My world blew up, so I went home
by snaffles

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Challenge - What do we do when our hobbies are denied us? Not sure how I feel about "going home" but I like that you were able to check off the bucket list of making the world blow up. (Without harming the rest of us.) A good use of time IMHO and a solid entry for "When DPC Breaks".

Earth: Love the molten lava reds and intense yellows. The colors are vivid and striking without overwhelming me. I'm not really sure what the text on the globe says or represents though. Some of it is readable and some not, which makes it hard to figure out as part of the picture's story. If you get another chance to explode third rock ... you might try varying the explosion layers. Things don't tend to explode uniformly and your red/orange rays seem more like sunlight than explosion. Where's the smoke and dark spots?

Barbie/Car: The idea is novel and fun. I like it! The melty warp to the car is odd in that if the car was designed to "go home" hopefully it wouldn't melt. But given the heat of the explosion ... meh I'm sold. :) Although a case could be made for the front half of the car to be "ok" and the rear to be melty. A perspective thing I guess. Details on Barbie's face are clear and she's smiling so it can't be all bad.

I hope Ken escaped...

Dreams of a caterpillar
by Darkpixel

Comment:
Beautiful dream-like quality (colors and DoF) but I'm not feeling the "tilt".

Waiting Out the Storm
by asij

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!
What a beautiful image! It's a free study so the picture is a 100% fit for the challenge. The background is purple which makes it extra special for me and I love that you talked the lightning into spreading nicely across the horizon. Looks like there might be a bit of a vignette ... Nice touch. The ripples across the see are smooth and detailed providing a nice contrast to the bright and jarring lightning streaks. Angry clouds also balance the calm of the water. Great details/textures in both. The reflection of light on the water is gorgeous and adds depth. The cormorants add a wonderfully unexpected touch to a storm picture. I thought birds would hide in the face of the storm but these were enjoying the show as much as you were.

I wish I could offer some advice but I simply love it and am drawing a blank for suggestions. Congrats again on the HM. I'm glad you stopped to watch the storm. I'm jealous. :)

Business, Pleasure and Life In Between
by smardaz

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!
First things first ... In terms of the challenge it's a very fitting image. Three panels with three separate expressions. I love that the black and white of day-to-day was sandwiched by vibrant colors. At some level I almost wanted the business panel to be blue or green rather than the orange used to depict pleasure. On the other hand I like the 'orange' sandwich.

Business - Nice intensity in the pose and expression. In this instance hiding the eyes behind the glasses frame edge works because you're squinting with the irritation it works. Nice balance of color with the white background as negative space. The 'finger gun' (ha!) is great and underscores the expression.

Life - Reading the paper ... Such a mundane part of life. I like that the expression appears to be one of surprise. Must be a good article. ;) The white coffee cup does pop quite a bit from the background. The pop drew my attention before the expression. It's a great pick but for an expressions challenge it detracts but only slightly. Of course coffee IS an expression for some!

Pleasure - a fun pose. Love the blue solo cup. You've completed the sandwich again with the squinted eyes. This one feels more forced than the other two, which is odd as it's supposed to be the fun one. It works though. Technically nice lighting and great colors pulled together for a vibrant "hang ten".

Wonderful stuff! Congrats on HM.

Aground
by markwiley

Comment:
Love the details in the tree limbs and grasses. Perfect lake without any reflections for this challenge. The boat adds a splash of interest and the whole thing makes me want to go for a hike. My favorite in this challenge.

Updated to remove the bling per PM from Mark. Leaving the comments though. :)

Message edited by author 2016-06-22 00:57:57.

Personalities Update
by Lydia

Comment:
I'm not normally a fan of black and white but I really like what you've done here. The mix of patterns and contrast are very pleasing and set well with the square crop. My husband won't like you much though, as now I need to go shoe shopping. My favorite in this challenge.

IMG_5212
by shoaib

Comment:
A Critique Club comment from Cia...

Initial Reaction: Love the colors, especially the grass. I think I've been hiking in places like this before and it feels like a real day experience. Very pleasing...

Challenge: Pictures of the natural world are indeed fitting for an Earth Day challenge. The warm gold of the grasses offset by green trees and hazy skies definitely work together well. There are a few water spots that are easily noticeable...outside of a minimal challenge those should definitely go. (But they might count as an etc in the sensor dust category of the new rule set... I've been buried in homework lately so not fully sure on that point.)

Comments: As mentioned by Leontp, the rule of thirds may have helped you out here. There is a lot of white space in the sky, a narrower band (I.e., a third of the pic) as the white would have helped balance the picture. (Not to mention would have removed some of those spots.). I love how the warmth of the grasses balance with the cooler tones of tree and sky but the large amount of sky emphasizes how washed out the mountains are. Of course, since this is an Earth Day click, you could have been going for a hazy look on purpose. In your comments you mention a pathway ... I am afraid I don't get the reference as nothing feels like a path to me in the composition. A path or trail would have been a nice touch and might have offered some leading line potential. Overall I really like the grasses and the details of the greenish-yellow heads. There are a few heads that are a bit out of focus and distracting, especially the one right below the tree, but this is a minor nit.

Message edited by author 2016-05-17 23:03:00.

Quicksilver
by riot

Comment:
Critique Club Comments from Cia,

I've spent a significant amount of time stalking herons as well... I completely agree that getting the lighting right to capture their beauty is a challenging endeavor. I can't say that I am a huge fan of the "egret-like" processing as I love the blues and grays of the heron. But this picture does call to me ... I love the clarity of the eye and beak. This clarity draws you in and encourages you to scan the body and wings. The contrast between bird and trees is terrific. It really pops and does solve the blending into the background problem. I particularly like the lightness of one wing paired with the darkness of the other. I'd love to see more details in the feathers but the silkiness creates a nice effect and brings the motion of flight to mind, which certainly works in this context.

In terms of the challenge ... Your click is a great fit for the Vawendy challenge. A nice match with content from her portfolio. Beautiful.

The Only Horn You'll Hear in a Band
by dpeden182

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

The Challenge: Without specific guidance beyond the challenge title there still only seemed to be a few routes that were logical... As much as I like animals, I love that you went the musical instrument route. Your pic is definitely in tune with this challenge.

Color, Comp and Processing: The black and white processing adds drama and is reminiscent of a jazz scene. I agree with the comments regarding great dof and composition. The components pull together nicely and it's fun to try and make out the shapes reflected in the bell. The wide crop to include the second person is important as a partial person or instrument would be awkward. While I think the picture could have worked without the second player I like the depth having her there adds. There's a nice balance of darks and lights (exposure) and whatever changes you made for the details/clarity ... They seem to work (even if the player's left hand is a bit obscured in the shadows). I do wish I could see a bit more of the instrument though ... Maybe just a touch more angle would have helped.

Overall: while I disagree with the title ... Spent many years listening to my sister play sax in the band ... I can't argue with the results. Well played.

If music be the food of love, play on
by snaffles

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First things first ... Definitely an intense portrait. A good fit for the quote selected and the challenge. Nothing conjures music like a guitar. I love the drama created by the single eye stare and the balance between black and white created by hat, shirt and instrument. Sitting here wishing I could hear the melody ...

From a detail/clarity perspective ... Nice work on catching the details where it matters most (face and instrument to fit the quote) while allowing the rest to fade a bit into the background. This offsets the intensity nicely with a little hint at the um ... Heat that created that fire. Please play on....

~Cia