Critique THIS! :)

[DennisL]

Be brutal
Thanks!

[Englishteacher]

I'm always looking for a story or interesting feature in a picture. This one says very little. If you are looking at the arc of the upper edge of the barrel, it is too high in the photo. Try bringing the arc into the photo by bringing the lower edge to the bottom, leaving enough of the red to give some basis for understanding and completing the arc at the top. It is fine to run it off the frame. Try to get the arc to run through the right two points of the rule of thirds.

If you are using the photo as a study in depth perception, it works, but that point of view is not artistic, but educational. The above layout would still accomplish the same thing and be artistic at the same time.

If you can retake the photo (like is it in your backyard and not in Potucket 500 miles away), give the arc idea a try and see what you get.

Harley

[mdwsta4]

i agree with the teacher. a slightly different angle would have had much more impact. a touch of saturation could also improve the tones.

[Robin Sarac]

I'm sure the above suggestions are a good idea...always worth a try! But I like this picture and how you've composed it as is. You've left room for the arc the slats form to be communicated, but also enough space to show the detail onthe painted parts. Now if I were to nitpick, I could do with out the gap on the left where the slats end...it interrupts the flow of the arc. If possible, I would like to see a bit more in focus...maybe bump up the saturation a bit while you're in there...but this is a great picture.

[wulf]

I think the red, green and brown work well as a colour scheme and the muted tones complement the weathering of the wood.

Where the image falls down for me is having too narrow a depth of field, in particular that front plank. My eye is distracted by the large out of focus element rather than picking on the area that is sharp and being drawn by the curve back into to the abstraction of the blurred area.

Wulf

[Lunch_Meat]

I agree with Wulf on the depth of field. I like the third panel and it starting sharp and fading to blur. The first panel just seems a little out of place being completely blurry, it almost flatens that part of the image. Perhaps a slightly large depth of field or try recomposing as per the other suggestions.

Other than that I do like the red and brown colors of the wood. I also like the detail of the bent nail.

[DennisL]

Thank you for all your comments.
I took it just up the street from my house, so I can go back and try again.
If tomorrow morning is nice, I'll stop on my way to work and recompose and get a little more DOF. As I believe I shot this one at 1.8, which I seem to love to do...
Thanks again!