basketballsby
Wheeler1992Comment by RiderGal: Critique Club
I don't feel that this photo really met the challenge, and thats probably where you lost points.
I like the bright colors on the black background, it helps them to stand out, though some of the black gets lost on the blue and black balls. The composition is fine, it is very centered but for something symmetrical like this it can work. Your focus seems off to me, I would have maybe concentrated on that more then it looks like you did. Often focus can take away from a good photo, even if it is well composed and make it look lacking in something, sometimes you just can't put your finger on it.
It might have been kind of cool if you had built 4 wooden barriers for each ball, and then put them together to make one big square, this would have carried you into the challenge ideas more, while still having your original idea of having the 4 round items make a square.
For some reason the orange ball in the upper left tends to grab my attention more, I think it may be brighter than the other orange ball. Since you used two similar balls for the blue and the black ones, I would have tried to have two similar balls for the two orange ones.
The one other thing I think needs to be commented on is the fact that the spacing on the right and the left, and the up and the down sides are not equal... it looks like you left more black on the right and the down sides, which lends it less of a square look.
The lighting seems pretty good here, equal, though I can't tell if the bright spot on the bottom left ball is from a flash or not.
I think you have an interesting idea for a picture here, that would be worth working on for future ideas. Though it did not meet the challenge per se, I think you could expound on this idea, to make it into an excellent picture. Good luck in future challenges.
-Talya
Photographer found comment helpful.