Hidden Slide
by WonderDude

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club

An interesting image that meets the challenge.

Yep, there's certainly no mistaking that is well and truly a diagonal! I would concur with your commenters remarks. Although the slide dominates all too clearly the background is also rather too busy. Given the wide angle lens you are using a shallow DOF is not really possible in which case a different viewpoint would have been more effective. I think given the lovely sky I would have gone for a lower viewpoint isolating the slide against the sky and removing the ground level background distractions completely, this would have given it more impact. As it is it is really a family snapshot recording a day out with the kids on a slide, you need more than that to make an impact here.

Thanks for your submission, Sid

clouds obscured by sunflower
by posthumous

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club

An intriguing image that meets the challenge.

You have an interesting abstract here that is one of the few images in this challenge that, in my interpretation of bokeh, actually meets the challenge. The challenge brief and the entries are heavily skewed towards soft focus as opposed to specular highlights such as yours has in the upper left, that is my idea of true bokeh. Having had the privilege to closely observe much of your work this abstract follows your pursuit for originality that doesn't always appeal to the masses here.

Focus on the Fly
by WonderDude

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club

An appealing image that is deemed to meet the challenge

Another well executed macro with good composition and repetition through the use of a soft focus background. My own perception of bokeh has always been much more clearly identified with specular highlights as opposed to soft or OOF areas which is where I would place your entry. The challenge brief would also seem to veer more towards the soft focus rendering than my own interpretation so feel free to ignore my comments.

Your composition works well in placing the fly on one of the RoT hotspots, I particularly like the soft focus flower in the background it adds a lot to the end result. You have captured the fly's iridescence well, an essential element of the image. I'm pleased to see you have invested in good software you will eventually reap the benefit as you learn to get the best from it.

I look forward to your continuing contributions, Sid

Looking for an late afternoon snack
by WonderDude

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club

An appealing image that contributes well to the open challenge

What a lovely colourful butterfly you've captured here in a profile that shows off his remarkable colouring well. You've quickly adapted and learnt an important lesson of macro photography, to set your lens to the focussing distance you want and move the camera its by far the most effective technique to use, well done. It's a fairly minor point but I would prefer it if your composition was more to the right, as it is I feel the left hand edge is a bit close to the main subject, the butterfly, with space to spare on the right of the flower.

Given the very soft focus background I think you would have been better to use a smaller aperture that would have got the whole of the butterfly in good sharp focus with a little more, though still not distracting, detail in the background. I like your placement of the insects head and the flower head in the brighter part of the background. All in all, its a very competent macro that has the essential elements in good detail.

Thank you for your entry, Sid

Pondering at the Ponderosa
by WonderDude

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club

A portrait that meets the challenge

A quite straightforward portrait made more distinctive through the use of selective desat which although it separates the subject from the background very effectively I am not personally a fan of this technique. Without your comments and given his clothing I would take him for a cowboy as opposed to a musician especially against the background with the sheriff’s star symbol. It would be more representative of his profession if he was holding an instrument he uses.

The DOF, focus and exposure are all good and whilst your image is perfectly acceptable and competently done it lacks the sort of impact needed to elevate it to the front page but it has been respectably received here so well done.

Thanks for your submission, Sid

Scream
by snaffles

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An interesting image that fully meets the challenge

As you say, a nude without any naughty bits, well done. It's a great image, very dynamic and appealing it conveys the liberating moment well, I do love your expression, I can hear you screaming! Whilst I do like the image overall I find the area around your hair very distracting, I assume you have done some deliberate post processing to make the dark hair stand out from the dark background? It doesn't work for me I wish it had been left with it merging naturally into the background.

Your lighting is good it illuminates your body well, nice and evenly with just one small and acceptable highlight on the crossbar. Talking of crossbars, I think you would have made the image even more effective by taping over the name transfer on the bike, it is actually quite distracting and its name doesn't add anything to the end result at all.

I like the natural and unpolished look and I agree with your sentiments about Western norms, by presenting yourself in this natural way you have made the end result much more attractive but I must add that you're in pretty good nick anyway.

Thank you for your great entry, Sid

frak(t)SHər
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that is assumed to meet the challenge

This lovely image is all about the lighting. I love the way the extreme low angle of the light highlights the edges of the ripples and creates these dark contrasting shadowed edges too, this together with generally low contrast image makes for an absorbing study. The intervening shapes all add to the end result too for an intriguing end result.

The diagonals of your composition complement the subject well.

The challenge brief sounds very open-ended so within the context of the challenge it works. Thanks for another interesting entry, Sid

Room With A View
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that meets the challenge

The landscape view captured through the window is an excellent image in its own right but when seen as you have composed it from the inside here it raises it up another level. The interior itself whilst a little dark but authentic feels as though it has had a lot of processing, it seems to be lacking in the detailed roughness I would associate with the type of building it all looks much too smooth. I do like the gaps and the tatty structure in particular around the window.

The exposure is good with no blocked out shadows or highlights and your off-centre composition works so much better than a central one. Well done for finding and capturing this scene the way you have.

Congratulations on the HM your image works well in its alternative presentation of the landscape, well done, Sid

Piped Graffiti
by WonderDude

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

A failed attempt that does not meet the challenge.

Although the challenge brief does not specifically state low contrast with or without post processing the essence of the challenge is to find in your surroundings a scene that exhibits low contrast characteristics. To take an initially high contrast scene, desaturate it and reduce the contrast is not, in my opinion what this challenge is about and I think that is reflected in your voters reaction too.

I find it interesting that you have chosen to include the drainpipe as an important element within your composition but I am unsure why you have done it. I would imagine the original artistry was very impressive and would have made a good study on its own, its not apparent to me how the pipe adds to the overall end result in any beneficial way.

Well done for trying and do keep on contributing and learning, Sid

Light Spill
by sfalice

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

A fascinating image that meets the challenge fully.

A great and original interpretation of the challenge theme, I admire your approach taking simple everyday objects and transforming them the way you have, I bet you had a lot of fun doing this. The end result is good but I think it could have been improved upon with some careful cloning to remove the unwanted light leaks so that your image would just have the most effective and desirable light related elements alone. Where the grater stands on the table and the right hand edge all have leaks of unwanted light.

What I would really like is for the elongated light on the table to be a much more significant part of the composition but I cant quite imagine how you would have done it to be honest. I'm imagining a wide angle lens with the light forming the foreground exaggerated by the perspective from the wide angle of the lens leading to the more distant source of light from the grater in the background. I can see the composition but I'm not entirely sure it would have been possible.

Anyway, thanks for an intriguing entry, Sid