I have a shot: Wonderful Presents. I got a C-index of 47. I was almost shocked. I thought it is an eye-catching and well composed, clear and well taken and a bit outstanding picture. I know that there are some crazy members who like to destroy the values with pushing zeros. Now I don't know what to think of this shot. Would you be so kind to help me? Is it worth of 47? And yes, I do know it is not the C-index that counts. Thank you for your help.

Wonderful Presents

Toto...the butterfly seems to be a wee bit out of focus and the color of the flowers appear over-saturated.
try not to worry about the c-index...it is what you think of the image that counts.
Hope this helps :=)

I haven't been using saturation for some months. The color was like that. I still think it is worth more and somebody pushed zero. Thank you for your support and help. You are very kind, Mimi. :)

I'd give it an 8-9 ... My only complaint is the slight bit of chromatic ab-something stuff and the noise (noise reduction on the wings but not on the rest; the unevenness looks weird)...

(I rarely vote 8-9's .. if and when I do vote. Maybe once every 30 images or so).

In other unlrelated news incase my comment was boring .. snakes.

Thank you for your help. It is much appreciated.

"I still think it is worth more and somebody pushed zero."

If I may ... and try ... I will explain what happens when someone in the voting booth assigns a zero to an image.

Extremely low scores are a bit of an aberration statistically speaking. Scores, or the C-Index are adjusted for this.

The ways in which those adjustments are made are beyond the scope of your question and query here.

It might not be of great comfort to you, however, I do take note that the index has settled some since your creation of this discussion thread. Initially, 47 ... now, sitting at 56.

That said ... a good composition. The colours seem a tad ... a tad, contrasty and that might be why Mimi above remarked on the saturation. Not sure.

In my very humble opinion, it is the issue of digital noise present ... and the posturing of the butterfly itself, in particular it's antennae ... that are it's shortcomings.

A lower ISO, if possible might have assisted with the noise issue. And that, in and of itself is not really all that bad ... just an observation on my part.

There is good clarity and detail on the butterfly's wings, however, I would prefer more delineation where it's body and eyes are located. With it's antennae down, things get a little muddled. A little.

That said, I do understand the emotional component and attachment to an image. Best to try and distance yourself from that ... take what you will from our infamous number ... it is but a simple gauge ... and move onto to your next clicks of the camera.

It's a good shot, but not great. Some adjustments and it could easily be elevated to the latter.

Hope you don't mind my words here. And above else and reiterating, keep shooting ... and happy shooting. :o)

Thank you so much for this detailed comment. Much appreciated. :)

Toto - So far you have taken and posted 30 pictures of butterflies. You must be a quiet and gentle being to take so many and not frighten the winged fliers. You shoot slightly from the left and aprox 45 degrees above the subject. So far you are doing very good. In Wonderful Presents you did everything correct, except one thing. The picture is not very appealing with the depth of the blurred background. Please hold on while I find my Psycho Analyst Hat, OK I put it on. When you present a picture of a subject and only the subject is in focus, you are telling the viewer nothing matters, only the subject in focus is worth presenting. The viewer will verify your intentions with a score. Your subject (the butterfly) was slightly less than 1/3 the viewing area. If your subject is the only thing that matters, then why does it only get less than 1/3 the viewing area? The rule of thirds works fine if your whole photo is in focus. When its not you need to increase the focused viewing area by at least another third. I think this photo would be more appealing. This kind of brings up the subject of "who are you shooting for?" Personally I think that if you are shooting what you enjoy, and you post it, then you deserve the reaction you get. If you are shooting for the pleasure of others, and want high scores, then post what your fans enjoy. I hope I have been of help. Now I can take off the stupid Psycho Hat. :)

Thank you indeed.