I dreamed the dark shadow as I sighed and said goodbye
by Judi

Comment:
Amazing that this didn't ranked higher...
Are people so caught up in a title that they disregard the photo?
It was a great atmosphere Judi, I really really liked the dreamlike characteristic of the shot, especially because the theme is so dark.

Scores aren't everything, and you have a great picture.

Joao

Planetary defense
by duartix

Comment:
Man, that was a tough one to pull off!!
Still, GREAT control on the ambient light, as it did not spill everywhere, as it was likely to do.

Congrats on a very difficult shot technically :)

Abraço!

Sydney by Night
by GregoryB

Comment:
Team ISO rules :-D

Superb shot Greg, congratulations on yet another ribbon :)

Brainstorming
by De Sousa

Comment:
De facto devia ter ficado melhor posicionado, mas enfim... :)
Abraço!

Goodbye, cruel world!
by h2

Comment:
Damn, now I have to vote in all of them just to give this one a 10...

Freakin' amazing, superb job, very well done. Minimalist, but effective.
You controlled the lens distortion perfectly, and the composition is flawless.

Touch The Sky
by hotpasta

Comment:
I will love to see your editing steps under Basic, amazing processing!!

Fast and the Furious
by ashishkushwaha

Comment:
Awesome panning shot, quite a feat to have it so detailed!!

7,000,000 liters of fish tank
by duartix

Comment:
Boa Duarte! Ou era este ou o da Vodafone ;)
Great perspective, wonderful tones on the blue.

It Says What?
by Phocal

Comment:
Hi Ronnie, greetings from the Critique Club!

Well, nothing much to say about this one, super congrats on your personal best and ribbon!
Stunning shot, and yes, it's straight :) I used the word "Romance" as a reference, and it's not crooked.

Great choice on the b&w, great composition on not centering the subject, good balance between highlights and shadows. And 1/15s handheld?? Great job!

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Joao

Azure Shadows
by NapCat

Comment:
Hi Walter, greetings from the Critique Club!

So you decided to take the plunge and enter in the challenges, and for the first entry you landed a 37th place, very good!

Regarding your photo:

Composition
Although the tree in front does detract a bit from the image, the overall lines help to lessen this effect. Your eyes are attracted to the waves and a bit away from the trees, as if they are secondary.

Technique / Lighting
As mentioned below, with a shutter speed of 1/2000 you had some space to compromise in aperture and maybe a lower ISO (but I guess with minus 27 it was better not to have the picture shaken :)

Processing
Here is where I think it was a bit overdone. The levels and saturation caused that blue halo around the tree trunks, giving it a rather HDR feel to it (not in a good way). Probably you could have gone in the opposite direction, slightly desaturating it, and boosted the contrast, then you could've retained the original punch.

Overall
For this challenge this fitted perfectly, and you still got a 6.8 from commentators, so it pleased a lot of people.
I think that this picture with good processing could easily be in the top 20.

Continue sending in pictures :)
PS - if you want (since you're a member, you can do it) instead of putting your comments in the comment section, you can edit the details of the picture, and include it in the description.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Joao