This month’s DPS Writer’s Critique comes to us from Carrie Marshall, a member of the community here at Digital Photography School.  As with the previous critique, the format here is meant to be instructive and informative and not so scientifically analytical and thus it doesn’t matter much whether the photographer is a professional or amateur.  We can almost always learn something new from reviewing our own and others’ work.

Carrie’s photograph was taken on the main island of Maokung while touring through the Penghu Islands of Taiwan and is featured on her travel blog My Several World.  It was taken with a Canon Digital Rebel 400D XTi and the 18-55mm kit lens.  She admits to slightly adjusting the saturation, a little sharpening and a minor crop, but that is all.

Temple Guardians in Penghu

Helen Bradley – I really love the composition of this photo, in fact I thought it was a collage piece when I first saw it it was so compelling an image. Congratulations on capturing it. My comments relate to post production aspects only. I’d like to see a bit more of a color boost in the temple details behind the central statue and a little less of the vignette effect which I think is perhaps a little too heavy. I also wonder if, by working with the midtone contrast and performing some subtle shadow detail recovery on the statue you might crisp up the detail there a bit. This would be a perfect composition too to use for HDR processing if you had the shots to do it with.

Jim Goldstein – Carrie’s image has great visual appeal. The statue and architectural detail are visually engaging particularly combined with the saturated colors. While I am a fan of using vignetting to highlight a photo subject,  I do find the amount of vignetting a little heavy handed. Other than the vignetting I would recommend that Carrie experiment with using both deep and shallow depth of field settings with such subjects and composition. Everything in this photo is in focus which most would think is a good thing, but considering how busy this photo is use of shallow depth of field would help guide the viewer to focus on what the photographer thinks is the most important part of the photo. Vignetting can accomplish this, but for objects in the center of the frame. Shallow depth of field allows focus to fall on a photographed object no matter where it falls in the frame. Two different tools for a similar effect, but employed for different areas of a photo. Food for thought. Keep up the great work Carrie you’d definitely got an eye for engaging photo subjects.

Natalie Norton – As with any shot everything is relative and clearly subjective.  I think the image is compositionally sound.  The image is quite balanced. . . perhaps slightly weighted to the right but not obnoxiously so. I may have trimmed in to a tighter crop to achieve a more clean sense of balance, but again, that’s all preferential.  The colors are nice and the subject is intriguing.  The image is slightly bright in the center section which continually draws my eye to that portion of the image (we’re most often drawn to the brightest part of an image first) and as that is clearly not the dominant focal point so I’m not particularly comfortable with that.  I’m not at all fond of the vignette applied in post.  Overall it is a great image.  Like I said, quite balanced and compositionally sound.  I find myself curious as to the story behind it!  Great work!

Barrie Smith – I find the composition the only flaw in this image. The eye switches back and forth from the god on the left to the dragon on the right. Asia is full of pictures like this. Maybe the camera should have placed the dragon larger in foreground, throwing the god out of focus slightly.

Chas Elliot – Very nice shot Carrie.  The composition is very busy, but in a good way.  As a viewer you can move from one part of the image to another and stay interested, and I like images when the main focus is not dead-center.  Judging by the harsh shadows and highlights, it looks like it was taken on a very sunny day.  I often find images taken in this environment to benefit from added “warmth”.  By giving the image more orange and yellows, you truly get the feel that it was a warm and sunny day, rather than a cold, wintery day.  Using an image editor, I added some warmth and did a small boost on the color saturation (something you can more easily do if there are no human subjects in the shot).  Not a big change, but see what you think.  [Click here to see Chas' edits]

Peter Carey – First, I really like this shot as it conveys a dramatic sense of exoticness to me.  It’s something new and exciting and has a lot of elements at work, both with the gray stone and the more colorful accents.  The vignette is a bit too much for my liking while I also think it brings some focus to the image.  I still can’t decide which side wins in that battle.  I love the colors and would like to see a bit more saturation maybe, perhaps done with a mask to help them stand out from the blue sky.  Not knowing the circumstances or location, I also think a position slightly down to the right and just isolating two elements in the image, instead of the three shown, might have clamed the image a little, but it’s hard to say.  The image makes me think of travel and ancient cultures.

What do you think of Carrie’s photograph? Please share your opinion in the comments section below and remember, keep if friendly, please, whether you like the shot or not.

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