Fighting Ducks
by NoellaSue

Comment by MaryO:
Looks like one is running away ... make that swimming away. Interesting capture.

Purple haze
by NoellaSue

Comment by talmy:
I see several problems that would have contributed to the poor score.

Foremost is the poor focus. Being a tightly cropped image doesn't help. A macro lens is really the way to go if you want to take pictures like this.

Pictures that don't make full use of the 640 pixel maximum dimension as a rule don't score well.

Very subjective, but I don't really like the composition. Putting the bee in the frame makes it more interesting, but detracts from the theme. But being only part of the bee is annoying.

Purple haze
by NoellaSue

Comment by Elvis_L:
To me it doesn't seem very sharp, focus wise. i like the composition but maybe some more light. for me I like to use a flash with a lightsphere when getting that close to the subject. I didn't get to this one during voting but I would have given it a 5 most likely.

Purple haze
by NoellaSue

Comment by talj:
Hi Noella,

Composition:

I like the position of subject in the frame but the image is quite small so I am assuming you cropped to get closer? The bee seems to take more of my attention than the purple flower and this could be why the image did not score well. I would have cropped a little more off the right as there is a distracting piece of 'purple' in the corner.

Technicals:

I like the slight 'bokeh' look to the background but IMHO the whole image is slightly out of focus. I am not sure where your camera is metering from but the top of the flower appears a little blown out whilst the bee is quite dark and has lost a lot of detail because of this.

My personal thought:

I too took a flower shot for this challenge and knew that there would be many others that did so, so I wasn't expecting to do very well. For a flower shot to grab the viewers attention here at DPC it needs to be something unusual / out of the ordinary and for me this shot is neither of those things.

If you've got any questions please feel free to contact me via the PM system.

- Natalya :o)

Purple haze
by NoellaSue

Comment by TheStick:
I gave it a 6. Good colors and nicely done. Things I'd suggest to improve this image IMHO is it feels unbalanced to me. I'd play with the crop/composition of it more.

To the Opera
by NoellaSue

Comment by irakly:
i think that this picture would benefit from higher contrast.

To the Opera
by NoellaSue

Comment by whiteroom:
good

To the Opera
by NoellaSue

Comment by bobll7:
Nice catch, curves are great. Maybe missing some contrast.

To the Opera
by NoellaSue

Comment by nborton:
i really like the composition, but the tones could be a little stronger. there is a lot of gray and not enough true black or white.

To the Opera
by NoellaSue

Comment by geoffreyskuntz:
Great pic...the blown out whites in the lower left lost it for me though....great angle on the shot