perpendicular to the camera. This helps to remove any shadows, and does not create reflections for the camera.

Processing
The colours are very good, probably could just be a little brighter, it appears a bit dark on the screen.
Also, next time you could take advantage of the full 800px size, it will retain you more details.

Overall
A very imaginative photo, that could be much improved by two or three important points, that you can do them on the next one.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Joao

Fierce Hot Anger
by aurorab

Comment by moosh:
the trace of the flam is interesting

Fierce Hot Anger
by aurorab

Comment by sekarmalathy:
Great attempt on painting with light.

When Spray Paint Attacks!!!
by aurorab

Comment by texxsmith:
Who doesn't love die cast cars?

Extra Bubbley
by aurorab

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Love the low point of view here, I am a huge fan of extreme pov, so a bonus point. Lighting for stuff like bubbles, which by nature tend to very reflective, is quite good.

I like the concept but the execution needs a little work.

First of all, less is more, especially when it comes to composition. Look at the winner of any challenge, there is one focal point, one element that dominates any others in the shot. Here things are a little busy with two beer steins, a beer bottle, and the odd length of pipe in the bg. FWIW I'd elimate the beer bottle, fill the steins a bit more and if need be, drop in some salt, get a few little strings of bubbles coming up.

Have to agree with the comment about the brown/copper? pipe in the background. It doesn't seem to be part of the shot. Unless it was needed to hold the backdrop in place, in which case it could have been wrapped in fabric (or anything else matte and black).

Finally, try stopping down a few f-stops and opening the shutter. Just fool around, see what you get with different settings. You may want to look at some older food/drink challenges for ideas, I believe there was a Beer ad one this past summer.

Overall, not a bad attempt especially if you are new here. Feel free to check out the stuff I shot during my early days with a Samsung Digimax (2.01mp! woohoo!) it'll make you feel a lot better :-)

Feel free to PM me with any questions,

Susan

When Spray Paint Attacks!!!
by aurorab

Comment by Nadine_Vb:
When one has no access to graffite, one has to be creative :) Good job on the creativity