Not much to say really. I just played with different colors, locations and amounts of lighting, different angles, and different focal points until I found a shot I was happy with. I am interested to hear what people think about it. It is afterall my first submission ever.
Statistics
Place: 165 out of 203 Avg (all users): 4.2174 Avg (commenters): 5.8571 Avg (participants): 4.0990 Avg (non-participants): 4.3614 Views since voting: 1039 Votes: 184 Comments: 15 Favorites: 0
Greetings Newbie from the Critique Club
By Inspzil
For reference I'll add a little "veteran's" point of view advice that you can take or leave.
Composition - Difficult to interpret what the heck I was looking at. I see now, but it took a combination of what I was seeing and the title to eventually come to the conclusion that it was pocket billiards and not just some abstract stuff. (clarity of subject is very important to the large majority of DPC voters, myself included). This is a good idea and meets the challenge. Using the approach you've taken I'd have turned it slightly to make it symmetric. The light showing thru at the bottom of the pocket is a great touch. I think it should've been the selling point of this photo. The overall color tone of the pic is good.
Technical - I think this photo would've scored substantially higher if the aperture were about F11 or so to bring the ball more in focus, if not totally focused. It would've capitalized on the light showing thru the side of the pocket. The ball is pretty blurry. (Even soft focus on DPC is generally frowned upon by most of the newer members) The exposure is great and the framing is pretty close. It doesn't look like a lot of processing was done, which generally means you did a very good job, or that you didn't do much to the photo.
Overall - I can see why this did poorly by the difficult time I had determining what I was even looking at. Voters, myself included, don't have several minutes to try to sit and determine what every subject is like I did here tonight. Abstract photos are actually acceptable if you put "abstract" somewhere in the title. If not, it's assumed that you just don't know what you're doing and your photo obviously sucks :) . There is a lot for folks like me, who start as virtual novices, to learn about photography. Hopefully this gives you a little insight into what we, the voting public, are looking for and how we are looking at it. My recipe is Clarity of Subject, Consistent with Topic, and Creativity. Anyway, there's my 2 cents. Welcome to DPC and good luck with future challenges. - Inspzil
This is an interesting approach! I'm not sure if I would like the ball in focus or as it is now better, but you get points for originality. I like the color too - 7 - Mav
love the concept - i think I'd like it better if the 8 weren't so centred; it makes it look setup rather than capturing a blue moment. good thought though. the blue was a nice touch
I love the blue, the texture and sharpness in the foreground. Just wish the background was just a little clearer. After a couple minutes looking at it, I looked back at the caption and finally figured out what it is. But the blur in the pocket still hurts my eyes. Technically a great shot though.
This is a really neat abstract photo and I really like the blue as well... It took me a little while to determine that I was looking at a corner pocket on a pool table... The abstract nature of this shot could make it difficult for people to determine the 'from above' nature of it... excellent work though :) - setzler
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