Comments? Critiques?

photogmomma · November 20, 2006

This is my take on "sihouette". Any comments? Critiques? I'd love to hear 'em!

(I actually had a VERY different idea, but came up with this last night...)

Swartzy · November 20, 2006

Andie
What is it?

Gouri · November 20, 2006

Does not come across as "silhouette" to me.

photogmomma · November 20, 2006

Ahh, but it *is* a silhouette...

It's a lime in front of a candle.

System · November 20, 2006

photogmomma wrote:

Ahh, but it *is* a silhouette...

It's a lime in front of a candle.

That was going to be my 4,987,945th guess.

pathfinder · November 20, 2006

How 'bout a stained glass window??

I'm not sure I see a sihouette here either

photogmomma · November 21, 2006

That was going to be my 4,987,945th guess.

pathfinder wrote:

How 'bout a stained glass window??

I'm not sure I see a sihouette here either

Okay, I guess that begs the question - does it have to LOOK like a sihouette or is it okay it if *IS* even if it doesn't look like one?

I'm actually serious.

Thanks

Swartzy · November 21, 2006

Well..
I guess it all depends on how you look at it.

Is it really a silouette or does it look like one? If it looks like one and isn't then how are we sure it is? And if it is really one but doesn't quite look like it then we aren't certain that it is either. So, to summarize:

I think Andie, that if your silouette was a recognizable object/subject, then your viewing audience would say, "Yea, cool, I know what that is and it's in silouette". Follow me? Good idea but the bottom half of your shot is dark and blended in with the rest making the subject too abstract, leaving your viewers in the dark as well.

gus · November 21, 2006

I like it & can see you put some effort into the shot.

System · November 21, 2006

photogmomma wrote:

Okay, I guess that begs the question - does it have to LOOK like a sihouette or is it okay it if *IS* even if it doesn't look like one?

I'm actually serious.

Thanks

Depends, do you want 5 votes or 40? I'm serious. The most literal interpretations seem to garner the most votes. There have been many images that that took a more abstract apporach to the topic and although they were (at least to me) the best images entered, they lost to more obvious depictions.

Yuri Pautov · November 21, 2006

Sorry, Andi, but this one is not a silhouette for me...
I mean I think that silhouette must be a contour...
Yuri

nalvarez · November 21, 2006

I think its a very nice picture, but I would have to agree that there seems to be a little much texture showing and not enough solely of the object profile. I would enter it if I were you to see what happens although I do agree with the comments by TRUTH above as to the voting (unfortunately). The finalists always seem to be the literal interpretations..... Great shot!!

SloYerRoll · November 21, 2006

truth wrote:

There have been many images that that took a more abstract apporach to the topic and although they were (at least to me) the best images entered, they lost to more obvious depcitions.

Correct.
Take the "inside out" challenge. The winner (please put them back in) gave an incredibly literal interpretation to what they wanted the shot to convey. It definitely wasn't the best shot speaking from a straight photography standpoint, but it was definitely an awesome shot and I'm happy they won. The shot spoke to all the people voted.

I'd say a GREAT judge of your shots are your children. They are brutally honest and have a pure concept of what is pleasing to the eye. (I guarantee they would have voted for the pumpkin)

Nikolai has a good point in the assignments he leads in the teachnique thread:

Nikolai wrote:

If the subject is "red", posting a generally bluish image and explaining that you, in fact, were thinking of red while pressing the shutter may not necessarily cut the cake...

This being said: I think the idea is really cool and you should work on it like gus said. Don't let this discourage your creative work. Just understand that the shot needs to relate to the masses if you want to win a contest. This literal interperation as far as I can see only applies to the photo challenges. The rest of the forums will take the abstracts at face value and give good advise on how to make them pop even more.

photogmomma · November 21, 2006

Thanks, all! I *really* appreciate the feedback! And that was a very good point, SloYerRoll, about inside-out... Great idea even if it wasn't the most perfect shot...

I haven't decided if I want to revisit this shot or go with my other idea which definitely would be recognizable as a silhouette.

Thanks again!