Hi Manuel and * Greetings from the Critique Club *
The comments you received seem to have stirred up a "mini controvery" over the use of soft focus to contol where you viewers' eyes travel. As you can tell, this seems to be a "love - hate" situation, either the viewer thinks it's cool - or else thinks it's a distraction.
The way you have it shown, the viewer is taken right to the red/black area in the center of the cup. From there he or she can explore outward. It works well.
If you did want to try more DoF - use a smaller aperture (larger number) as you shot this wide open at f 1.8. To do this you'll probably need a tripod, something you probably wouldn't take to a spa. You may find that the image seems to get too "busy" with everything in focus though.
The other artistic qualities of the image are very nice indeed - composition and lighting both support your subject very well.
I'm not sure you need the border - see what you think without one.
So - if you want higher scores and try to "satisfy" more viewers - reduce the soft focus. If, on the other hand, you really like this technique as I do, shoot for yourself and forget about high scores.
Composition: Subject Placement, Cropping, Background 7
Technical: Focus, Exposure, Lighting, Processing 7
Appeal: Is it Interesting, Motivating, Etc. 6
How well does it meet the challenge: 8
Total Averaged Rating(Rounded) 7
Nice leading lines! Would like a little more DOF towards the viewer though. It's also a little hot on the sticks closest to the bottom toward the left.
TC
The blurring in the lower sticks is a significant didtraction froman otherwise well composed image. Needs more depth of field to bring it all into focus.
I really like shots like this. I get marks down all the time for putting parts of my subject (in the foreground) out of focus, but I really love that feel. To each his/her own. This is a great photo. I like the lighting, color, composition and overall feel. I wish the bottom right wasn't so cornered (dark), but it's great anyhow 9
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