Used manual program, 280mm focal length. Post processing, hue adjustment on blue zone to rocks, crop, resize to 30 pixels. Adjusted brightness and contrast. Burned and dodged many of the areas on the penguins to give better detail to feathers and facial features. Used sharpening layer, used noise layer, used tone layer, and combined them. Also had to desat the background a bit due to some green fringing. I didn't want to do that, but I know that some folks have their gamma reading really high, and would definitely see the fringing.
Statistics
Place: 112 out of 218 Avg (all users): 5.7500 Avg (commenters): 6.5833 Avg (participants): 5.4952 Avg (non-participants): 5.9272 Views since voting: 1269 Views during voting: 372 Votes: 256 Comments: 15 Favorites: 1 (view)
Hi June, I saw in the forums that you were looking for some critique. I thought overall it was a good shot, but the post processing was a bit harsh. I think it would have done better if it were a bit less contrasty and sharp. Compositionally, my eye keeps getting stuck on the guy's back. I keep missing the big picture, and getting sucked back into "why did she take a picture of a penguin's back?"
I think the biggest problem, and why it didn't score higher is the cute factor. Many of the images that scored better were cute, pretty, or elegant. Your guy has a big scar on his back, and some pretty harsh post processing, which I think makes it look more realistic and natural, but a viewer who's being fed a lot of eye candy will mark a "realistic" shot lower. That doesn't make it a bad photo, just one that doesn't score as well on DPC.
I think that a couple of people noted that your entry appeared a little oversharpened which I agree with. I guess thats the way it goes. Go out into freezing conditions and end up doing the damage to your image back in the comfort of your own home. (I've had faaaar too many of those experiences myself).
I myself actually gave it a 6. I probably would have voted a bit higher had it been a little softer. The moment you captured was great. It just lost that soft touch with the extra sharpening.
Firstly, an excellent find and certainly genuine based upon your location. The editing appears a bit harsh primarily ranging from oversharpened to somewhat blurry. The reddish area around the eyes appears slightly plasticized due to noise reduction thus eliminating virtually all detail in the head area. The concept is really good but the angle from which the photo was taken does not convey your intent as well as it could have. I'd have tons of fun chasing these little critters around given the opportunity as they'd make for some outstanding and tolerant subjects. Hope that provides some insight.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
