Canon DSLR Speed Challenge #131--SOFT

Ahhh...

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Soft and Cuddly

Challenge is now closed. I'll need some time to critique, so give me about 2 hours. Thanks.

Jason C

Okay, here we go. Remember, my critique is based soley on my tastes and what appeals to me, and my comments are just how I may have gone about a similar capture...hence, subjective.

corey.b--Bronze--Lovely siamese on a comfy couch, love them kitties. I would have preffered the subject a smidge more to the left, and stopping down to get both eyes in focus since the subject's eyes are nearly square to the camera. iso 800 and a stop down to f/5.6 would have kept you close to your already low shutter speed. Nice kitty pic.

Mo--Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear--Definantly looks soft. Is it me and my eyes, or is the dof just before Fuzzie's eyes? Nice job getting the catchlight. Nice capture.

Gail--Pastoral Pastels--Was this image photoshopped, or captured this way? Either way, it looks great. Problem for me is that the subject is a bit too centered for my taste, and also seems to blend in a wee bit too much. Still, a very cool pic.

athrasher--Quilted softness--Is that quilt homemade? Looks like it by the stitching. I think I would have presented the quilt in a different manner, say folded over several times with some stiching showing, and stopped down the lens a bit to show more detail over a broader area. Nice try.

Tony--The Softness Beyond the Sharp--Very nice contrast between the subject and background. Just a question; did you do any NR to your capture, or is the 1DmkIII that good at iso1600? Good composition, very well done Tony.

jj_glos--Untitled Baby Portrait--Lovely composition, and wonderful b&w conversion. I feel the high-key effect works well here. Excellent image. One thing, for future challenge submissions it is suggested that you add a title to your submission in the title box when posting a reply. Thanks.

Chris--soft Kitty--Yes, I'm a cat-aholic, and that's a cute n' soft kitty. Now since the subject's eyes are at an angle to the camera, I like the thin DOF that allows only one eye in focus. A bit too centered for my taste, and even though the human hand adds an element to the composition, I'm a little distracted by it. Still, a lovely kitty picture.

John--Velvet Petals--Another excellent composition John, composition and DOF are to my liking. Also a little abstarcty, too. But I think I'd like to see a little more of the petals with less mag. Just me. Excellent shot, John.

oakleaf--Soft Toys--Cute composition, nice use of DOF to bring attention to the rhino, but I can't see the big bunnies eyes in the back...poor bunny. And that WWF label is distracting to me. What I would have done to add a bit of fun to this shot, is to have the marsupial riding the rhino with the two bunnies watching...or something like that. Make the composition of toys playful. Nice try.

paintmblak--Cattail fluff--Very nice composition with some very lovely bokeh. Nice contrast and attention to detail as well. What lens did you use? Very well done.

ckort--Frozen Cotten--This one made me laugh. Cute composition, nice job capturing the snow flakes. Nice contrast. What focal length did you use? Nice capture.

Ed--One Red Rose--Absolutley stunning. Composition, DOF, lighting just spot on. Furthermore, I tend to not like frame borders, but I like the one you used (I actually viewed your image while bolocking the border out). Excellent capture, Ed!

macroshot--Like Kisses From A Butterfly--Excellent composition, spot-on DOF and nice bokeh. Excellent capture.

spkerer--Out of the Fog--Did you take this image in the Bermuda Triangle? Quite eerie, indeed. I get where you are coming from with this capture, and it was done well. Too bad that ship wasn't at an angle; heading into or coming out of the unkown. The foreground plant is a bit distracting to me, and the dead center composition a bit off-putting. Nevertheless, a nice capture.

Chinsing--AHHH...--Ahhh, look at the cute, sleepy poochy. Cute. Your composition is nice and you're not afraid to frame tight, but it appears that your DOF is off a little. Also, sleeping animal images tend to be boring unless the animal is in some crazy slumber pose. Try to get your pooch to look at you, then you can take that oh-so-cute picture of your dog with those cute sleepy eyes looking at you (or glaring at you for waking him/her up). Nice capture.

Daniel--Soft and Cuddly--Very well composed with a nice DOF. I also like the catchlight in the eyes, gives an almost life-like appearance to an inanimate object (Yes Virginia, Soft and Cuddly is not a living entity). Good job in having your model pose for this shot, too. I liked your stuffed animal capture best of the three submitted. Very well done, Daniel.

Thank you all for participating in this challenge, it had a greater turnout than I had expected. Everyone put forth a great effort, thank you again.

RUNNER-UP: jj_glos

I loved the composition and the soft b&w conversion. I also believe the grain of the high iso (3200) adds volumes to this capture.

WINNER: ED

This capture just did it for me; the composition of the subject, the DOF, the detail in the razor sharp petal's edge sliping into softness of a welcoming bokeh. I even liked the border. As I said prior, stunning.

Ed, the next challenge falls upon you...look forward to it.

Thank you all again for participating. For me, these challenges are a great tool to get off my keester and shoot and to learn from photographers such as yourselves.

Jason C

Congratulations Ed!

Jason, I want to say thanks for the extra effort. I've seen other competitions but your's was by far the most valuable (at least to me) for it's C&C. This was my first but you've inspired me to try more/again in the future.

Cheers.

WTG Ed. Great shot and great choice Jason.

Whoa! Thanks Jason! Lots of great entries to choose from too!

I was just about to sign off, give me a few and I'll come up with the next challenge...
Thanks Chinsing & Allen for the kudos.

Thanks again J

Congratulations Ed
Thanks for the critique Jason C

corey.b wrote in post #9471960
Congratulations Ed

Thanks corey!

New challenge is HERE
Have fun everyone!

Nice going Ed - and great photos everyone!

Good job Ed. Thanks for the comments Jason.

WTG Ed !

Gail--Pastoral Pastels--Was this image photoshopped, or captured this way? Either way, it looks great. Problem for me is that the subject is a bit too centered for my taste, and also seems to blend in a wee bit too much. Still, a very cool pic.

Taken that way with a crop Jason...it wasn't the sharpest photo, was too far away for sure, but thanks.

Congrats Ed! Your wonderful photography is going to land you a lot of hosting jobs, LOL!

Yes, Jason...the DOF was narrow with the focus on his nose. This was shot quickly out in the backyard between rain showers.

Nice stuff all, congrats Ed for winning with a beautiful shot, and thanks Jason for the helpful critique!

Some LR noise reduction, that's all. Even cameras like the 1D3 and the 5Dx can use some NR at ISO 1600! It's funny, though, I wasn't really prepared for that shot (I was out birding) and my settings were pretty off --1/2500 at ISO 1600? Heh! But still I like the shot!

Congratulations Ed, lovely shot.

Thanks for the comments Jason. I didn't realise about naming the photo, it was my first time competition entry in here

edit: Viewing this on my phone I somehow missed I was runner up, cheers! That's put a smile on my face