Photo Challenge - Food & Drink: VOTE

[Brett Bradford]

Please not that you must physically click on a link to view ClaudEgypt's image below... why, I'm not sure.
[Both Claude's and Asadex's photos have been fixed. Not in the way a dog is fixed, but more like how a car is fixed; nothing was cut in any way.]

Morbid
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/morbid30/IMG_6357-s.jpg

chaosrocks
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/eggz.jpg

claudEGPYT
http://www.robert.cometblue.com/images/conceptart/challenge%20others/Wedding%20194%20copy.jpg

Demonic Rabbit
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/7550/dscf24402bd8.jpg

ranmyaku
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1352/872176221_be8d251829_b.jpg

Fingers
http://www.digital-eel.com/ikphotos/misc/eyecandy.jpg

Asadex
http://www.robert.cometblue.com/images/conceptart/challenge%20others/100_0960.jpg

purplerose
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/dazzgeist/pcfooddrink.jpg

SharpShooter
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e196/SharpShooterRo/CRW_2543_v2.jpg

Brett Bradford
http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs16/f/2007/206/a/0/Idiotic_self_portrait_by_BrettBradford.jpg

[Rhynome]

Hey, the Claude's photo thing is fixed.
Cheers for making the poll and nice hat.

[claudeEGYPT]

@Morbid: Looks fresh.. I dont particularly like the DOF on this photo. I would have liked to see the bread well in the background. I also don't like the edge of the table exposed.. rather keep the table taking up full view of the photo.

@Chaosrocks: Honestly i wouldnt particularly want to eat that!

@Demonic Rabbit: Your photo just wont load on my laptop for some reason.. maybe its just a large sized photo (i have slow connection)

Ranmyaku: Not sure what i like about this photo. But there's something really sad about the photo.. this person probably wanted to be creative and give his girlfriend a big nice watermelon and dropped it and all his month's savings in one go.. i dunno.. but i went for this one.. not so much to capture food but more of the emotion out of the photo.

@Fingers: Purple and Mauve! heh.. nice try.

@Asadex: Not too happy with this one.. but mainly because of the text at the bottom right.. not good! But in relation to the photo itself.. there's something really way over lit in the photo. But it captures a "sticky" kitchen quite well where after you are done with your meal and you have to go back reluctantly to clean up only to see this sight.

@Purplerose: Love it but am also a bit grossed out by it. Love the lighting of that one fruit but i also feel squeamish because it looks very much like the inside of an intestine or something like that.

@Sharpshooter: Well like i said.. the interest would be increased by far if you had something to compare the miniature-ness of the kitchen to.

@Brett: Love the expression. I know that joy when i find a can of coke in my fridge that i forgot about. Well rounded shot altogether.. technically speaking..

My 100 cents

[purplerose]

Yummy... :)

Morbid: Lovely photo. I really like the colors and textures. The only thing that bothers me is the shallow DOF. The blurred loaf is a bit distracting. Close second! :)

Chaosrocks: Interesting meal, but I think a better approach in terms of composition, lighting and setting would have made it even more interesting.

claudEGPYT: Very classic! I think you could have played around with cropping and composition though. You got my vote! :)

Demonic Rabbit: Very cool assortment! I wish it was a tad sharper though.

ranmyaku: Watermelon abuse! I think a different angle or point of view would have stolen my vote. ;)

Fingers: Nice one! The only thing that ruins the candy effect for me is the abundance of reflections.

Asadex: I like your approach, but where did that big white splotch come from?? Did you do a lot a post work, or was that area severely overexposed?

SharpShooter: That's cute. :) Was it in a glass case? I see some reflections.

Brett Bradford: I'm amazed that you didn't produce something to the level/skill of your other photography, but even more amazed that you're getting votes for a "snapshotty" image... WHAT HAPPENED DUDE??!?

[KendraJ.K.]

i voted for claude. it jumped out at me right from the start and while i liked some of the others, the just didnt do the same thing for me. love the colors and lighting in it :)

[Brett Bradford]

QUOTE: Brett Bradford: I'm amazed that you didn't produce something to the level/skill of your other photography, but even more amazed that you're getting votes for a "snapshotty" image... WHAT HAPPENED DUDE??!?


I am thrilled that you asked that question, an to be honest I was really hoping for a scenario like this to play out when I posted that image.

First off, please grant me the liberty to self-critique my own image without sounding like a pompous, know-it-all, arrogant asshole. Because I do really think this serves as a great lesson in photography. One I learned back in college, and I have never forgot it....

De gustibus non est disputandum. Translation: "There is no accounting for taste"

But moreso... Sometimes, what you shoot is greater than how you shoot it. Meaning, sometimes all of the technical considerations in the world mean ZIP when you lay your photo in front of an editor and have them choose their favorite. What one needs to learn to do is communicate with an image to your target audience. You said it looks "snapshotty"... and you are right on the money. I took nowhere near the technical considerations that everyone else did. Yet somehow people have responded to the image by voting for it. Why do you think that is? I mean, this is a forum of photographers! They should know better!! Right?!

