Right-Angle Wireby
Girl from OZComment by sylandrix: Greetings from the Critique Club!
COMPOSITION...While your composition suits the challenge topic overall, I think your score ultimately took a hit for a weak composition. I'm not trying to sound negative here, because I've seen the work you do and you can tell you do have an eye for composition... but comparing your shot here to your "Country Life" entry, the difference is apparent.
Over the months I've been here, offering input to people's images, I've seen the "wow" factor mentioned, and referred to myself, but never explained well, so here's my first attempt...
It breaks down to have a a) wonderfully executed photo and b) meaning
a) Good lighting, contrast, etc. Yours fits this well. You follow the rules of thirds pretty well. The blue and orange tones complement the photo well, the sunlight is used at its best, during the "magic hour"... everything done right here...
b) Maybe this is less important for highly commercial (stock, studio) images, where more focus is placed for a good lighting and something that hits the viewer...an interesting or unusual situation, a dramatic and interesting setup of objects... but generally, what is your image saying to the viewer? What feelings and thoughts does it invoke... can someone sit and study your image and think "Why did they take this? What is the photographer trying to communicate to me?"
So, though composed in a decent manner, the image just failed to communicate with me on any level, Your other images, however, seem to have a common theme... they place me in a particular time and place, that I feel part of... I could imagine being in the middle of the county with your country cliche shot, resting in a barn after a long day's work with the sunlight pouring through a window...or being immersed in Australia's landscape in your magazine cover challenge, or experiencing autumn's magic with your "Secondary colors" entry.
Anyway, thats my thoughts in a nutshell...images are successful when they provoke the viewer, usually in a way that resonates with them and not in a negative manner (which is why most people don't like pictures of roadkill)
And take it all with a disclaimer, which I think people should already know when being part of the CC - we're not experts ourselves, and I hope we don't come off as thinking we know more than anyone else. I myself am just trying to describe how I feel about the images I see...
TECHNIQUE... like I already mentioned, your image was taken well, some limitations can be seen with digitals trying to capture fine lines, such as the wires - they have come out jagged. Unless that is a result of the % compression you used.
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