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Draughts (circa 1836)
Draughts (circa 1836)
blachlym


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: From Above II (Basic Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Lens: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 USM
Location: Connor Prarie Historical Museum
Date: Jul 3, 2009
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 800
Shutter: 1/10
Date Uploaded: Jul 4, 2009

Saw a checkers board on a table in a historical home and had my son make a move with the piece while taking a few shots. Pretty dark in the home, with a bit of horizontal light coming from a window.

It is my first attempt at dpc, and I know that I could do better with the composition if I had more time to plan, (like get the hand out of the center of the frame). But I had to start somewhere, so here it is ...

Processing:
Curves
Saturation
USM
Resize
Add Border
Save for Web

Statistics
Place: 84 out of 141
Avg (all users): 5.1084
Avg (commenters): 5.7500
Avg (participants): 4.9184
Avg (non-participants): 5.1880
Views since voting: 561
Views during voting: 246
Votes: 166
Comments: 5
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
08/06/2009 08:59:02 PM
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Welcome to DPChallenge :) 5.1 is not a terrible score but you didn't manage to make it into the top 50% of the images in this challenge. It's not an easy thing to do around here, but with a little time and patience you will get there soon enough if you stick to it. Since you are new here, I'll share a few ideas that will help you move up in the ranks.

1. Meeting the challenge

That's obviously critical. If you don't obviously meet the challenge topic with your image, you won't usually do very well. Your photo, in this case, meets the challenge with no questions asked. That's a good thing. That being said, meeting the challenge is a relatively small part of doing well on this site. Meeting the challenge doesn't carry as much merit as you will lose if you don't meet it.

2. Visual / emotional impact

Visual and emotional impact are probably the two most important elements of a challenge photo. A high level of this coupled with meeting the challenge produces winning images. Your photo doesn't have much of this in my opinion. In this environment of photographers from multiple backgrounds and skill levels, postcard type photography tends to do well.

3. Technicals

In my personal opinion, if you have high levels of the first two parts of this discussion, the technicals don't matter as much. The comments you received in this challenge seem to complain mainly about the lack of sharpness in the photo, which may be from the slow shutter speed which caused some motion blur. If the visual and/or emotional impact of the image is high enough, the technicals become less of an issue. If the technicals are good as well, it just adds to the overall performance of the image.

Subject choice is always the toughest part of artistic photography. Viewer subjectivity will make or break you every time. Some people will like it and some won't, and deep down as an artist, you always want to impress someone. Don't forget to make yourself happy with the image though. If you are shooting stuff for someone else rather than to satisfy your own interests in the art, you won't get very far in the long run :)

 Comments Made During the Challenge
07/10/2009 11:25:30 AM
Creative subject but the focus could be a bit sharper....also would have like it lit a bit brighter. 5.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
07/09/2009 05:54:53 PM
Challenge Relevance:6 Impact/Emotion/Mood:5 Technicals:5.5 Processing:5.5 Creativity:5.5
  Photographer found comment helpful.
07/08/2009 02:20:04 PM
Nice idea. There should be some Ale in that tankard ;)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
07/07/2009 08:29:03 PM
Lighting seems off to me and not in focus or crisp enough. Good comp though
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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