Technical considerations will almost always be secondary to the subject matter when it comes to grabbing people's attention with an image. I am not knocking ANY photographers on here, I am just making a point that I think a lot of photographers need these days. Even with all of the technical considerations, a beautifully shot/exposed/composed/focused/lit photo of a loaf of bread is still...well... a loaf of bread. A beautifully executed, um... boring image.

Now you look over and there is an image of some idiot beaming with joy that he found a can of Coca-Cola in his empty fridge. Oh, and he even implemented some gimmick of putting his camera in his fridge! Technical masterpiece? Nope. Exciting and different and unexpected? Yes. The watermelon image above...again, very effective at communicating with an impact (no pun intended) but technically the image is fairly poor.

So what is the better photograph? It depends entirely on the context and what you are trying to communicate. On a message board "photo vote", where you are simply putting an image up to the masses and hoping yours makes a bigger impact... then the idiot in his fridge is going to make an impact more than a loaf of bread, because it is communicating a bigger idea. On the flip side, If I was to present that image to the advertising execs at Coca-Cola for an ad campaign, I'd be laughed out of the office at my lack of technical ability, while the guy who exhibited technical expertise might be looked at more favorably.

Always remember who you are communicating with, because that's what images are.... "communication". Always think of images as communication first and not 5X7 technical examples of how well you know your camera. A bride doesn't want to hear that you missed her throwing the bouquet of flowers because "the lighting wasn't perfect".... she just wants the shot. Once you can marry technical ability and communication in your work (and know when to lean one way or the other when you have to), then you're a professional in my opinion.


FWIW, I am dead tired and have no idea if I really articulated my point well or not here.... if anyone else has a take on it, fire away.

Oh yeah, and I was judging on technical merit, so claudEGYPT got my vote.... excellent image.

[ranmyaku]

Can you elaborate on why my image is "technically fairly poor"?

Thanks.

[Brett Bradford]

The aspect ratio of the crop looks too desperate and extreme.

Oversharpening. Edges look jagged while the overall clarity just isn't there.

The perspective of the shot (the angle in which you shot the ground) isn't good. When the frame is filled from corner to corner with ground (asphalt), a 45 degree angle is about the most visually unappealing angle you could shoot from.

Top left - mystery shadow. It kills the overall "blackboard" effect you wanted with the asphalt.

Pant leg looks either overly burned black or improperly exposed... ie, the exposure of the pant leg doesn't look natural to the whole of the image. Not that a natural look is mandatory, but it just visually doesn't flow exposure-wise.

The composition of the whole image could be better. I can think of 3 different ways of pulling this shot off that would look more appealing. Maybe it's the extreme aspect ratio, but the whole image is incredibly unbalanced visually. The most visually appealing part of the "splat" (which is the outward tips of a splat) are completely cropped out of the image on the most visually heavy part of the "splat" itself. It's like the "splat" is unresolved...like the most visually appealing part of the "splat" is out of frame.

Red looks a touch oversaturated.

Black border disappearing into the black pant leg. Doesn't work. I just hate black borders anyhow, and rarely see good use of them IMO... demonic rabbit's is the only one I find even slightly appealing from above. This is just my opinion on black borders.

----------

That being said, it's a dramatic image that grabs people attention. The bow wrapped around it gives a sense that the melon was meant to be something special, and is now ruined. The inclusion of the feet add to the sense of disappointment in the image, and it conveys that emotion extremely well.

[purplerose]

I don't bite my tongue and I always stand by what I say. I surely hope you aren't trying to call me a "pompous, know-it-all, arrogant asshole," because that is severely over the line based on my comment.

I didn't vote based on technical aspects alone. I looked at every image based on how it went along with the theme. A crazed man screaming about a coke does not scream "Food and Drink" as much as still life of food and drink or objects that emulate food and drink. After that I then bring technical aspects into play and lastly I take into account what I like.

As I said your image looks "snapshotty." A photography quote that I will always stand by is: "A photograph is only as good as its intended purpose." Considering that the intended purpose here is to represent food and drink, your image was least fit for it.

I could care less how other people vote, because I can think for myself. You won't know why they voted for you unless they tell you and since you decided to flare up my little comment, any comments to you from this point on will be tainted regarding that image because someone would have read this.

On a side note, it's funny that you point out photographic lessons to me as if I don't know what I'm doing. You have absolutely no clue where my unposted photography is in the public eye. You could be looking at some currently or perhaps you have seen some in the past. I'm not seeking to broadcast myself as you are covertly doing to try to make me (and others) look like an idiot or as you put it, "a pompous, know-it-all, arrogant asshole."

