I almost went with the family portrait to end the year.
Figured I'd end the year with a dog photo.
This is Amber, my eldest dog at 9 years old.
Blown highlights and green cast intentional. Went with a square crop on this one, but the top bottom is pretty much the full height, just the right side was removed.
Post Challenge Comments:
Well, all I can say is I did not mean for the brown. It was really meant to be a study of color, shapes, and lines. I focused on the collar intentionally. I am happy with the photo and the results consider the parameters I used.
Try this all, stand about 3 feet away from the screen. Any better?
Statistics
Place: 422 out of 429 Avg (all users): 3.7619 Avg (commenters): 4.2727 Avg (participants): 3.7339 Avg (non-participants): 3.8136 Views since voting: 985 Views during voting: 259 Votes: 168 Comments: 31 Favorites: 2 (view)
Well done for that and obviously for entering 'after your own heart'.
The idea, as I understand it, that you express of wanting to assemble pictorial elements to use the picture as a sort of semi-abstract canvas, is noble but bloody difficult to carry through. I think this may be one of the reasons why the dpc template - and for that matter a lot of other 'arty' pictures - tend to be uber-simple with textureless backgrounds and only one or two things or pictorial elements. They belong on the walls of similarly arranged appartments that make you want to hold your head in your hands and scream like Edvard Munch.
In the case of this I think there's a bit of an empty space above the dog's head in the top left quadrant. The whole thing gravitates to the brown right side. If you've cropped out more green and washout on the left you could try leaving it in and introducing some straight, vertical (abstract) thing to anchor the side. I'm mostly talking out of my arse here, really, but I've heard that sort of thing often enough and who knows? maybe if we think about it an epiphany may come.
There's a brown ribbon in my portfolio if you want it :-)
Jayson, you are a brave man to enter this photo, and I'm glad you got a couple of faves on it! It certainly is counter to the DPC "ideal" of uber-sharp, eye-popping images. I can't say for sure that I like it, but I find it interesting, and want to look several times. And if getting an audience to want to look isn't art, I don't know what is. Well done.
Love the colors and texture. The DOF also adds something and doesn't look at all like a mistake. However the nuclear highlights do. I can live with the blown out bowl at the very top as it kind of looks like milk and also has a definitive shape to it which fits in nicely with the rest of the image so it serves a purpose but the other blown out areas don't, IMO.
WHAT>!>> How on EARTH did this finish in last place? It is a GEM. The greens and browns and red are all PERFECLY balanced with each other, and the graininess adds so much. I just love it.
yep.. from about 4 feet away, it makes perfect sense... I could appreciate the lines and the color so much more then the 1 1/2 feet I sit from the screen..
I think the DOF is so shallow that no one could identify the water bowl, which by your title, is part of the subject of the image. I like the shallow DOF and the graininess of the image. To me the subject is the heart-shaped collar.
I did not vote in this challenge, but I probably would've rated it a 5.
no way. last place? jeez. why am i surprised? we all know shots like get hammered. but, honestly. last place? pah.
anyway - what a lovely shot. the composition, the colours, the intimacy, the glorious texture of her coat, that red collar with the little heart studs - simply wonderful. well done indeed.
Actually, I think this shot is a lot better than the score shows and what I like best about it is the grain. I think the DOF is too shallow for some people.
No way this came last! I am astounded - I gave a 5, but was torn between that and a 6. For me the focus on the collar was spot on, as was the dog level perspective, which gave me as a viewer the feeling that I was another dog!...
I don't think the title suits the photograph. The dogs face and his water bowl are out of focus and therefore the viewers gaze is fixed on his collar. The collar is the focal point because it is the only thing in focus.
Your image appears very grainy. I don't know if thats intentional on your part or not though. For me, I would have preferred seeing his mouth and the water dish in focus as opposed to the top of the collar.
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