Here's the picture I'm asking about:

Boletus aereus

After 8 votes the c-index is 13. This means most people gave it 1 or 0 in voting booth, right? I know the c-index doesn't really mean much and a picture of a pretty flower automatically guarantees at least a 60, but this I didn't expect. Could someone with knowledge and experience tell me what is wrong with this wallpaper? Where did I go wrong? Colour, light, focus, composition, background?

I think it would have benefited from loosing the letterbox frame and harsh shadows and instead have it sat against a plain neutral background. Colour and focus seam fine to me. As to your score – who can say – people with no taste, index saboteurs – anybodies guess. Sometimes people’s marks they give make no sense at all and shouldn’t be seen as a reflection on your work.

ii wouldnt worry about it...it can be annoying, true, but if noone really liked your work they wouldn't comment on it. i happen think i've been robbed/sabatoged a few times ( recently) but honestly, if my work is reaching ppl, and they're finding some enjoyment or inspiration, then i've hit my mark. if that helps any....

OH BOY!!! YAY! Another c-index complaint. ;) lol. Just like third eye said, dont worry about the score you get, as long as *you* like your upload.

With a unique image like this- I must say I'm not surprised. I think the image is great- but in the voting booth you get the opinion of 14 or 15 random ppl. That isn't nearly enough to average out to a consistant rating for images. And art is like that- people will have varied opinions- espeicaly with some thing unusual. Keep posting.

I wouldn't worry, often when an image has only a few votes the c-index is quite low. Have a look in the FAQs and it explains. Give it a while and I'm sure the value will rise, by the way it is a good image and I feel it deserves higher than 13 too so don't worry.

Ieuan

Thanks for comments and reassurement :)

I'm not complaining really, I just don't understand. I've only been here a short time, but I think I already have a good feeling for telling what people will like and what they won't. I've seen many good images with low public scores and many bad ones with relatively high scores, but most times I can understand the reasons behind this (e.g. pretty flowers always get high c-index) and I'm fine with that. This time though I just didn't understand. I mean, it may only be my opinion, but compared with other images with similar rating, mine stands out a bit. Anyway, I'm not worried about this, just confused.

About the harsh shadows, I agree. This was actually one of the problems I was already aware of. I don't have any kind of "studio equipment", so I had to take this photo handheld with a short exposure time and with flash which caused the shadows. I know I would get much better results if I used proper lights and no flash.

As for the letterbox format, this is intended to be a desktop wallpaper (it's on my desktop right now) and I like to arrange my icons along the top and bottom borders and then add some more on the left side. That's why I like to put these borders on the top and bottom of my wallpapers and leave some space on the left as well...

You can make your own mini studio pretty easily/cheap I think...moreover something to do if your REALLY bored.

Yeah, I think this is going to be one of my future projects. :)

So much to do and so little time....

I like this discussion purely because I've gone through the exact same thoughts about a couple of my own photos... Just happy to not be alone.

ditto