All semi-politeness aside, give it a fuckin break dude and stop whining about what I said. It's called a critique and it's called a comment. If you don't like it, you can choose not to acknowledge what I said, or act/keep it in mind for later, or you can flare it up. Seeing your response, it looks like you chose option 3...

Now, I wonder who's going to be the adult now and give it a rest?

[Asadex]

i think anyone is free to send here anything he really like, the difference from a good shot and a bad shot is only that the good one is the only one able to speak about the feeling the photographer had in the moment of the shot, a photo is not only an image but also a feeling.
The ability to communicate this feeling is the best thing a good photographer has.
P.S.
De gustibus non disputandum est
the order of the words, in the latin construction, isvery important.
P.P.S.
My kitchen was really a dirty kitchen as you can see in the old overexposured italian films.

[purplerose]

My kitchen was really a dirty kitchen as you can see in the old overexposured italian films.

Ah, I was wondering why it looked like a pinhole at first. Are you going to try it again? The film grain makes it look like a good dirty, if there is such a thing... :) I think if you experiment more, you may get that light to me more kind to the photo while keeping the same grainy aspects. :)

[Brett Bradford]

On a side note, it's funny that you point out photographic lessons to me as if I don't know what I'm doing. You have absolutely no clue where my unposted photography is in the public eye. You could be looking at some currently or perhaps you have seen some in the past. I'm not seeking to broadcast myself as you are covertly doing to try to make me (and others) look like an idiot or as you put it, "a pompous, know-it-all, arrogant asshole."



WOW - Purplerose, you really really misread my comment. I meant, "please let me talk about my own image and don't mistake my self-critique as a sign of MYSELF being an arrogant asshole.

You totally misread and misinterpreted my post and jumped to conclusions.

[ranmyaku]

Thanks for the comments on my photo. Considering I didn't set the shot up beforehand, I thought it was pretty good. I had about 3 seconds to take the photo before the guy moved (i was following around some people shooting a movie and was snapping some photos), and I happened to get a less than desirable angle.

[Brett Bradford]

That is much more impressive knowing that you just saw that happen and captured it... I thought it was a set up shot for sure. Quick thinking.

Purplerose... you did reread that post of mine, right? You do realize that you completely misinterpreted the whole thing, right? The last thing I want is somebody thinking I just tore into them with vulgar insults.

[ShadeOfDawn]

QUOTE: I took nowhere near the technical considerations that everyone else did.


I think the only thing that detracts from your photograph is the expression on your face. The angle, the lighting, the composition, the idea - they're all excellent. I basically didnt vote for you because of the expression on your face, the fact that you won last time, and the fact that you asked people not to vote for you, but i think yours is one of if not the best technically.

I love Morbids food photography, but this image doesnt work by itself. It would work beautifully in a magazine and would be all too perfect, but the crop on the picture doesnt do it well if its a stand alone image.

[claudeEGYPT]

the expression on your face, the fact that you won last time, and the fact that you asked people not to vote for you

Come on.. these shouldnt be grounds for NOT voting for someone.
I will vote for the same person 1,000,000 times if they deliver QUALITY CONTENT.. full stop.

Despite the "technical" flaws in Ranmyaku's photo.. i like it still! I must confess though although that shadow at the top left corner does bother me just a bit, i think Brett is pulling too much "flaws" that are uncalled for. Like that pant one.. and the angle one.. I think the angle is just perfect.. sure more Melon in there would probably have improved the photo more but it works fine this way. Like i said before, i think the expression conveyed seems to be the best part.

[Kurdt]

Well, I didn't have time to get around to entering this round. However, my vote went to Brett. The color values is really what struck me most powerful about the image, and the overjoyed expression of finding the last cold coke. The composition is actually quite nice, with the objects in the foreground leading the eye to the model, then to the object of his affection.

Had Morbid photo had a crop that wasn't so close nit to the bread I think it would have made for a much more pleasing photo. Very nice DoF and capture. I can almost imagine what that bread taste like.

Asadex's photo also really caught my eye, with the grunge look. There is something about the image that really caught my attention, however, I found when I viewed the image, food and drink is not really what came to my mind.

Claude's photo was just a bit to busy for my liking. Perhaps had the orange fluff material and flowers been removed, the image would have struck me better. Seeing the image really makes me think of Sunday breakfast with bacon smell in the air.

[Morbid]

I voted for Ranmyaku, the pic appealed to me even though the composition could be improved.

Kudos to brett for making a humorous image, there are not a lot of such images in the challenges. I didnt know fridges gave such beautiful lighting, the white walls must work like reflectors.

[ranmyaku]

Thanks for the vote. Hopefully I will improve in the future. I've only had a camera for about 6 months. All the critiques really help.

[someone]

New challenge?

[Brett Bradford]

Indeed. I don't have to pick it do I? I will if I have to, but I like challenges I'm not expecting. ranmyaku, you want this one?

Something really hard!

Many many thanks to those who voted for my image.