DSS #40 Unofficial Feedback Thread - Comedy or Tragedy

bf2015

Tom must be out of town again.

So, here is the official gallery to give your C&C for DSS#40

Gallery Here...

Once more into the fray. This unofficial feedback thread is a catch-all of sorts, lets make it happen:thumb

Anyway, let's start feedback on DSS #40!!

This thread is:

• a place to post a list of your top ten favorites. (be heard, and let everyone know what images moved you.)
• a place to post your "the making of my image"
• a place to ask someone "how did they do that?"(for us all to see:D )

Feedback is an important part of the photographic process. While those selected as finalists get feedback from the judges and those who vote, others are never quite sure where they stand. So share your thoughts both in this thread and with comments in the actual gallery. Constructive criticism should always be welcome.

It's easy to post thumbnails (with help from our Moderator).

With the image selected in the gallery, copy its URL from your browser, add "-Th.jpg" to the end, delete the jumble of numbers and letters preceding the hashtag (#), change "gallery" to "photos" and that's it.

Example

Change this url

[LEFT]http://challenges.smugmug.com/Other/DSS-33/9546126_UcMnF#646702914_YfHpk[/LEFT]

To this (minus the space in the IMG tags)

[LEFT]http://challenges.smugmug.com/photos/646702914_YfHpk-Th.jpg[/LEFT]

Happy Feedbacking :scratch

tinamarie52

Let me be the first to say that there are some really good entries here. I thought it was a hard one to generate ideas for.

I particularly liked:
photobug-cookies
Kim- cardinal tragedy
Aspecto- Juliet
jwear- lab
Davev- clown
bf2015- letter
dplumer- paradise lost
divamum- lights

Good luck to all!

Chris

Aspecto5

Kinda disappointed in the turn out, but here's my top ten.

Chaoslillith

Ok help me out here
Are the lego people supposed to be tragic or funny?

I thought the idea was to evoke an emotional response. It is a cute and clever pic but there is not really an emotional grab going on there.

The pic with the dog same thing, not tragic or funny, cute. The two faces that are metallic are not really evocative either.

Of the one that you picked I can see the falcon being tragic (loss of life), the letter re: the death of the soldier and maybe the fishing lure in the tree (that is pretty dang funny).

Maybe I am just not getting what it is we are supposed to be aiming for. I know art is subjective but I am a little confused.

Aspecto5

Chaoslillith wrote:

Are the lego people supposed to be tragic or funny?

I thought the idea was to evoke an emotional response. It is a cute and clever pic but there is not really an emotional grab going on there.

The pic with the dog same thing, not tragic or funny, cute. The two faces that are metallic are not really evocative either.

Of the one that you picked I can see the falcon being tragic (loss of life), the letter re: the death of the soldier and maybe the fishing lure in the tree (that is pretty dang funny).

Maybe I am just not getting what it is we are supposed to be aiming for. I know art is subjective but I am a little confused.

I kind of post my top ten for the people who I think had the best pics and since there was only 20 some choices, not everyone of them is going to be dead on for theme. Just my opinion.

tinamarie52

Chaoslillith wrote:

Are the lego people supposed to be tragic or funny?

I thought the idea was to evoke an emotional response. It is a cute and clever pic but there is not really an emotional grab going on there.

The pic with the dog same thing, not tragic or funny, cute. The two faces that are metallic are not really evocative either.

Of the one that you picked I can see the falcon being tragic (loss of life), the letter re: the death of the soldier and maybe the fishing lure in the tree (that is pretty dang funny).

Maybe I am just not getting what it is we are supposed to be aiming for. I know art is subjective but I am a little confused.

the idea is to post an image of your own interpretation of the words "comedy" or "tragedy." I think the goal would be to have your viewers find something comic or tragic (or both) in the image you post.

It's all in the interpretation. For example, I didn't understand the tree and the water...bad day of fishing, until I looked at the enlarged image and saw the bobber in the tree. Could be comic or tragic.

Sometimes it takes a title to pull it together.

Hope this helps.

Chris

WhatSheSaw

Comedy or tragedy can also be in the theatric sense - a happy or sad ending. I think that is where the Lego people hits the theme.

Some of my favorites:

anonymouscuban - Sorrow
THeng- Uncle Lewis and Aunt Bethany
photo-bug: Do cookies have feelings?
Kim H - A CARDINAL TRAGEDY
Qarik - Curious No More
Aspecto5 - Juliet
jwear--I'm sorry officer-- fishing license? This is a duck?
davev - Hi Kids.
bf2015 - Letter of Condolence
darkdragon - Alas! poor Yorick.

