A Wise Choice?
by uctopuk

Comment:
No, not wise. The toilet will clog and you will have to hire a plumber, which will cost a lot!

This is very creative anyway, but I do have a few nits with the photo itself. Next time try some more interesting lighting; side light would have worked well here. Also, I might have tried some other angles, or at least a different crop; I am not sure the asymmetry works well here.

Who needs cash anyway??
by Spork99

Comment:
I think you are providing too much information on the cards to anyone who can see them. A good shot otherwise, though low on the creativity scale.

Holiday cash...I mean plastic.
by Nukkta

Comment:
Good idea; I like the placement of the cards in the stocking. Composition is good as well, with the diagonal of the stocking. I think you should have posted this one in color: the main issue is the exceptionally bright and overexposed white area of the stocking and the very dark background. The colors would have reduced that contrast some, but it might have also been a good idea to use fill lights or natural light to get more exposure on the tree.

L'odore di un'arancia
by JC_Homola

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club:

Overall, this is an excellent photo and true to the challenge topic.

The composition is excellent. I think I would have left less space at the top, which from scrolling my window to simulate it makes the orange stand out more, to me at least.

The lighting is very good. There's a bit too much reflected light on the edge of the orange, and on the closest peel on the rock. I think a slight backlight on the orange might have made it's color sparkle on the main surface more than the edge. A fill light on just the orange might have worked too without spoiling the interest and mood of the way the light falls on the rock. Otherwise, you might have played with lower lights and longer exposures (and subsequent noise reduction) to achieve a non-reflecting exposure.

Aesthetically, this is a very nice photo, that will work beyond the challenge, perhaps with some postprocessing that wasn't allowed to achieve some of the cleanup mentioned above and whatever else you wanted to do artistically.

Regards--Neil

Ahhhhhhh.... nothing like the smell of coffee in the morning.
by kosmikkreeper

Comment:
My favorite theme! Composition is good; Lighting is a bit harsh though and three seems to be some reflection on the subject's face on the right which is distracting. Maybe it is steam, which is good, but it doesn't look good over the eye here.

A Silent Stare
by vtruan

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club:

I think this shot is very good compositionally, and most of the technical elements within your control are well done. The neck has some overexposed areas, but this works for me as part of the aesthetics of the shot.

Aesthetically, overall, I rate this photo very good.

I suspect this is a small portion of a larger frame, and this implicitly lower resolution, and perhaps your overall camera resolution, are lowering the subjective quality of the capture. (Consider the deer's fur on it's side and hind and you'll see some of the quality issue I am talking about.)

I understand how this might be a surprise to both of you, but personally I think this image would have been hurt topically in the surprise challenge because many won't see this as surprise.

Overall, this is a beautiful photo.

Have I Got a Surprise for You!
by StevePax

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club:

This has a nice science fiction feel to it, and if I am correct you are assuming we've seen enough science fiction to guess that what's in his hands might be surprising. For me that works, though I am not sure it would for everyone.

Compositionally, I think its framed well for this shot. The lighting is especially interesting and appropriate here. However, perhaps to get the effect the saturation on the red was set a bit too high, and that gives it a softer focus, and in some places, almost a posterized look that I am a little mixed about (good for effect, but makes the image look lower quality).

I am not sure the model and photo is "gallery ready" but you've used good imagination here and captured it well.

Home Safe from Iraq
by smellyfish1002

Comment:
Lovely pose, good expressions, not sure about the color choice here. Looks ike it's "rose" colored? Or else the saturation and colors are off.

The Ring
by TooCool

Comment:
A good expression (key here over the others who chose not to show). I think the background is an issue here, and also, some light in the eyes would have helped.

Splash!
by arnit

Comment:
Looks like this took a few tries from the wet t-shirt. I think the expression is "That's enough".