Hot set o' wheels
by Maverick

Comment:
Greetings from the Critque Club, Ben :)

Composition: I basically like the composition. There are only some minor things I would like to suggest. First I do not understand your use of the mirror. The reflection is barely included and to me the "additional" yellow wheels in the reflection distract from the "real" yellow wheels. I think it would look better when you would have used a plain white surface, like the background.
The other thing which bothers me is the shoelace on the right side of the photo. The wheels obviously are the point of interest here, but the shoelace conceals the rear part of them and blocks the view.
Then some would say that the almost perfect white background is disturbed by the little grey shadow from the edge of the mirror (left side of the photo). But in this case I think it even fits because it prolongs the line of the wheels and thus strengthens the composition.
The tight crop on the top is no problem in my opinion.

Lighting/Colours: The lighting is great. Sunlight always is the best :) I also like the colours. Desaturation of all colours except one is almost a classic but I like it everytime and in your case it adds to the message of your photo. Maybe red wheels instead of yellow ones (by a little hue adjustment) would have increased the "hot" impact even more.

Focus: The shallow DOF is good because it gives the photo depth. But I understand that somebody commented that he would like to see the top in focus. The point which is in focus (the "nose" of the shoe) is not very interesting itself, so your eyes start wandering around. There is some writing and the knotted laces which on the top which draw attention of the viewer, but when you look there, it is blurred. I don't know how the photo would look like when you switch the focus points, making the rear in focus and blur the front. Probably not a good idea, so the other solution would be to blur the top even more. But that's only a minor issue.
Another idea would be to add motion blur by moving the skate during exposure. That would make the photo much more dynamic and I think it would fit great to your "hot wheels" theme.

Challenge: Yes, challenge met, although without knowing the theme, the photo would rather convey a "sports" message.

Creativity: It's a nice idea to use a skate as your subject for this challenge. A clever setup to get the skate stand up.

Ok, that are my suggestions. If you want to further discuss about this photo, feel free to email me.

P.S.: I think it's extraordinary how you give additional information to your photo, e.g. teh detailed photographer's comment and the setup shot. That makes it much more interesting to look through your photos and I can learn from your information. Just wanted to say that. Thanks :)

Put Out To Pasture
by TerryGee

Comment:
Terry, I like the colours and the washed out look. I'm undecided about the fence. On the one hand the upper lath goes right across the car, but on the other hand it gives the car a "setting" (looks like a rural environment, even when it may be not).

Electric Midnight Express
by magnetic9999

Comment:
It's a classic compositon but the lighting is really great. Beautiful colours! Congrats on your win!

X-ray frames
by kiwiness

Comment:
Congrats on your win, Gary! It's a great concept and very well done!

Major Fauna
by Morgan

Comment:
I like the composition and the narrow crop on the elephant. However, the lighting seems to be not so good. There are white highlights on the ears and the tusk.

Rain Drops on Cherry Blossom
by bgmorris

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club, Ben :)

Compositon: You did a very good job regarding the background. It's nicely blurred and doesn't distract from your subject. The horizontal orientation of the twig looks a bit boring. A diagonal orientation can be more dynamic in my opinion. Especially when the twig would point to the viewer, the DOF would give a better impression of depth.

Lighting: Exposure is good but personally I would have inceased the contrast a little bit in postprocessing. It looks a bit bland now. But it's good that you didn't wait until sun came out again. The cloudy sky made an uniform lighting with almost no shadows. I think sharp shadows wouldn't fit to your subject.

Focus: As I said above: good DOF, but personally I would prefer a different angle of the twig using this DOF better and giving the photo more depth. I'm unsure whether the photo would look better when all the flowers and twig would be in focus and not only the middle part. But I think not.

Challenge: I don't think it conveys the challenge theme very good. The rain drops almost aren't visible. Without the title one wouldn't have noticed them. Thus the photo looks more like a classic flower photo.

Creativity: Please don't take it as an offense, but to me the photo is not very inspiring. It has nothing special on it. I liked your previous entry to the Cliche challenge much more.

Good luck for your future submissions!

Blue Skies
by keone

Comment:
I like that photo very much. Way too much underrated. It's very basic but that's enough to get the message. It certainly fits the challenge. The unique idea alone would have ensured a high score from me. Unfortunately I hadn't time voting.

And Journey's comment probably says more about her intelligence than yours ;-)
It's interesting how most people expect to see "something" and don't accept a blue sky as a subject.

Message edited by author 2003-04-21 06:07:22.

Are you colour-blind?
by Parentx

Comment:
Hi Lili, just wanted to tell you that I really like your photo. I love the colours and abstract look of it and I have no problem with the digital manipulation. -Stephan

Pin
by kosmikkreeper

Comment:
Greetings from the CC Club, Yanik! :)

Composition: The first thing one notices is the unusual angle. I like unusual things, but I looked at the photo for quite a while and couldn't see any purpose why you did that. Unfortunately your "photographer's comments" were empty, too. Well, in fact I think the photo would look better when you would have used a normal angle and didn't rotate it. The subject is very banal and the photo looks more like a "study" of the pin. The unusual angle distracts and takes the viewers interest away from the pin. I think a banal angle would fit to the banal subject more. Otherwise a good simplistic photo.

Lighting: I like the lighting on the pin itself, it shows the nice metallic texture very good. I also like the different shades of light and the shadow in the front of the photo. However, I think that the lighting streak in the background is distracting from your subject. It's even worse because it goes right through the pin and cuts it.
Personally I think the photo would look better if you would add more contrast. Then also the colour would come out a bit "warmer", more golden.

Focus: A very narrow depth of field. I know macros have a narrow DOF but for f/4.9 that's very little. I see the lower part of the pin in focus and the upper part out of focus. Both I like. But the very bottom part of the pin is out of focus, too. That's the point where the pin pierces through the paper. I think that's a special point of interest and that also should be in focus.

Challenge: It fits to the challenge well.

Creativity: Interesting choice of subject. Trying to photograph something ordinary in an interesting way. Unfortunately the angle (in my opinion) destroys the ordinary look of the pin but doesn't make it more interesting.

I put a modified version of the photo here. I rotated it, cropped it and increased the contrast. Feel free to send me an Email if you want to discuss your photo more.

Stephan

The Flatiron Building
by tomzinho

Comment:
Maybe a different angle where less of the buildings in the background are seen would have been more effective. Also more contrast would help. The photo looks a bit pale.