There are some others that are very effective as photos, but miss a bit for me on the theme. This is something I struggle with in the challenges. I keep trying to find a unique perspective on the theme, but sometimes the community can't see it. I went for very strong on the theme this time, but I may have missed because it is too trite. I strongly considered my Armageddon shots, but my husband did not see tragedy or comedy there. The idea he liked best was the lobster in the tank, something that got no response from the community here.

As always, I continue to be surprised that some of my top favorites miss for other people.

darkdragon

Chaoslillith wrote:

Are the lego people supposed to be tragic or funny?

I thought the idea was to evoke an emotional response. It is a cute and clever pic but there is not really an emotional grab going on there.

Theme: Comedy or Tragedy

The "lego people" is actually a scene from a very famous Tragedy called Hamlet, dunno if you've heard of it or not.

So the thought behind it was the tragedy of Hamlet (in this scene he is holding the skull of his childhood friend, which the gravedigger threw to him), also the comedic juxtapostion of the Lego people putting on the play.

Hope that helps with your confusion somewhat. It's all subjective after all.

Chaoslillith

I understood that the lego people were "reenacting" a tragic play. I guess after seeing all the Lego Star Wars etc. I see it more as a satire or play on it than comic or tragic.

I guess I must be missing something in my photo then that is causing people to not see it as on theme or tragic. From the feedback I am getting it seems I have some technical issues. I will work on those. Thanks!

Oh well

CWSkopec

Chaoslillith wrote:

I guess I must be missing something in my photo then that is causing people to not see it as on theme or tragic. From the feedback I am getting it seems I have some technical issues. I will work on those. Thanks!

Oh well

It's those darn blind judges again!!
(would probably be funnier if I linked to that thread, but I just can't seem to find it at the moment)

In the end, it's nice to get to the voting round, but what's most important is creating an image you like. I struggled for a while before I made some voting rounds. And I'll honestly admit that the first photo I got into a vote had almost no relation to the theme of that particular challenge it was just a sweet shot and the best I'd taken durring the challenge period. I'm just offering that to further point out that it's all subjective. Sometimes the judges get what you're trying to say, sometimes they don't and sometimes they find meaning where you just see a nice photo.

In the case of this round, my image says a lot about tragedy to me. The area I shot it was destroyed durring the 2007 Witch Creek Fire that raged through San Diego County. Nearly 200,000 acres were burned and over 1,500 buildings (many of which were homes) burned. At the same time, the Harris fire was raging to the south burning almost another 100,000 acres and another 400+ buildings. That's a big tragedy to in my eyes, but mostly it's the rememberance of the event that triggers that view. But obviously without living in San Diego or another wild fire prone area, that just wouldn't be someone else's view.

It's all subjective... I like my image and I'll get back at those darn judges by trying harder next time! (That's just a little heads up for you judges, get yer glasses fixed!!! )

Aspecto5

CWSkopec wrote:

It's those darn blind judges again!!
(would probably be funnier if I linked to that thread, but I just can't seem to find it at the moment)

In the end, it's nice to get to the voting round, but what's most important is creating an image you like. I struggled for a while before I made some voting rounds. And I'll honestly admit that the first photo I got into a vote had almost no relation to the theme of that particular challenge it was just a sweet shot and the best I'd taken durring the challenge period. I'm just offering that to further point out that it's all subjective. Sometimes the judges get what you're trying to say, sometimes they don't and sometimes they find meaning where you just see a nice photo.

In the case of this round, my image says a lot about tragedy to me. The area I shot it was destroyed durring the 2007 Witch Creek Fire that raged through San Diego County. Nearly 200,000 acres were burned and over 1,500 buildings (many of which were homes) burned. At the same time, the Harris fire was raging to the south burning almost another 100,000 acres and another 400+ buildings. That's a big tragedy to in my eyes, but mostly it's the rememberance of the event that triggers that view. But obviously without living in San Diego or another wild fire prone area, that just wouldn't be someone else's view.

It's all subjective... I like my image and I'll get back at those darn judges by trying harder next time! (That's just a little heads up for you judges, get yer glasses fixed!!! )

tinamarie52

In the case of this round, my image says a lot about tragedy to me. The area I shot it was destroyed durring the 2007 Witch Creek Fire that raged through San Diego County. Nearly 200,000 acres were burned and over 1,500 buildings (many of which were homes) burned. At the same time, the Harris fire was raging to the south burning almost another 100,000 acres and another 400+ buildings. That's a big tragedy to in my eyes, but mostly it's the rememberance of the event that triggers that view. But obviously without living in San Diego or another wild fire prone area, that just wouldn't be someone else's view.

