levels, curves, saturation, color work, contrast, usm
in Austurvollur, midtown of Reykjavik, Iceland, by the statue of Jon Sigurdsson, a protest against building of a large hydropower plant at Karahnjukar in the beautiful highlands of Iceland
as still life I am referring to the statue, it is always there, the statue of Jon Sigurdsson
Statistics
Place: 297 out of 338 Avg (all users): 4.1429 Avg (commenters): 2.9167 Avg (participants): 3.8276 Avg (non-participants): 4.3431 Views since voting: 887 Views during voting: 289 Votes: 224 Comments: 15 Favorites: 0
i can see why this didn't do great in the challenge (too much movable life in the frame, I suppose) but i don't agree with the excessively low score of 4.1... this is a very dramatic, dynamic composition, and the post processing is very stylishly done, and feels natural. i think the lighting on the statue is really cool, and you wonder that if it were cropped above the demonstrators heads to form a 640 wide panoramic shot, it might have faired a lot better. i'd have given it a 7 - based on photographic merits, having already knocked off 3 for the not meeting challenge issues.
Greetings from the Critique Club. My critiques are generally geared towards trying to help you improve your score within DPC, and not on any true "artistic" merit of the photograph itself, unless it relates to DPC voters and scoring. Please keep that in mind as you read this.
Initial Thoughts About as "out-of-the-box" as you can get for this challenge, but a pretty cool photo on its own.
Composition/Content The composition is very good with one minor flaw. A little more rotation to get the statue more vertically aligned would have, in my opinion, really solidified this shot. I love the play of the shadows, and the gradient of the sky is a nice touch. (for my tastes, I wouldn't have gone so green.)
Background A little cluttered and distracting, but pretty much unavoidable.
Camera Work/Technical Nice exposure, and there doesn't seem to be any noticeable effects from having a slower shutter speed. (On a tripod?)
Digital Processing Your list of steps shows good work with all of them, with the possible exception of the color work in the sky. It's just a little too unnatural. The muted tones with the rest of the photo work very well though, I think.
Fits the Challenge As many have commented, this is the part where you were really hit in voting. As you said, I figured that you were going for the statue as your "still life", but the photo betrays you as it isn't the perceived focus of your shot. It's more a background element than the subject, and that is why people voted you down. However, even if it *were* the main subject, I suspect it still would have gotten lower votes because of the definition of "still life" as most voters saw it. Many were looking more for a grouping of inanimate objects arranged compositionally, and your photo contains nothing of the sort.
My Opinion of the Photo An interesting and striking photo that, with a couple of tweaks, could be a very good photograph. However, it was simply in the wrong challenge, and because of that, your score suffered mightily.
Main Entry: still life
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural still lifes
1 : a picture consisting predominantly of inanimate objects
2 : the category of graphic arts concerned with inanimate subject matter
I am not sure what the subject of this photo is. The shadows are interesting, but I find myself distracted by the buildings and musicians. If the musicians are the subject, then I think you should get closer so we can see what they are doing.
I gave this photo a 1 because it didn't seem to me to fulfill my expectation of a "still life," a classic form of artfully arranged objects. Call me narrow minded but that's the way I see it.
A still life generally brings together a number of elements arranged by the artist into an eyecatching grouping. A candid, maybe even photojournalism, but difinitely not a still life.
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