Artistic Merit Pros: * Beautiful subject.
* Fantastic contrast and use of B&W.
* The hard shadows - something that most photographers try to avoid - are what really make this photo adding 3D depth to the subject and reinforcing the outlines.
* Great zone balancing even though there are little of them. Blowing her left harm worked very well going along with the shirt and contrasting with her hair.
Cons: * Cropping. You took quite a beating in the comments for not cropping on the left and I was one of the offenders. I can understand how one sometimes focus on the subject and the background just vanishes. I see how you were drawn in to the "Thirds" Maelstrom leaving a lot of negative space on top. As it is, it's unbalanced and going by the Golden Mean would take it to another level.
Technical Merit Pros: * Excelent exposure with good choice of shutter speed. Even though this picture is mainly defined by flash exposure, you managed to freeze the moment avoiding motion blur. I suspect that you were also at the camera's flash synch limit.
* Good control of DOF. The subject is perfectly sharp and the shadows have the definition they need to help the photo, no more no less.
* Good lighting control. What could be seen as defects (hard shadows, blow areas) is used in favor of the picture and works very well.
* Great timing for shutter release. This is the moment!
Emotional Merit Pros: * This photo conveys energy by the truckloads putting every other entry to shame for that matter. This is DANCE.
Cons: * The hair is great and it's the element that is carrying alone almost all the emotion on this picture. The other important element is the body pose especially the hands, but ALAS we can't see the right one. :(
Result I guess the artistic merit really made you score, while the crop was the only real let down.
I voted you 7* (my equal 5th to 12th best vote) so IMHO this would be honourable mention/top #10 material and even ribbon if the crop was tighter.
So you got 16th place and a 5.9 from your first photo? This is commendable and nothing short of exciting, I wish my efforts were as good as yours.
Keep up this excellent work, I'm anxious to see your next pictures.
If only that little gray sliver were cropped on the left side of the image.... but otherwise I like this a lot. The bold black and white contrast is really cool!
I like this photo, a tighter cropping around her would have been perfect for me, and by doing this u couldve eliminated whatever is on the left of the frame. 8
Talk about running from hard shadows... These really make this photo work.
As a negative: too loose crop on top (and what's worse on the left showing something).
I guess I'll give it 7* before I go through the whole challenge.
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