Hi, Greetings from the Critic's Club:
INITIAL IMPRESSION: a split second after seeing the photo I said, "cute" Every element in the photo aids in that impression, the background, the ducky, and the pink slipper.
COMPOSITION: I find the red to be an unintuitive but inspired background that brings a great deal of warmth to the photo while directing our eyes effectively at the subject. I like the positioning of the subject in the frame - rule of thirds and the angled gaze across and toward the lower right corner of the photo. The silk slipper, however, is the element that absolutely nails the 'cute' impression; and I find iit to be inspired. The competition was full of ideas that placed rubber duckies in very novel situations or ones that challenged our basic conception of rubber ducky, and I think many such photos scored higher.
LIGHTNG and TECHNIQUE: The lighting works very well to communicate that ducky is nestled inside the slipper. It is warm, cheery, diffuse, and brings out vibrant yellow and blue tones. Focus is a bit more of a problem. Ducky is fuzzy. My personal reaction is that the level of fuzziness might actually add to the atmospheric warmth of the photo, but some voters at this site can be quite brutal in scoring photos that show the least bit of softness. In this case the photographic element that suggests softness in focus was accidental is the fact that the loop in the slipper is in very crisp focus. This draws our attention away from a vital element toward a distraction, draining the photo of vital energy.
CONCLUSION: The photo is a strong idea and it communicate 'cute' effectively. Voters went for more novelty and greater sharpness in scoring this competition.
Best of Luck
Steve Brubaker |
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