For me the top part is the person Carole which stops the picy being static a.

I like the crop on the top, but not the bottom. Maybe if there was a person in there it wouldn't look so static? I don't know.........but lots of other good elements. :-)

The square crop as presented works. The overall contrast, especially in the wood grains and tree shadows, are what make it special for me.

Penny just in case you have misunderstood my last comment, it is supposed it was going to follow Tommy`s comment, not yours. But you were faster than me...

Yup... have to agree, Penny: the cropped version is more bland... static... even claustrophobic, maybe. But I still come back to the fact that, not having seen this shop "in the flesh", I'm really not sure exactly what I'm seeing there, and how it all fits into the overall architecture; thus this area is drawing an inordinate amount of attention away from the rest of the storefront and its contents. Maybe that's a good thing? It sure makes the viewer stop and spend time on the image...

Thanks for doing the crop Penny as it confirms for me that the picy was perfect how it was. Without the clutter above it loses all the edginess/energy that I got from the picy. The crop might look more perfect but perfect is boring a. Viva the mixed up genes:-)

Wow!. I think things at photography are not as complicated. If you have the doubt about if cropping the image would destroy any essential esthetic, just put your hand to mask the upper part of the image. If you like better, crop it. If not, let it as it is.

A cropped version now exists in the drop box. It looks bland to me but maybe not to you.
I can't speak to how I got my visual genes mixed up but I'm glad they are.

plane (continued from previous comment). From that point of view, a crop would destroy the essential esthetic that draws the eye around and to the very edges of the frame with the upper frieze of numbers and other detail providing hints of Greek architecture, especially given the verticals of the door frame and clearly articulated limits to the store front - like the facade of a columned temple. But the references were never in Penny's eye, or at least not consciously. Rather it is a visual capture of what is perhaps centuries of evolution in western art and the genes of our ancestors selectively filtering down through the chaos of the modern world.. and blah blah blah.

Funny thing about art is that the best is always controversial. So if we rate it by the number of words, or more precisely, the number of characters exerted in the discussion, we might perhaps arrive at the first (or maybe the second) Empirical Esthetic Evaluation System. I haven't the time to count them now, but at first glance Penny seems to have a winner. If anyone cares to see it, I'll post my own (inferior) version of the same site at almost the same time. Let me stop now for a moment to apologize for trying to boost Penny's score by adding my own not insubstantial (in quantity if not quality) contribution to this discussion. Words words words. Seriously, those of you who have dealt with us before know of my propensity to go on and on if I'm well enough lubricated, and based on my several years of art training, to blast the assembled group with a lot of pompous jabber. To that end, I'll only add that there is a modernist school that speaks to equal emphasis throughout the picture

I have to agree with Daniel, Jerry and Brent on a crop off the top, and it has nothing to do with viewing it on a small monitor as F11 allows me to see the whole image. The yellow numbers on the left and the even brighter yellow patch on the right plus those lights (?) draw the eye away from the nice wood tones and colorful fruit with those great looking shadows. The exposure, colors, and contrast look good too. Good find, and fits the topic well. ;-)

Hi Penny,
I don't want to wade into the discussion on critique, but you did say that suggestions on cropping and other pp work would be welcome.
First of all, I LOVE the dappled sunlight on that warm wood of the storefront, and all the multi-colored fruits and veggies in their neat little cubicles. Fabulous catch and well-taken. Were this my shot, I would be tempted to crop it tight to the wood on the top, as I find this area to be cluttered, confusing and distracting. Where this area is brightly-colored and lighter, it tends to draw the eye from the main interest - the storefront. Just my humble opinion...

Daniel suggesting a crop so this picy fits in your small monitor is a bit daft mate, this picy is perfect as it is so it's up to you to get a bigger monitor a. Penny knows I will tell her when a picy isn't working for my knowledge & tastes so I don't have to say wonderful things to her, just because I love everything about this picy it would be absurd of me to find faults. If a picy hits you in the eye & heart it's bleeding stupid to then go looking for faults. We should only look for faults in picys thet don't work for us.
I could find many faults in a lot of the great photographers work but their shots work just great because when you look at them they just say something. Photography isn't about the digital perfection we see at DP challenges, so winning over there would be small change I reckon.

Nice one Penny. I always have problem with shooting wood. I can never get such nice colour of wood as you got here. On the other hand its not often I get enough light to do it. Using flash just ruins it! Im hoping the 7D will turn this around, since the ISO performance is better than my old camera. I've never seen an amish market before. How often do you see amish people in NY?

