I was going for stark and simple. I first converted this to B&W, but came back to the colour version - gave a feeling of reality being inside the cup and everything else outside being fuzzy.
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Place: 67 out of 138 Avg (all users): 5.8387 Avg (commenters): 7.4706 Avg (participants): 5.9545 Avg (non-participants): 5.5556 Views since voting: 1089 Votes: 124 Comments: 19 Favorites: 1 (view)
I really like your photo. I didn't realize that there was a reference to the Matrix. I don't know too much about the movie. I just liked the picture and voted it fairly high in the challenge.
Challenge: The coffee cup is off-center in the picture and the spoon is sitting off-center on the cup, so you definately met the criteria for the challenge. I really like the unique-"ness" of it.
Composition: Very simple composition. I'm glad you stuck with the color version because I really like the color of the reflection in the cup. Where was this taken? It looks like a reflection of sky. In any event, it is very pretty and blends in well with the color of the cup.
Technical: I would not change a thing. I am impressed with your post-production work. The overexposure works well here. I like how the spoon disappears into the background. The soft focus give the coffee cup a frosted look.
Overall: I have nothing bad to say about your photo. I scored it a 9 during the challenge and am surprised at your score. I would have expected it to be in the mid to high sixes with a possible ribbon. I'm not understanding why 20 people score this below a 5. Perhaps they don't realize that overexposure and soft focus can work well in a photo.
For those that didn't get the title - it's a reference to The Matrix. It is a hint that reality (in the movie) is not quite what it seems.
The overexposure and harshness were deliberate, I wanted the reflection to look real and everything else to look dreamlike and unsubstantial. In my mind this picture is off-center in a conventional way as well as in a metaphorical way.
This would have ribboned in Matrix, when people were thinking about it. I LOVE the way the spoon disappears into the background. If I had the creativity to think of this shot, I would have shot this same thing. Excellent shot.
The exposure's kind of blown out - the whitish bits of the spoon blend into the white background. Which, now that I look at the title again, may be what you intended.
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