A soft, well timed and well lit image. Lighting is particularly hard when dealing with reflections because the light reflects very strongly back onto your subject. This person managed to light the back of the face, but not toss the reflection into his subjects face.

This image uses a reflection/subject combination that works exceptionally well. The image of the girl has a soft an melodic feel to it, while the rhythmics of the fence posts offsets the entire work with an air of strength.

The fantastic tones of this image are not at all lost in the reflection. I wish I could know how its done.

'The cars mirror' style photos are so overdone that its not funny, but I always enjoy seeing someone employ cliche in a way that works very well, and feels fresh.

This image feels like the experimental film "Man with a movie camera". look it up if your interested in seeing similarly stupendous work.

Clever use of elements by this deviant has allowed him to create a striking image in the abstract school. Abstract photography is particularly hard to make effective, because you cant count on the viewer to recognize something iconic... Instead, you have to use the frame to create a new context for iconic's and realization. You have to make the viewer familiar in something that is completely unso. This image does that perfectly.

I'm not quite sure how these were captured, but I do know that it was done quite sucessfully, has that feel of surrealism. The coloring only helps.

One thing that I have come to hate about digital photography is that it all feels too sterile... While people are concerned with resolution and sharpness, they've forgotten that noise and variations in exposure add warmth to an image. Well this photo seems to step away from that immaculate norm... It makes me feel casual and happy about the image making process. not to mention that this is one of the finest black and white conversions I've seen in a long time.... very rich blacks!

Egozero is a title that makes me wonder. Everything about this image is good... Particularly the way the artist approaches the self portrait... instead of trying to present a hyper glamourized version of herself, she works at honesty.

This location is perfect, the artist made a good choice by waiting for someone to come into it.

This particular deviation only gets stronger when you read the blurb about it... For those of you that are too lazy to do so, the mask in her hand is a relic of her uncle Danny. I find it interesting how the artist chose to un-mask herself, but then decided that her face was an unimportant element. Perhaps she wants to tell people that hiding from people behind a 'mask' is no way to avoid attention, since that mask in fact will be the drawing factor.


If the viewer cant immediately see what makes this image stunning then I think I'm doing the wrong thing by trying to appeal to them with this feature. Most people are reluctant to let noise be part of an image, but in this case we can easily see that noise is a useful tool (here its used to add some umph to the negative space and bring some degree of attention grabbing to the solid colors.


Gas masks are way overdone here on DA, but when the element is used cleverly (here with the addition of a grunge feel due to the background) then the image losses all of its 'tackiness' that our community has attached to it.


Holga's are always fun, and when critiquing one its hard to not judge it on its exposure density, but you have to remember, theres little control over that with a holga... Instead, look at the image, and consider the relationship between the sad clown and the building (school?). A comment on the poor state of education? A remark about current violence at schools? or does the work clown and building rhyme in some language I dont speak?


Lovely studio work first of all (if you've been in a class with people who learn studio then you must certainly agree), not professionally flawless, but a sincere and genuine attempt at quality in both execution and concept. Does a model get to be themselves in a shoot, or are they pretending to be one of the photographers concepts?

"I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking 'wow, you're ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career'."


Now here is the professionally gorgeous photograph I was talking about... Window light first of all brings out this models features gorgeously, and second of all, all the elements in the frame work together wonderfully. The black behind the model makes her pop, and the white to her left makes the background not boring. Her jewelry (being silver) fills in the color gap left by the gold in the mask, and the fabulously ornate mask is in perfect contrast to the t-shirt.


Whoever says you need a fancy/expensive camera to take great photos ought to look here, the kill themselves before more people start to think similarly.

Features
Aside from the somewhat cryptic description this deviant gives his work, I think this peice is a nicely executed scene. Some formalists might suggest that the exposure and contrast are a little on the strong side, but to them I say 'bah! multiple exposure is about playing!'

A deviant who manages to previsualize his work before its set to film. Truely this artists is lucky to have both the eye of a photographer, and the keen understanding of image layout that it takes to be a designer.

Its not easy to work with the holga, but you wouldnt know it by looking at this deviants work. It takes money, effort and time to get things right, so please appreciate that when you take a look at this peice.

Compositionally superb, well exposed, happy and maybe even insightfull with regards to the subject. This peice is a surefire bet for making it into this feature.

What does it mean when a deviant combines an expsoure of a skeleton and a pretty girl into one frame? A commentary on idealism perhaps?

Mshernock Established that the elevator blew. Thats too bad, because I would like to have seen more images taken inside of it.

A very cool self portrait that breaks from the norm whilst demonstrating some design abilities that I couldnt reproduce given all the time in the world.

this feels like a snakesking pattern photo. its kitch and use of repetitious texture is very tastefuly executed.

My mind keeps telling me that I should explore the image, but my eyes seem to only want to stare at the left hand side and wonder about those eyes.

Snap-flip-snap.... Technically specific description of something that was executed much more flawlessly than first speak would suggest. Take a look at the image and I defy you not to be flabbergasted by the resulting image.

When the apathy is replaced by a sincere expression of contemplation, the results can be spectacular. This deviant is one very capable 'formalist';

"The term formalism describes an emphasis on form over content or meaning in the arts, literature, or philosophy. A practitioner of formalism is called a formalist."
-wikipedia-

Take a simple setup and try to build a good photo using available light and chances are you are not going to get very far with regards to positive result. However, incorporate a prop, and use it cleverly you are very liable to produce something you can be proud of. Im not the biggest fan of contemplative art over purely visceral imagery, but this work just begs to be enterpreted cognatively.

Whenever a deviant visits me in #photography And asks 'what sort of camera are you all using' I grow a sincere frown and try to establish the idea in them that any camera will do provided carefull considerations of light and content are made. This image takes a 'mediocre' camera and squezes every pixel for a great image... I love the implied nudity!

This photo is already a bit popular, but regardless deserves mention as one of the more 'effective' self portraits that have been submited recently. nasruden put it best when he(or she) said "Loved it. Very nice concept that gives me the expressions of blues and loneliness with the support of a visely chosen color."

Heres a deviant that knows she can find a photo wherever she goes. It goes above and beyond the 'emo-tastic' (or images with artificial representation of the subject) and shows a subject as a person, instead of some (insert shallow description here).

The description for the deviation featured above fits just as well here, only this deviant adds a fantastic technical ability. Anyone who is interested in learning how to create a rim-light effect is welcomed to note me or drop by #photography (note I dont work for the channel) and ask for a tutorial/walkthrough.

The dyp/tryptich method of image construction is everyday more and more prevalant here in the community, and I couldnt be happyer for it. Composition of mutliple images into one whole for consideration is an invaluable means by which to garner interest and appeal in a photograph.

another clever use of props and coloring to produce an interesting image. Cudoes to tortor.

Fantastic 'quality of light' as some of the better photographers here would say. A great sincere expression combined with good props and a very meticulous control of the way the subect looks (hair, eyes, makeup, and contrast) are what make this image.