Hindsight is 20/20 for me in this instance. After looking at candles, flames, etc. during the voting of the challenge, I didn't give this image the kudos it deserves. I think that happens often when you are seeing multiple images of the same thing over and over. Anyway, I think this is simple and beautiful. The spark is a split second capture. It's different and imaginative. Well done. I'll keep images like this in mind when I vote in the future. It should have done better.
The first three parts of this critique are written based purely on examination of your photo. "Final thoughts" is written after reviewing your score, photographer's comments, and voter comments.
TECHNIQUE Good job capturing the spark in this torch lighter. There is detail present down to very tiny sparks and trails in the interior. The longest spark trail pointing off to the right looks a little jaggy though. Controlling exposure must have been tough for a shot like this, and I think you handled it very well.
COMPOSITION The problem with a shot like this is that the sparks are really all you have. You've chosen to leave in considerable negative space, which I think aids in the composition, but also leaves you vulnerable to voter criticism if your subject is not dynamic and interesting enough. I like the way the metal prongs lead off into nothingness out of the left side of the frame.
EMOTIONAL IMPACT Though it's a technically well-done and well composed photo, it probably doesn't have enough "wow" factor to excite a high score on DPC. It is different though, and that was probably good enough to lift your score by a half-point or so. Does it excite the viewer and grab the attention? Probably not.
FINAL THOUGHTS Your commenters certainly liked it well enough. Your final score of 5.4 is about what I would have predicted. I'm even more impressed now that I see you pulled this off with a P&S camera, I had expected some sort of SLR. Very well done!
Good idea, nice focus and exposure.
I have several of these laying in the magazin but I never thought about using them. We use them to ignite the burners for our roofthatching work.
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