G'day from the critiques club :)
I see a welcoming is in order - as this was your first entry on DPC, so welcome! This is my first comment as a CC, so we can learn together. DPC is a great learning tool for photographers, and there are a heapin' helpin' of wise and wonderful people in the forums always happy to help out - i hope you stick around for the ride.
The first thing i noticed about this photo was the cool blue sky and changing leaves. The change must come early in CT.
I can understand wanting to include this beautiful contrast in colours in the image, but i feel you needed to choose between colours or a soild silhouette.
As the picture was taken, with the sun behind the tree, it looks more like a silhouette of the tree (which is what i initially thought the photo was of, until i read the title) than of an archer.
Sometimes the best of both worlds compete too strongly with each other.
If you were to reshoot the image, please consider the following;
A backlit image - choose a location in which the trees are still a little more full with leaves - this way you would have the rich blues and brown-orange colours but not so much light is directly behind the archer that you lose all details, or that the outline blends into the outline of the trees.
A true silhouette - Have the model move to an area where there is no distracting background at all, with the sun directly behind the model for a true silhouette. Having a clear background is important in a silhouette, as the only details we have to understand the image are the outlines - so it is necessary for them to be strong and distinct.
The slight upwards angle of the photographer to camera, is interesting, but i feel you could have used it more to your advantage, particularly as a silhouette. The upper body is the "important" part of a archers body, so exagerating it with a worms eye view (getting low to the ground and angling the camera up at the model) could compliment your theme.
Right now, we see very little of the archer and a lot of extra "stuff" in the background - that does not add to the completed composition. I would have prefered to see more of the archers body, less of the scenery - a portrait orientation perhaps.
I hope you have found my comments helpful, please feel free to PM me if you have any questions - and WELCOME TO DPC :D
Great concept, would have been much better if there were not so many branches competing in the background, maybe a slightly different angle and lower vantage point would have worked better
I love archery, and I'm so glad someone included an archery shot in this challenge. I love the autumn colors in the background, which is where archers most naturally seem to fit. My only problem with this shot is that to me, IMHO, this is an image that is relying on the background to carry it. Although the near-silhouette of the archer is nice, it does not occupy enough of the image to be interesting. My eye is very quickly drawn away from the archer, no, let me correct that, my eye struggles to be pulled away from the background to see the archer. This would have been a wonderful shot, had the background not been so powerful. Good luck, I hope you do well with this image. <5>
I think that silhouettes really benefit from a plain background, so that the subject stands out. In this image, I would have liked either a) no tree, or b) light on the subject so that I could distinguish better between them. I also would have preferred that the archer fill more of the frame.
The subject isn't as clear to me because of the trees in the background. Maybe another angle? The bow seems to disappear into the trees and the arrow isn't visible (unless it has already been fired off?)
I don't think the POV works well here, could do with some fill flash to get the details of the person, too. A better POV might be directly behind the archer, showing the target in the distance, slightly blured by the DOF....? (And capture the arrow in mid-air and you have action too!)
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