I'm thinking maybe u photographed a delicate subject such as kids, cats, dogs, flowers, ... or something. I get that too my B/W is completely trashed at 4.6 and the only reason I can find is that there is a kid in it.
I didn't vote in this challenge, here's my comments:
I saw a comment in there about cropping the top and bottom ... I would have to agree with that. I don't agree that the image is in focus, it looks soft and slightly out of focus.
Those boards are typically colorful, interesting you chose b/w for it. Outside of that, they just don't make the best photography subjects. I know that now, after tanking with one myself. :-)
Good luck in the future challenges and don't get discouraged!
You call that in focus? I find it unsharp and almost out of focus...
I was thinking the same thing. The tall objects are way out of focus. Plus, it is an almost straight-on shot of a circuit board. I'm not saying it deserved a sub-3, but it is below average. I didn't get to this one during voting, but I would have given it a 4, which is in line with the average score.
IMO, things that would have helped:
* taken at more of an angle
* all elements in the picture needs to be in focus, at least at the center of DOF.
* maybe color? circuit boards can have some pretty vibrant colors.
* even more of a macro.
But who am I to say anything - I am just a newbie.
IMO you picture was not in focus enough to call it focused. You had to small of DOF. The image was flat because it lacked contrast and the subject was not that exciting. Maybe in color would of worked better. The best focal area was the round circle that said it passed QA. I found that a good way to tell if a photograph is or is not in focus when its this close is to; close one eye and look at the photo then close the other, you should be able to see what I’m talking about. I gave you an average score; you can look at my voting scale below and see what I consider an average vote to be.
I think a mixture of a very flat angle on the board, a lack of any real focal point, some blown highlights and a shallow DOF that doesn't help the picture (and I promise, I'm a big fan of shallow DOF in the right place). If I'd managed to vote on such a huge challenge I'd probably have given it a 4.
That said, mine was a straight on shot and lacked any focal point too - which still doesn't explain the 4 ones and 8 twos. I didn't think it was that bad a shot, but I have to go right back to the Rusted challenge (a shot that I personally love) to get that many ones!
I was one of the spineless people who rated it a three. I apologize for not commenting, but there were soooo many and I did the best I could.
The reasons for my below average (read: not horrible) rating was the tops of the capacitors were out of focus, I think monochrome is highly overused (and not the best choice for your subject), the composition could be better, the subject is common, and I think the lighting is a bit off. I think you could have improved it with color. I'm not sure what lens you used, but you could have used a smaller aperture to get everything in focus. Diffused lighting would have helped. Also if you tilted the circuit board back and used a wide angle lens, I think it would have made a more interesting composition, IMHO.