It's all subjective... I like my image and I'll get back at those darn judges by trying harder next time! (That's just a little heads up for you judges, get yer glasses fixed!!! )[/quote]

Chris, I think you hit a couple of nails on the head here: subjectivity and producing an image that stands by itself without an explanation.

I think my entry was technically pretty OK. But I was reminded that, altho it was a good technical image, the bear probably was not feeling as bright as the lighting. Ooops...I forgot to shoot in the right context. So, in realaity, the image didn't tell its story well enough.

Subjectivity... I think my image was right on theme, as were most others. Because it didn't go to the judging round, didn't mean it was rejected by all. There are tens of dozens of shooters on DGrin who are heads and shoulders ahead of me (am I mixing metaphors here?). Like Chris, I'll work harder in the next round to make sure it all comes together..

Thanks to all of you who push me to do better!

Chris

darkdragon

CWSkopec wrote:

It's those darn blind judges again!!
(would probably be funnier if I linked to that thread, but I just can't seem to find it at the moment)

Hhahahha. Yeah, right! I'm sure that thread must be locked by now.

My shots almost never get picked for the voting round, but I have fun making them and creating my own wacky visionss.

jwear

thank you all for the top 10 pick and the pup making the finals that was one funny moment ,the pup was great:D

jwear

thought the idea was to evoke an emotional response. It is a cute and clever pic but there is not really an emotional grab going on there.

The pic with the dog same thing, not tragic or funny, cute. The two faces that are metallic are not really evocative either.

Of the one that you picked I can see the falcon being tragic (loss of life), the letter re: the death of the soldier and maybe the fishing lure in the tree (that is pretty dang funny).

---

Captions bring something to a photo, as an artist [give me a little space on this PLEASE] I see something in each capture. Will you see it or will they ???? This is why we are not all the same.

In your view the hawk finding dinner is tragic and a dog killing a fish is cute, well this is not how I see it. My caption for the coppers would have bin -Take out -- or just Lunch. the tragedy would have been the photographer moving in and scaring the hawk off of it's kill. Then you have a bird that died for nothing and a hawk they may not survive. Selfish and tragic

The dog with a fish, do you see this everyday? The dogs are trained to bring back birds or decoys not trout. Only the caption makes an attempt to bring humor to the fact that the dog was trying to save the fishes life

The CAPTION on the hawk capture helps move the mind to tragic not lunch [great shot by the way]

Fishing lure again not funny-The selfish scum that leave their trash everywhere-This funny lure will finds it's way into killing off some bird or animal in the wild.

See everyone has a point of view that is why not one photo gets all the votes and yet again it is those D__ __ blind judges that did it again ? well except for one dog photo

dlplumer

jwear wrote:

thought the idea was to evoke an emotional response. It is a cute and clever pic but there is not really an emotional grab going on there.

The pic with the dog same thing, not tragic or funny, cute. The two faces that are metallic are not really evocative either.

Of the one that you picked I can see the falcon being tragic (loss of life), the letter re: the death of the soldier and maybe the fishing lure in the tree (that is pretty dang funny).

---

Captions bring something to a photo, as an artist [give me a little space on this PLEASE] I see something in each capture. Will you see it or will they ???? This is why we are not all the same.

In your view the hawk finding dinner is tragic and a dog killing a fish is cute, well this is not how I see it. My caption for the coppers would have bin -Take out -- or just Lunch. the tragedy would have been the photographer moving in and scaring the hawk off of it's kill. Then you have a bird that died for nothing and a hawk they may not survive. Selfish and tragic

The dog with a fish, do you see this everyday? The dogs are trained to bring back birds or decoys not trout. Only the caption makes an attempt to bring humor to the fact that the dog was trying to save the fishes life

The CAPTION on the hawk capture helps move the mind to tragic not lunch [great shot by the way]

Fishing lure again not funny-The selfish scum that leave their trash everywhere-This funny lure will finds it's way into killing off some bird or animal in the wild.

See everyone has a point of view that is why not one photo gets all the votes and yet again it is those D__ __ blind judges that did it again ? well except for one dog photo

travelways

Thank you very much to those who included my entry into their favorites and to those who took their time
to leave comments to it

I'd like to correct a mistake I made on my comments on Nelson Lehner entry:

I previously said that to me his photo was too artificial - this is what I thought, it's true.

However, I didn't mean that I considered it a bad work.

I actually think that the image is very good: the setup, composition, light, colors and textures are awesome!

- professional, high quality work - fantastic!

Sorry that didn't express this in the first time.

anonymouscuban

Thanks to the judges for selecting my photo as a finalist.

