To Slow Down and Be Present
by mindbottling

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge.

Your image has an appealing message especially given your comments and the context. You have made a good job of the exposure, too often snow ends up as a muddy grey because it is underexposed, no such problems here, its lovely and white but not overdone there is still much detail. The composition is good with the tracks leading you to the main interest, your husband and son against the lovely wooded backdrop, its all very appealing. I'm glad you decided to go with mono processing it is the finishing touch. All in all an excellent image.

Happy New Year to you and plenty more lovely images to come.

Drink more vodka's
by RussianMasterPhotographer

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An intriguing image that meets the challenge, well sort of!

I can see that you wanted to create something a little different from the norm and to that extent you have succeeded. I assume its meant to represent the blurry haze of already having consumed too many vodkas? I'm intrigued with the lens you have used and wondering where and why? And that's some fast lens for 500mm at full aperture! The noise is significant but the compression is even more extreme, it must have been taken from quite some distance and looks as though its cropped from another much larger image? Your comments indicate that you are pleased with the end result and that's what matters, its our problem if we don't perceive it in quite the same way.

Happy New Year to you and good luck to your liver!

Take yoga classes!
by snaffles

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well

Hah, I love it! It encapsulates very well the idea of the pursuit of the lofty ideals we impose upon ourselves in the name of the New Year resolutions. It's a great pose that you carry off well, such poise! I love your anxious expression which adds a subtle touch of humour to the image. Technically its good and all done at 22mm, well done. The lighting is good and even with barely perceptible shadows on the background. You have done well to get such good results in what was obviously a very confined and restricted space.

I wish you every success in your resolution and along with Ecce_Signum I wait with baited breath to see what you're up to this time next year! Happy New Year to you, may all your images be stunners.

Dead Live
by Phocal

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

I love the graphic nature of your composition, it works very well with the main branch coming in from the corner and the bird in the upper right, perfect. The pose of the bird is good too with his head turned so his beak is prominent it wouldn't work anywhere near as well without this, well done. There is still some detail where it matters though pure sillhouettes would probably work too. I think I would like to see the background lightened a little to increase the contrast. The main criticism I do have is that it appears over-sharpened, there are halos particularly evident around the tree which are detrimental to the overall result.

Thank you for your entry Ronnie, hope you had a lovely festive holiday and a creative New Year to you.

Interconnection
by clickodak

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

What a marvellous subject for the challenge, so much potential, and you have certainly managed to find an interesting tree here. I love its twisted shapes and the lovely light falling on it but I don't think you have made the best of the opportunity. As one of your commenters has already stated the power lines are a huge distraction but so too is everything else. Your DOF is too great, though a larger aperture at what looks like the wide angle end of your lens would probably still make everything too sharp. The background is too busy and unattractive.

I think you could have created something much stronger by going in closer on the fungi and isolating this part of the trunk and branches against the sky thus eliminating those distracting power lines and making the most of the lovely light.

Thank you for your entry Marcel, hope you had a lovely festive holiday and a creative New Year to you.

• Let there be peace on earth ~ And let it begin with me •
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

To echo one of your commenters, very appropriate for a Christmas card, indeed you may even have done exactly that with it, in which case you should have some happy friends and relatives. The decorations are appealing against the soft focus background, composition is good too, all very appropriate for the time of year and challenge. Though I know its difficult there are a lot of blown highlights I am not so keen on

Thank you for your entry Janine, hope you have a lovely festive holiday and a creative New Year to you.

What is the true meaning of Christmas?
by tolovemoon

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

This is a nice decoration to have chosen for your subject, I like that you have filled the frame and included its hanging string against a soft focus background, however, I do think you could probably have improved the background? As it is on string I would imagine you could have twisted it round to a position that enabled you to avoid the distracting bright light? The light is completely overblown as are parts of the frame and leaves on the left too. The decoration itself lacks sharpness which may be a focussing issue, movement of the decoration or more likely some camera shake from the slow shutter speed. You did right to use a high ISO to raise the shutter speed and this may even be your highest shutter speed? A tripod or stable support would be very highly recommended in this situation and would have enabled you to use a lower ISO too.

Thank you for your entry, hope you have a lovely festive holiday and a creative New Year to you.

Moravian Star
by dpeden182

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An uninspiringing image that meets the challenge

The star itself is quite impressive but I'm afraid the rest of the image doesn't really have a lot going for it. I like that your composition is off-centre but I really think your choice of subject would have been better suited to portrait orientation to balance more coloured lights against the large star which dominates the image. As for the moon it is so insignificant especially in the context of the star I think you would be better to remove it to be honest. As for the figure it is so ill-defined that most people may probably not see it at all which is probably a bonus because once seen it becomes an irritant and again would be better removed.

The main problem is it is black with a big star and a few coloured lights but there isn't sufficient detail anywhere to hold you, it just isn't interesting enough, sorry.

Thank you for your entry, hope you have a lovely festive holiday and a creative New Year to you.

Santa and His Reindeer
by dtremain

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well

Very creatively done, this is an excellent way to approach your subject, though I'm probably biased because of my love of reflections! There's very little not to like here, I like the clarity of the glass reflection against the darker mass of the rest of the image, I like the missing bits on the door pillar, I like the chrome strip reflections. I adore the bodywork reflection and its distortions. I like your composition and the placement of the reflections, especially the sledge over the door handle, it all works very well for me.

The only minor criticisms I do have concern the top of the image, in particular the distracting highlights, they would be better cloned out and the whole of the top dodged to subdue it to the same level of darkness as the rest of the image.

Thank you for an excellent image, hope you have a lovely festive holiday and a creative New Year to you.

Me 'n my Girl
by eniko

Comment:
What a gorgeous image Eniko, though I'd probably prefer the original without the filter.