DSS69 - Ordinarily unique??

lkbart

This challenge has been a tough one for me - everything I see looks unique - then it looks ordinary! So here's what I've come up with - comments & suggestions please!

1. An artist and her wares (this one is probably my fav - cuz she's grinning at her "guns" - I am just not thrilled with her hair - a mom's pickiness! And I tried to pp it smooth but am not happy with the result - see 1a below)


1a.


2. Time to jump?



3. Custom time (this is actually a closer crop of #2 so it is a little grainy - it caught me when I was pp'ing #2 so I just cropped it & saved - if it hits the mark better than the others, I can reshoot this so it's not so grainy. And just an FYI - this is the face of a small grandfather-like clock my hubbie drew plans for & built from scratch long ago - we've been calling it a granddaughter clock - hence the name in #4)


4. Either: Two granddaughters & a cat - or - Kitty smooch


5. Jack strikes again! (I got a new set of extension tubes & had to play)

lizzard_nyc

I see what you mean and I also had the same problem with my original tries--almost "uniquely ordinary".
These are head scratchers for me. Though I really like "time to jump" is it ordinary or unique? The cat with the "wanting to jump face' is definately ordinary and a very cool shot, but the clock there and the girl there gives it a "Alice in Wonderland" feeling which is totally unique!

The first two there are too many elements in the shot with a very distracting though pretty background. FWIW, you did a very good job cloning out the hair clips though.

I really like "time to jump" .

lkbart

Thanks for the comment Liz - & on her hair, I actually used a combination of liquify & smudge instead of cloning. Just seems too fake to me though. Am working on a redo of Time to jump? - playing with filters to see if I can get more of an Alice in Wonderland feel. Thanks again

konomaniac

My favorites are Time to Jump or Kitty Smooch - maybe warm up the skin tones in Kitty Smooch.

You've got a very pretty granddaughter - she must take after her grandmother

billseye

Nice stuff, here...

I do like the smooch shot, however there's something a bit awkward in the girls pose/posture. I think it's the combination of the dropped left shoulder and the arch of her upper back as she leans in to "smooch". Not sure it's problem, though, since the subject is the smooch, not the girl alone. There's also a bit of distraction from the drapery in the upper left of the frame. So all in all, it brings me back to a preference for #2.

Regarding the ambiguity of unique or ordinary, I think there's room for the viewer to make his/her own assumption and would avoid a title that implies one or the other.

konomaniac

billseye wrote: »

...I do like the smooch shot, however there's something a bit awkward in the girls pose/posture. I think it's the combination of the dropped left shoulder and the arch of her upper back as she leans in to "smooch"...

I didn't even notice it. Her posture almost mimics the cat's posture.

mr peas

I love #2. I just like it. Can't really explain, maybe its the composition, maybe its the look of the cat, maybe its the clock, or the gal, or the colors,.. but i like it.

WhatSheSaw

The frost in the last one is special! For me it is a tossup between that and #2.

lkbart

konomaniac wrote: »

My favorites are Time to Jump or Kitty Smooch - maybe warm up the skin tones in Kitty Smooch.

You've got a very pretty granddaughter - she must take after her grandmother

Thanks konomaniac - actually she's my daughter, but since we call the clock a granddaughter clock & she is a granddaughter, well . . .

billseye wrote: »

I do like the smooch shot, however there's something a bit awkward in the girls pose/posture. I think it's the combination of the dropped left shoulder and the arch of her upper back as she leans in to "smooch". Not sure it's problem, though, since the subject is the smooch, not the girl alone. There's also a bit of distraction from the drapery in the upper left of the frame. So all in all, it brings me back to a preference for #2.

Thanks Bill - my daughter didn't like Kitty Smooch because she hunched her shoulders & I just figured it was part of the leaning in to smooch!

mr peas wrote: »

I love #2. I just like it. Can't really explain, maybe its the composition, maybe its the look of the cat, maybe its the clock, or the gal, or the colors,.. but i like it.

Thanks mr peas - appreciate the comment.

WhatSheSaw wrote: »

The frost in the last one is special! For me it is a tossup between that and #2.

Thanks WhatSheSaw - I was a little surprised that nobody else commented on the frost - I don't think it's as unique as snowflakes & that's probably why, but I was thrilled to get a few nice close-up frost shots!

Basically I reprocessed #2 & hopefully gave it more of a fairy tale feel. My original idea was to show the uniqueness of the hand made (from sketch to varnish) clock & with my daughter modeling her self-designed prom dress. Not sure how well the shot ends up fitting the theme, but here it is:
Time to Jump? (reprocessed)

mr peas

I actually like the original one

konomaniac

lkbart wrote: »

Thanks konomaniac - actually she's my daughter, but since we call the clock a granddaughter clock & she is a granddaughter, well . . .

In that case, I would like to amend my original statement to say that she must take after her grandmother and her mother

dnie

lkbart wrote: »

... I was a little surprised that nobody else commented on the frost - I don't think it's as unique as snowflakes & that's probably why, but I was thrilled to get a few nice close-up frost shots!

I loved the frost shot. I kept going back to try and figure out if it was really frost or if it was glass with that design. I just couldn't tell if it would be enough for this challenge and decided to let the others give you that advice. sometimes I am right... sometimes my favorite doesn't even make the top 10.