=== Greetings from the Critique Club ===
Hi Rosemary,
Welcome to DPC. This is a lovely idea, supplemented by an extremely cute penguin. The comments you have already received touch on most of I want to cover with regard this shot.
You seem to have focused just behind the main subjects, resulting in the ducky and penguin(y) being slighty out of focus (OOF). Unintentional OOF is regarded as a very great sin by the DPC voters and always results in mean voting. My guess is that your focal-point was the centre of the frame, which just happened to be in between the two subjects. There are three otions available to you: reframe the shot so your subject is in the centre, focus on the subject and then reframe and take the shot, or use manual focus.
I note that your Aperture is 4.0. This is faily \'wide\' or \'fast\' what this means is the hole formed by the blades is bigger so more light gets to the sensor. For a correctly exposed shot this means your shutter-speed would be quicker, and the Depth of Focus (DOF) is smaller. If you had set your aperture to a higher number (say F11) then it would have increased your DPF and increased the chance that your main subjects would be in focus.
The final area I want to discuss is the composition. One of the great things about shooting a set shot like this (as opposed to a street candid) is that you are in control of all the variables. One of the problems is that you have to think and consider everything. It is because it is set up that the voter will assume that everything is as it is because you wanted it that way. This looks like two toys place next to each other in a random setting with a quick snap taken. The reasons it looks this way are; because the background is cluttered and distracting, the shadows fall all over your subjects and breaking them up, and are distracting, and the composition doesn\'t convey anythign particularly. The first two points are just aspects you need to be aware of when setting somethign up. The third is a deeper question. What are you trying to communicate when you shot this?
It is my hope that these insights are helpful and constructive. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique. And please remember to mark it \"Helpful\" if you found it so. Good luck with future challenges.
Cheers
Paul |
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
