Final Thread OOYCZ 4 Silhouettes

JAG

All Dgrin members may give short critiques for all the images in this thread and vote for their top 3 favorites. However, you may not vote if you do not critique first. Please follow the instructions for the voting below. Please remember to keep all your critiques numbered and in one post. You may come back to edit your own reply post if needed.


Before critiques, please read this "HOW TO CRITIQUE" LINK if you haven't done so already.

Those who have an entered image into this thread are the only ones to give short critiques to all the images except your own.

Once you have finished doing so, private message me your top 3 images that you like. Please be sure to list them as First: (number of image), Second: (number of image) and Third: (number of image). Since there are only 3 images, you may place you own image in your favorites.

To private message, click on my user name and go to my profile. You will see the private message link there.

I will post the results in by the 30th.

Note: I am hoping to have an entry gallery and a poll voting system up by next challenge.




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grandmaR

Several worthy candidates.

1) Hummingbird on a cactus - really like how distinct and sharp everything is - not just the bird's bill and the spines on the cactus (I am assuming it is some kind of cactus), but also the ruffley feathers on his/her head and his little feet. Sterling entry for this contest.

3) I like this one because it has not defaulted to black and white. The three man at three different levels are silhouetted against the beach and surf, which seems to me to be a harder job than just use the sky as a backdrop. There are rocks and reflections to add interest, but the eye is immediately drawn to the three men who stand in aggressively masculine poses. Makes me wonder what they look like.

4) Love the rooster 'posed' so that both his head and tail feathers are silhouetted. He has such an attitude. You could almost use him as a weathervane on top of the barn instead of walking around inside the barn

5) I really like the sky and clouds in this one, and the sharp clear weathervane on top of the building. I do feel that the building disappears a little bit into the trees in back.

CHANDLERJA

1. I love the comp and subject! The silhouette is in good focus and complete. The only thing I would have done is drop the sky exposure a bit in order to get rid of the overblown splotch above the bird.

2. I love the comp, subject and the color you left in! I would have darkened up the propeller and tail edges to make the silhouette complete. Those light areas are the first thing my eyes are drawn to.

3. I love the comp, subject and color! Color really works for this type of shot and I'm glad you left in in!
The brightness of the sun is a bit distracting and I would have tried to shoot this with the sun being just out of the frame. I also would have darkened up the silhouettes to get rid of all details.

5. This is really a beautiful shot! I love the processing of the sky and the silhouette affect is perfect!!
For me the only issue is the comp. I would have cropped off the bottom quarter for a more panoramic affect and to really show off the wonderful sky while still getting the affect of the water and silhouette.

sapphire73

1. This is a strong entry with lots of detail. I like the way you captured a profile of this bird, and the composition is very nice. I do wonder what it would have looked like with a hint of light on the subject (or perch) suggesting a bit of depth, but I know there is variety in what people find pleasing in silhouette photography. Very nice!

2. Great subject for this challenge! This silhouette might be a bit harder "to read" if it were not for the subtle back lighting on it. (I know that the cut paper silhouettes are strictly 2 dimensional but feel that there is some room for variation in photographic silhouettes, depending on the situation.) Congratulations on shooting such a nice silhouette indoors!

3. This is the only entry silhouetting people against a bright sky, and I like it very much. I am curious as to whether a slightly lower POV might have made this image even stronger? The only other suggestion I can offer is that it might have been nice to see one of the people take a different stance - turning sideways or doing something different with his or her arms. But this is a strong entry with 3 back lit silhouettes and an interesting background. Very nice!

4. This is one of my favorites. This silhouette offers us a strong, easily recognizable shape with plenty of detail. The shallow DOF helps to obscure the bright background a bit and focus our attention on the subject and details in the foreground. Very strong, artistic entry!

ShootingStar

Some great shots!

1. I love this shot. It is sharp and the silhouette is recognizable. I would just have cropped slightly further away from the tail.
2. It is very successful for something done in house. The slight blur even makes me feel that it is going to take off! I am just a little bit annoyed with the V shadow on the left of the tail. Taping some small lights on the plane might have given a bit more life to the picture 
4. I like to shallow depth of field to make the silhouette the centre of the picture. The transparency in the tail feather is great. I am sure you tried but maybe another angle would have reduced having such a big white band.
5. I really like the sky and the bottom of the picture. I just wish the middle were less dark.


Just a note regarding one of the review. Out of the 3 people, 2 are women. I rarely stage pictures, I just took advantage of the situation and that was their choice of positions.

Claire

CHANDLERJA

I would like to adjust my review of No.1
I mentioned the sky being a bit blown out right above the bird.
It may just be my settings on my computer monitor because when I viewed the images on my IPad last night I could not see the same blown out area and the white background looked nice and uniform.

So please disregard that observation and please accept my apologies

jwear

#2 Very good comp and again shooting indoors great job ,you did very well with the plane .Only thing I would say is the manikin shot with a little work I really liked it.

#3 It hits the challenge for silhouettes , comp and position only thing is my eye is drawn to the bright water .

#4 The rooster position and sharpness are great . I would have got down lower so the legs came out and the fence would not distract . The tail feathers are something else love that

#5 Well the composition is really something ,sky and the weathervane are good enough for me on their own .

I am going to talk with my attorney this crititgeee work may be a form of elder abuse ,I am not good at this as you can see!

tinamarie52

1. The comp is great. The diagonal up to the bird and then the beak keep me rolling around in the golden spiral. Nice sharpness.

2. Nice silhouette. The sepia tones give this a wooden feel. My biggest criticism is that the upper right and left corners look clones and could benefit from running over them with a bluring tool. For what it's worth, I thought the mannequin image in the practice thread was a very worthy effort.

3. I like the contrast between the people and the texture of the ocean. I might have built up the contrast so that the details in the subjects weren't so noticeable. They distract me from the image. I would also suggest that this may have benefitted from a more central crop. The person on the left seems to be bumping against the edge of the image. I really like the relative positions of the subjects from ground to rock.

4. This one surely says silhouette! A little more space on the right might strengthen the image, as well. The barn door or wall on the left makes this image work for me. It gives the image a deeper sense of place.

5.You captured a nice sky. I like the subject, but the composition leaves me a bit short. The building is neither in the center nor on a Rule of Thirds line. I wonder if getting down a bit lower so that the structure's roofline doesn't blend into the trees so much would help. The narrowness of the waterway makes this a difficult proposition! Getting lower might also have blocked the sun and brought out even more detail in the clouds. The foreground grass adds to the sense of place.

JAG

Thank you all for participating! Here are the results of this round:

Image Points
1 12
2 5
3 4
4 10
5 5

Out of a possible 21 (because of a mistake of me copy and pasting last rounds instructions, I accidentally had put in last rounds "exception" of being able to vote for yourself (since removed after the last participant had voted), which some took up on that offer. No harm done really, they are all awesome images!).

I am working on getting a Smugmug gallery up for our next rounds entries to be entered into so we can have a voting poll. This will eliminate the need for the three day entry thread and the private messaging point system. The votes will indicated how well you have done and I am still going to require that all who would like to vote, will have to critique. This will hopefully eliminate any "popularity" type of voting from those who do not participate or post on dgrin challenge board. Although I would still like those who participate, to continue to post for pre critiques if they would like to improve on their work. This has been a good experience!