Bee Attack (live bee)
by Swashbuckler

Comment:
decent macro on the bee -- if a little dark. Not so interested in the composition though -- or on the skin and hairs -- good idea for fear though. That little bit (of grass?) up in the upper left corner is distracting.

www.missingkids.com/
by myqyl

Comment:
I think this turned out well and is a great example of fear. OK, I realize this is probably a real child's bedroom, but becuase it's a set shot, I'm going to look at it that way. I wish there were some kind of poster or picture on the wall next to the bed -- just a lot of white space that it seems needs to be filled. I think I would have also left the screen somewhere in the room -- as it now is, I can't imagine someone abducting a child and dealing with the screen in that position. Needs to be all the way in or out of the room. Finally, the color levels seem off -- either not bright enough, or not dark enough. All this sounds very critical, and it's not meant to be -- this is one of the best shots this week, in my book.

Drunk in the Alley
by Alecia

Comment:
While I wasn't the only one to think it was staged, nevertheless, I still have to say my bad. :-)

I like knowing the backstory. It makes me regret the comments I made because it is a good photojournalist style shot -- I just had my mind set on a completely different stereo-type.

Drowning
by drewmedia

Comment:
I dig this, but I wish all the vertical lines were more perfectly vertical -- everything needs to be rotated a few degrees counter-clockwise. Nice use of color matching along with an interesting "background".

Moving, Again
by Gotcha

Comment:
Very interesting capture. It looks like a little touch of sharpening might be useful, but it's a tough call because I also like it a little soft. Here's a suggestion I offer, but it's not something I'm letting influence the way I vote about this. Instead of the warm yellow tone of the picture, you might try giving it a colder blue tone in an editing program. It would help give it even more of a sense of isolation and desparation.

End of the Road
by Digipixer

Comment:
Admittedly, I don't know what the background would do if you shot this way, but I would have been very tempted to shoot the humor of the lower sign straight on so you wouldn't be able to read the "exit only" sign. This reminds me very much of a cemetery my parents were doing some genealogical work at and the sign at the bottom of the road said, "Dead End."

As it stands, the photo just seems a little busy in the background -- and the cemetery sign is a little hard to read -- I think because the left end has light colored leaves directly behind it -- the other end of the sign, with the darker background, is easier to read. Anyway, fun shot.

Mountain Through Trees
by janfries

Comment:
I appreciate the way you used the tree and specifically those branches to frame the mountain, but I think it's almost too much framing. This is also really busy -- my eye doesn't really know where to go. Apart from the silhouetted tree in the foregound, the rest of the shrubbery just kind of blends into this patterned gray -- I almost didn't even see the river at first. OK, so a lot of crtiticism with no suggestions... It's because I'm having a hard time coming up with any for this photo specifically. Everything I start to write has to do with taking another picture, and that's not fair. There's a good range of tones, the focus is good, etc etc etc, it just doesn't work for me. So, instead of running off at the mouth, I'd be happy to discuss it later after voting.

Magnolia
by elemess

Comment:
On my machine, this falls a little flat in the contrast area. I want some of this to be a brighter white -- and I think you could probably make the dark areas in the corners of the photo darker without losing too much information elsewhere. But, that might all just be my machine. Otherwise, I really like the composition -- makes me think of Georgia O'Keefe.

Have a Drink
by karmat

Comment:
This is one I think I would have ignored the true highlights on and would have let them burn out a little further and go for the whites on the coke bottles as my base highlight. The angle on the bottles is a nice touch, adds a little interest to the shot.

Nesting Hummingbird
by Swashbuckler

Comment:
I can't think of the way I want to word this. The hummingbird and nest are very clearly visible in the picture, and yet they seem to get lost among all those pine needles. While I've tried very hard not to make comments like this, I wonder if the color of the hummingbird and nest would be enough of a difference from the needles to help set them apart.