Mr Dirt Diver...I have seen your work and I appreciate your comments. I certainly did not put the time and energy to get the picture I had in mind. I was not expecting high praise for the shot, and quite frankly, regret submitting it because it turned out to be the lowest scoring picture I have submitted so far.
Politics and religion can become very ugly because people can be very passionate about thier point of views...as I am for mine. I was not trying to push a political agenda when I posted this shot. As I stated in the forum, you should ask yourself if the picture would be as offensive to some people if it was of a little blonde girl and the picture was titled Baby Hillary. I am not a Hillary supporter but I would not try to bash on the subject... and I probably wouldn't find it to be particularly "Political" either.
I just read your post in the forums and thought I would check this picture out. Let me be the one to give you some information.
I do see that the exposure is a bit off which does meet the challenge but there is more than that here. When people on DPC look at shots like this they tend to take offense to them. Politics are definitely a category that you and everyone else should stay away from just because people take crap way to seriously. If I had voted on this image I would have given it a 4 or 5. NOT because of your title or the fact that you would like your joke about your child being the next (or first) black president.
I would have voted on the actual content and subject matter of your photo.
So with that said let me tell you what "I" see wrong with it.
Color range... the colors seem to be a bit faded. Because of the light bouncing back into the camera it's fading all your colors which you could have saturated them in PP.
Content... Although you kept the subject and BG simple there are some issues with it. The BG is crooked and your subject doesn't even look like he is going to give a speech or even address anyone. It looks like you had the idea in your head of what you wanted the image to look like and so you set up the flag but when it got to the camera it came out different... Don't worry a lot of people have that problem, me being one of them.
Subject pose... Had you had a microphone or something in his hand it might have conveyed more of the Obama type of setting to me. Also having the subject turn more towards the camera some and then also look into the camera like he was serious about running, then if might have looked more realistic.
Remember this about roll playing photography shots... You have to get serious about the character if you are going to play them. Even if it is a child... Have them watch clips of the character and you have to play with them to get them into the mood. Take my got milk shot for example... It took me 2 hours and over 120 shots to get that 1 photo. Yeah I got some others to but this is the EXACT shot I had pictured in my head. We watched youtube for 20 minutes, and looked at other pictures, I even had to let him shoot me doing the same thing just to get him into the character.
I guess all I'm really saying here is if your going to do it... DO IT RIGHT.
I didn't get to vote on this challenge, I did look at the pictures though, and yours called my attention, at first because of the title (nothing wrong with it), I think the technicals you already mention them, lens flare and color saturation. Overall imo you did a goo job.
My in-challenge comment on this entry was more about trying to understand the message your entry was attempting to convey, than about the quality of the shot itself. I gave it a 4, which is what I give to something I feel is a good effort with major issues. I felt the overexposure was incidental and was not used in an effective manner that enhanced the image. It appears to be a shot that was backlit and happened to fit the challenge. I think this was a difficult challenge to do for everyone that entered. Hope this feedback was more helpful to you than my first comment.
Edited to add: BTW, The political statement had nothing at all to do with my vote.
Thankyou, but I have no problem with a low score. The title may have provoked political anger, leading to a poor opinion on the subject. That's fine. I will know better next time. BUT... I did not appreciate comments which had nothing to do with the technical aspects of the shot. If you don't like the subject, keep your negative comments to yourself. Political comments have no place in this arena.
My in-challenge comment on this entry was more about trying to understand the message your entry was attempting to convey, than about the quality of the shot itself. I gave it a 4, which is what I give to something I feel is a good effort with major issues. I felt the overexposure was incidental and was not used in an effective manner that enhanced the image. It appears to be a shot that was backlit and happened to fit the challenge. I think this was a difficult challenge to do for everyone that entered. Hope this feedback was more helpful to you than my first comment.
Edited to add: BTW, The political statement had nothing at all to do with my vote.
This is either a nearly-but-not-quite entry - because the kid's face is not so overexposed, really - or it really is one of Obama's kids, in which case it's a pretty profound bit of word-play and photography. I don't know so I'll refrain from voting :)
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