Monthly Critique – You Make The Edits

Judging by the amount of participation and the wonderful perspectives exhibited, last month’s monthly critique was a hit here at DPS.  While I won’t be completely abandoning the original format (select DPS writers chime in and we ask for your input as well) I will be mixing in more “You Make The Edits” posts.  Last month was a bit of an experiment with the image selection and I have rethought things for this month.

This month I am going to first present the final product as I have edited it (above).  I will then offer up the original photo, again, as a RAW file granting DPS readers the right to edit the photo for the purpose of reposting it here.  We had some great input from critiquers (it’s a new word) who explained what they did to the photo and why.  I’d like to continue that energy this month.

With that in mind, you are welcome to access the original RAW file here (WARNING: 17MB).  This photo is offered under a non-commercial Creative Commons license which allows you to make all the edits you wish.  As DPS is a learning site, I’d ask you to include three things in your critique comments below:

1. An honest critique of my final image. Please be honest.  It’s ok, I can handle good and bad criticism as long as it’s honest.  What did you like and not like and why?
2. Your version of edits.  Take the file and play with it until you’re happy with the results, than post it here (or link to your changes)
3. Please include what changes you made.  Again, DPS is all about helping everyone learn more about photography.  In this case, it’s the post-production aspect. Use whichever program you like, but please let us know how you adjusted the image.

And that’s it!  I really enjoyed the ‘put your money where your mouth is’ aspect of last month.  Anyone can sit behind a computer and tell you what they like and don’t like about an image.  Which is fine.  But I also like to learn and see what someone would do differently.  Looking at last month’s response with over 230 comments, I’m guessing you do too.

I yield the floor to your perspective of the above image.