Kim H

DSS #40 Challenge
I just wanted to thank you all for your comments on my Cardinal Tragedy photo.
Being new to Dgrin (actively) and the challenges, I am unsure if it is ok to say that, but it certainly was interesting to read the interpretations of what you saw in my photo and those of the others who submitted images. Regarding the tragic theme, I realize that the Cooper's Hawk needs food to live, but the tragedy is that the little female cardinal, who had been trying to sustain her own life on that snowy afternoon, had to die in the talons of a hawk in that effort. I guess it is the balance of nature..up close and personal in my photo. (btw, to answer one of the other photographers, I was careful NOT to make this a "double" tragedy by scaring the hawk off of the cardinal while photographing him.)
Thank you to everyone who thought my photo was worthy of the top 10 in this challenge.
JWear, thank you for understanding what I was trying to illustrate in the photo....Kim

HoofClix

Kim H wrote:

I just wanted to thank you all for your comments on my Cardinal Tragedy photo.
Being new to Dgrin (actively) and the challenges, I am unsure if it is ok to say that, but it certainly was interesting to read the interpretations of what you saw in my photo and those of the others who submitted images. Regarding the tragic theme, I realize that the Cooper's Hawk needs food to live, but the tragedy is that the little female cardinal, who had been trying to sustain her own life on that snowy afternoon, had to die in the talons of a hawk in that effort. I guess it is the balance of nature..up close and personal in my photo. (btw, to answer one of the other photographers, I was careful NOT to make this a "double" tragedy by scaring the hawk off of the cardinal while photographing him.)
Thank you to everyone who thought my photo was worthy of the top 10 in this challenge.
JWear, thank you for understanding what I was trying to illustrate in the photo....Kim

It is particularly OK for you read the comments of all of the images put in the entry gallery, not just the ones on your own. That's the whole point of this community, to see what we all have to say about all of it so that we can get better.

And who better than JWear, our resident "Birdman," to understand the point of your entry... He does however need to have his hand slapped with a ruler for not entering an image of a fish this time.....

darkdragon

HoofClix wrote:

It is particularly OK for you read the comments of all of the images put in the entry gallery, not just the ones on your own. That's the whole point of this community, to see what we all have to say about all of it so that we can get better.

This is so true. I try to always read all the comments and learn from them. Some day I'll figure out how to create a winning entry

Also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has commented on my photo.

JAG

congrates to all the images in the final. I have been on vacation and found the image of the chimps rather funny. But alas I knew that I couldn't get in any closer or make the image more dramatic or the viewer really see the funniness as the one chimp kept jumping on the other, and they one at the bottoms face showed his displeasure while the one doing the jumping was actually smiling. I cropped in as close I could without loosing too much picture quality. Unfortunately I was sitting in a scooter when shooting and had to shoot between the branches of a bush. I know it was not my best work.

I mainly entered because I have done all but 1 of the DSS challenges (missed one about a year ago) and would like to keep up the record of being either in a DSS or mega round each time. Just my own personal hobby I guess. Kinda like collecting cards!

jwear

a thank you
Thank you all for the kind comments you made in the challenge thread -all your feedback was most generous
It was not cooked but the osprey was mad as hell -- not my dog, I still work way to much to have another dog, this pup was with one of the fisherman on shore that day [and was a chocolate lab to the nines] if you know about dogs these guys are teenagers for 4 years not 2 like most dogs. All over the place but only 2 out of 15 photo boys and girls took this shot. I knew this boy once off the leash was going to do something and yep he did not disappoint me. The other photographer is a pro and came over to me and said "man I am the only one that got a great shot of a dog and a fish" we both laughed but my laugh had a little extra.

It is captures like this that makes the days walks and hunting FUN . Wildlife shooting is lots harder that some folks think. exposer, focus and looking in every direction at once are not easy to pull off so many shots are close [hand grenade and horse shoes] but close is not good.

I have fun every 2 weeks picking a CAPTION that will point one of my shots in a direction to meet the theme. As we all know close but no cigar Thank you all again and happy new year. I am off to shoot some snake pictures for the shoe them :ivar

tinamarie52

jwear....I have one of those chocolate labs that you speak of. She was 6 before she left her teen years. Approaching 8 years old and I'm still not sure if she'll ever grow up. .

Not here to hijack the feedback thread. One of the things that jumps out at me from all of the discussion and feedback here is that we all bring something of ourselves to our photography and we need to be sure that if we want our idea to be understood, we need to step back and look at it with the freshest eyes possible.

Eventho I'm a beginner, I try to give feedback with my limited eye and skills. I crave constructive feedback, critique and kudos. It is the interaction among people on this site that is so valuable to me.

Happy New Year to all.

Chris

WhatSheSaw

I find giving feedback contributes to my appreciation of the images. It also improves my critical skills for assessing my own photos.