Photo was taken for the DPC Household Appliances challenge. (Note: I actually had to go buy the Dirt Devil...but I returned it the next day...LOL!)
The "light" streaks are plastic craft beads. I used my 17-55mm f/2.8 lens (w/ Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter, set at it's lowest setting) on my Canon 30D, which was set to manual. ISO 100, Aperture f/8, Tv 1/6.
Imported into Adobe Lightroom 2.4 and immediately exported into Topaz Detail. Used the following settings: Small Detail 0.04, Small Boost 0.18, Medium Details 0.15, Medium Boost 0.11, Large Details 0.23, Large Boost 0.49; Saturation 0.65, Hue 0.54, Saturation Boost 0.02.
Exported back to Lightroom and made the following adjustments: Exposure +0.66, Fill Light 25, Clarity +67, Vibrance +31, Saturation +27, Medium Contrast Tone Curve, +20 Saturation to all colors, +10 Luminance to all colors, Sharpening 44, Radius 1.0, Detail 25, Noise Reduction 25.
Statistics
Place: 19 out of 71 Avg (all users): 5.7798 Avg (commenters): 6.5000 Avg (participants): 5.6061 Avg (non-participants): 5.8108 Views since voting: 1331 Views during voting: 485 Votes: 218 Comments: 19 Favorites: 0
Initial impression: Made me smile because it looks like something I'd do, both in terms of shot and returning appliance next day once it served its purpose :-)
Technical: Yes, a little glare on the DD, composition not too exciting but the blur helps make up for it. All your camera settings make sense for a shot like this. Lighting looks ambient, which is fine, seeing it was shot in a hotel room!
Artistic: The carpet pattern isn't that distracting imho. The craft beads look tossed on the floor at random, just as though you were a vacuum salesman demonstrating to housewives how well your product works.
Overall: You finished in the top 20, nothing to sneeze at, and you got 5 10s. Even if your shot falls a little short on the technicals, it made people smile, and that goes a long way here.
Haha, nice idea, i like how the colored (whatever they are) have a panning blur. The composition works here i won't be a rule of 3rds whore. My nitpick for this image is that the devil looks slightly oversharpened. I'm guessing because it was difficult to get it in focus while moving.
Cool ideas and I do like all the wild colors. There is an abstract quality that is kind of neat. The composition needs something as the dirt devel tip ends up totally centered. The DOF is a bit narrow as well. Did you try any with wider DOF to see what the effect is?
I'm not sure I care that much for the picture. Perhaps it's because there's so much pattern to the carpet--I think a simpler carpet would have created a much stronger picture. And for some reason, the orange on the dirt devil is distracting (I would have been tempted to crop it off.) But I love the creativity! Excellent job of thinking outside the box and yet meeting the challenge! 7
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
