Moving Violation
by BikeRacer

Comment:
From the Critique Club:
This is a very nice composition and the image has enough strength with the plain going or coming. Its' compositional highlight is the stop sign. This is evident by the final score. The greenery adds support to the plane and the color combination has that univeral appeal in the additive world of color, green being the opposite of red.
Upon close examination, the eye has to study the plane to win its orientation and the eye persists in returning to the sign. The eye almost tries to sharpen it. The dof is not the culprit here but rather the closeness to the sign. If the stop sign did not occupy so much real estate, the softness would be overlooked.
Of course, it is easy to suggest all types of remedies, but a plane is coming and the action must be swift to capture the image. What to do? I say shoot it.
The green may be a bit too yellow and would not even come into question if it weren't for large red area. Of course, this is not at all that serious but always keep the visible color spectrum wheel in mind so that when you adjust hue saturation you will now what colors shift when you adjust others.
In conclusion, it is a nice action composition and if I took it, I would be glad to add it to my collection. There is a limitation to action shots as opposed to staged studies. Well done.

Defeated But Still Proud
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
From the Critique Club:
First, to disarm you (only kidding), Congratulations. This image is what consider a diagonal composition and a very good one at that. Problem with this type of design is that often the areas above and below the diagonal subject matter is dull or not fitting. Example, a sword on a counter with a wall rising and empty table top. The eye sees the sword and the eyes travels, but the above and below the sword is dismal.
However, you have scored a winner here because the sky is in two flavors. Smooth and silk like in the bottom and then becoming richer as it rises and dispersing into buds of clouds. Herein lies the solid support required for this type of image.
If you look at fine oil realistic paintings you will find that the artist intentionally paints a halo to separate objects or give depth. However, it is a well tempered art: only enough is applied so as not to make the halo so visible. Well, digital cameras employ a similar effect when using the unsharp mask. It is always best to sharpen at actual pixel size and to stop, just when this halo begins to distract.
There is another way to obtain the same effect but with more control. It is not currently allowed under challenge rules. You use the high pass filter to a medium amount on a background copy and then use the overlay mode. Presto, same effect as the unsharp, but now you can vary the opacity. In this way you will see where the halo begins and you can adjust to perfection.
Again, this is a very above average image and very well composed, however, the eye will travel to the tip and follow the belly down and up around again to the tip. In other words, the scrutiny will be critical and as such the halo will be found. Some people can live with it and the halo is not so bad to distract from the impact, but hey, this is an above average image and it deserves this nit picking attention. Good job.

Love Train
by Cantique

Comment:
from the Critique Club:
This is a very nice composition. You are introducing the universal ingredient of love into the static feel of the Train.
The facial expressions are convincing and the touching hands of the extended hands just adds charm. As is the composition is hard to improve upon.
The minor weakness is that while her head is on the plane of the camera, his head is at an angle and he is rewarded with a rim on his frontal cranium and the tip of his nose and a glint on bottom rim of his glasses. Of course, this could be done with reflectors and fill lights, but you did well in capturing the moment. A nice lesson to learn from this endeavor is to try to remember the intensity of the light and how well it all looks versus, the way the camera, with its limitations, captures the image. On this particular case you are asking the camera to render her in full light and him in shadow. It looks feasible to our eyes but the camera is never as sensitive. To an expert photoshop operator this is merely a simple case of selecting his face and adjusting levels a small amount. However, I would not worry about it because there is even the chance that this image will print better then out view on the screen.
I would also take the liberty to suggest cropping the top of the image down to the very start of the left red stripe. The train will still be discernable and the intimacy enhanced. Good shot, now go and outdo yourself. dan

Survey Reveals That New Camera Owners Terrorize Their Pets - And They DON'T Appreciate It!
by digistoune

Comment:
ROFL. Best cat eyes pic I have seen.

In the place between what you know, and what you fear, they struggle !
by Utopian

Comment:
Good shot of the human struggle.

Fireman watches oversized camp fire!
by aKiwi

Comment:
very strong image.

June Sprints Glisten at Road America
by sbeaumont

Comment:
great action shot

WW2 Hero Remembers
by jmritz

Comment:
Good documentary feel.

Multies Plot to Snap Up Local Glassworks
by unicum

Comment:
hey: I feel I can walk right into this scene.

Paddlers battle for gold in Hilo
by scottwilson

Comment:
Right on. Very good action shot.