AveryTunnel
by twade1

Comment:
The initial feeling here is that I was looking at a child captured, hidden somewhere, a child yearning to get out. But the more I looked, the more I realized that the child is free, and the almost mournful face is the expression that she wears looking in at us, wishing all of us adults, walled in behind our jobs and our fears and our perceptions, walled in by ourselves, could see animals in the clouds again, or run just to run, or slide down a slide just because. That soulful look on her face is not for her; it's for us. Wonderful.

squirrel4.jpg
by meyers

Comment:
I like this one the best of the bunch; "capturing" a "wild" beast this way is always gratifying, even if it doesn't take death defying measures to get the shot (this is what I like shooting, too). I like this one the best for the reasons that Karen said, as well as some of the strong photographic elements: the very narrow depth of field is perfect, with both foreground and background blur bringing me right to the subject, but looking natural with the plane of focus clearly defined (ie, you didn't try a process induced radial blur around the squirrel, which sometimes looks quite fake). I would love to see a tiny bit more contrast on the squirrel, who because of the gray still has a tendency to get a bit lost in the frame for me. Perhaps selecting him (even loosely), and bringing up his contrast (and maybe messing with other bits while you've got him there) might work (but honestly, it could also ruin the shot; I can't always tell the difference on my own shots, so take my suggestion with a large grain of salt).

Sleeping Beauty
by Blue Moon

Comment:
She looks so peaceful, lying in the grass, calm, I love the grass here, otherwise she would be floating, unreal, unattached, fake, but here she is anchored, holding tight to this place we can only escape not with magic, but with science. We can't really levitate, we can't really fly, and you've not tried to tell us she is doing either, she's just lying there, happy, blue sky overhead, eyes closed, content. That's the biggest word that comes to mind for me here; content. Lovely image lovingly presented.

golden
by boysetsfire

Comment:
A dance of light and tone, of lines, of movement, counter to our expectations, moving right to left, coming toward us, not away as it should. Maybe it will overwhelm us, and we will shift forever from the darkness. Or maybe, as always before, it will simply pass us by. Delightful image.

You know the party's over...
by Kelli

Comment:
Since you asked in the thread for "critiques" (I'm not very good at these lately, I just follow my emotions, but as I know you're trying to understand this placement, I'll do my best): There are some really striking elements to this. The contrast between the lighting on the grass and the darkness of the railing is striking in a good way, made even more so by the retention of detail in the railing and the wooden flooring (it's dark enough for a strong contrast but not so dark that it's all shadow). The lines are distinct and angular, which adds emphasis to the sort of sadness that I feel from the party being over (there are my emotions again). I hope you can tell I like this shot (but as a team sucker, I'm probably not who you were wondering about); if I had voted, this would have been a 7 from me (which makes it above average, which is 6 for me, not 5).

So, what did others think? I wonder if some viewers had a theme problem here, as the balloons are deflated, and not just starting to deflate; the party's over, the balloons are "gone", but the theme is "beginning of the end." I wouldn't have thought of that if I wasn't trying to figure out why most people voted this a 5, and it's the only theme related answer I can think of.

There are also some technical things here that I might mention. I don't care for the "bevel" frame effect; the lighting in the frame on the left and top is distracting to my eye, and the shadow on the right and bottom is mostly lost (so it doesn't balance the light on the other sides for me). There also seem to be rather significant sharpening or contrast enhancement artifacts from the top of the vertical pole (both sides) down to where the balloon strings go around the pole. The beveled frame at the top exacerbates the effect for my eyes. There are also similar, though less pronounced, artifacts along the top of the vertical pole. All of this is a bit distracting if what you're doing is trying to judge technical aspects of the image (ie, if you're looking rather than seeing, which I think most DPCers do for fear of exposing themselves if they look deeper).

The composition on the shot is pretty good, and although it's not, it seems almost square. I agree with Tammer that a bit off the top might have helped. I downloaded this and ran my rule of thirds grid on it, and the pole is just inside the line, with the balloons at just about the mid-line (halfway up vertically). I cropped a bit off the top, a bit off the right, and bit off the bottom (using the third line tool as a guide), and I think a less square crop strengthened the composition somewhat; the balloons were just outside the right third, and the third line ran down the middle of the pole, which helped, too, I think. One note: I'm not criticizing you for not having followed the rule of thirds or anything like that; I always run my rule of thirds tool, but at least 1/3 of the time (or more) I pretty much ignore it (when it doesn't help the image). But I always check to see whether it will strengthen whatever composition I've come up with on my own, and lots of times it does.

Okay, let me reiterate: I like this image, it tells me a story and gives me a good feeling of melancholy (as I think such an image should). I especially like the sharp contrast, the textures and the colors. I hope that what I've identified other than these things helps you see what other DPC viewers might have seen!

Message edited by author 2007-11-05 09:29:35.

girl in the war
by silverfoxx

Comment:
You have captured life here; in fact, this photo is itself life (not reflecting life, but being life itself). And like life, everyone wants to understand it, we break it down, so that we can articulate something about the individual elements, the light, the darkness, the shadows, the powder, the almost hint of smile on the girl . . . we want to be able to say how they fit, because trying to understand the whole is beyond us. We follow the signs, looking for answers as to what it all means. But how does it all fit? Like life, how does that death from cancer fit? How does that accident fit? How does that war fit? How does that genocide fit? How does that newborn fit? How does that dance or that song fit? This image has certainly made me think, Svetlana. Thank you.

Message edited by author 2007-11-05 02:30:42.

fade
by krnodil

Comment:
I love the feeling of desolation this portrays, the way in which each part, no matter where you turn, emphasizes and reemphasizes this feeling of isolation. The texture works well here as simply an additional element of the shot, not overpowering it, but working on the same plane as the rest of the elements. Great.

German swan
by LevT

Comment:
Interesting. Angular lines here, driving my eye through the image in a "z" shape, in at the upper left, out at the lower right. I like the green space on the upper right, too.

Self.jpg
by Kronus

Comment:
Why is it that the thing I fear most in this shot is the tree at the back? Excellent.

Intensity
by levyj413

Comment:
Definitely a good idea to post this in the Reaction Club. My reaction: She is moving from the light, coming back from playing in the brightness, and she really needs to concentrate to come back to this mix of darkness, shadows, lines and space. Maybe she'll go and visit again, but daddy's waiting, so she's trying really hard to get back before dinner . . .