Daniel, thanks for the suggestion about the crop and you may be right. I was trying to get the image square, with an equal amount of space around the building, but I will go back and see what a tighter crop looks like.

Just one more thing, so nobody gets the wrong idea .... I do care what my pictures look like. So far as the polish is concerned, it's the original image that I was speaking to, not the presentation - I work very hard at presenting my pictures in the best way I know how. And suggestions to that end, things like composition, pp, cropping, etc. are all areas where I would love suggestions on improvement.
Thanks for the conversation Brent, no worries about posting under my pic.
And for anyone else who cares to leave me comments, I hope you are speaking to my photo and not to any of the other commenters. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and they might all be different. As you may realize by now, I like different.

Now I understand your point: you mean that after an extremely positive comment it is very difficult for a subsequent commenter to say anything critical. It could be, depends on you anyway. In my case, I think a negative comment could teach more than ten posivite ones. So we should try to write the comment we have in mind regardless what the others have said. Do not feel alone about the recommendations you gave Penny, Iīm not saying I changed my mind completely about this shot, but I just noticed that the need of scrolling continuously because my small monitor doesnīt help too much. So cropping the upper part of this image would be my recommendation.
By the other side, I have seen your outstanding web page so the pleasure of competing to you was mine. I honestly have the hope the verbal tense you used when you wrote "Itīs been a pleasure" does not mean you are going to leave the challenges. And I also wish we had a beer some day. Who knows...

Thanks for your thoughts Daniel, and I feel kind of bad to be putting all this stuff under poor Penny's image now. I don't know that what I see hidden in this image IS any better than what is here- but I expect many others should be seeing it too (cropping, etc.). Maybe you really saw none of these things as I did, but both you and Jill had to follow up after an extremely positive comment on this image. Once a comment like that is made it is very difficult for a subsequent commenter to say anything critical without looking like they are being mean.
It's been a pleasure competing here with you Daniel, you are a nice person I'm certain I would enjoy having a beer with some day.

Thanks for the comments -
Brent, I think there is, simply, a difference between what you and I expect from our photography. (And it's also the reason why you will get ribbons at DPChallenge and I won't). I am not looking for polished, nor do I care about polished - setup shots are pretty to look at but I have no interest in taking them. I like to take street shots. I like to take pictures of whatever hits me at the moment. Do I ever go back to a place knowing the subject is one I would like to revisit, photographically? Sure I do. But I return knowing it will never be the same as when I last saw it and I like it that way. This light on this little market will never look this way again and that's the beauty of it - to me.
So you see unpolished and I see something else - maybe that's hard to explain but it is what it is. What I would want from a critique about my photography would be to suggest how I could process the picture differently, use other settings, crop intelligently, etc

Brent: what about if people didnīt notice things you recommended here to Penny?. In my case, I didnīt notice that a "slightly different POV and sharper image" would be helpful. You could be right anyway, but for me, the way this shot was framed and the soft focus applied to it worked well, at least for my taste. I know you are not talking about my comment exclusively, but I would like to say Iīm not hiding something to Penny about this shot. You said "but nobody is telling you that!!!", but perhaps you have a talent that let you see things the other people donīt noticed. And this is a skill you have that other people could not have. Do not mean someone here is hiding something. Just a thought.

Kudos to you Penny for recognizing there was something special somewhere in this scene. But I look at all the comments so far and see exactly what has me so frustrated with pxp lately.
Maybe I am delusional and should just give up photography because I have no eye. But I see an unpolished diamond here- gold sitting in the pan waiting to have and the ugly bits of rock pushed aside. But everybody is being so "nice" they don't tell you that.
I see hope for this image as is but expect this might have been shot in a hurry and a slightly different POV and sharper image would be helpful. With a re-shoot (if that great dappled light could be had again) this scene could be a definite winner- but nobody is telling you that!!!
This is really pretty sad as I saw so much potential in pxp, but I really don't see it as a place I can go to and expect to advance my skills anymore.

What a nice shot Penny!. I like the shadows over the wood and the floor. Colors looks godd too, well done Penny :-)

I must agree with Rod, eye catching pic. I too find the warmth of the shop front, inviting and interesting. It has an irresistible charm. Penny, you certainly have an eye to find these cute boutique places, that have their own individual charm.

B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L. The criss cross of shadows, the lovely wooden storefront with the surrounding bricks & sign & fruit & veg crammed in the windows works like magic. Excellent eye framing & seeing this Penny.

Yeah well. That's okay. I actually had done this last night - just never got around to posting it. The title is exactly as I saw it on the building (which actually is more than twice as long as what's shown here).