Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord....
by Catherine_B

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A record shot that meets the challenge.

This is a straightforward documentary style image that records the existence of the building and little else really. Although the light on the end wall is nice you haven't made the best of the opportunity with the bulk of the image in fairly dull shade. I think moving your position a little further left to include all of the end wall and shadows without any cropping of the wall and cropping the right of the image to the downpipe and excluding it would have made for a better composition overall. This would have placed the 'tower' further to the right and improved the composition whilst making a feature of the end wall.

Like one of your commenters I am perplexed by the texture of the brickwork it just doesn't look natural at all, it can't be down to noise reduction given your low ISO perhaps that is the way it is. If that is so then it is even more reason to reduce its share of the image and concentrate on the end wall which is far more appealing with those lovely windows too. I have to say that the rest of the building by comparison is really quite boring.

Thanks for your submission and apologies for the delayed critique, as they say, 'better late than never', or at least I hope it is, Sid

Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
by clickodak

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An impressive image that meets the challenge fully.

This is certainly a very colourful image of an elaborately adorned location of worship that undoubtedly fulfils the challenge. For this sort of image to work at its very best it needs absolutely perfect symmetry and although you have got very close to that goal it is not quite there. You are just a fraction too far over to the right, although its very marginal it is noticeable to anyone who would look closely enough, but fortunately that is probably not the case for the majority of your viewers here. I can't quite be sure but there also feels a very slight tilt to the right.

You have done well to control the exposure the way you have, its good. I think your aperture is probably smaller than you actually needed, assuming you are at the 24mm end you would have a larger DOF anyway and I think you may have managed with f8, certainly f11 which have given you about 1s+ shutter speed which would have sharpened your moving person much better and made him less distracting. You do, of course, have plenty of scope with your ISO too which even at 400 would have eliminated any movement completely.

Nicely done, thanks for your submission and apologies for the delayed critique, as they say, 'better late than never', or at least I hope it is, Sid

Dress shoes of the South
by WonderDude

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An unusual image that struggles to meet the challenge.

Its a nice idea and I like the ground level viewpoint, its always effective to get a different perspective but those shoes are far too clean to fulfil the challenge brief. They may be dirty to you but they're near pristine to me, yes, you're right my standards are low! In actual fact what I initially thought may be marks on closer inspection appear to be part of the shoe's pattern.

The other problem here is the focus, it is too far forward, its just the shoes we should be interested in here but there is too much dirt in focus. I'm beginning to wonder if that was your intention but I have to go by the title which implies that the shoes are the most important element. The DOF is too shallow, we only have the tip of one shoe in focus, so given the title we ought to have say, f2.8 and a focus point on or near the tip of the shoe for a more effective result.

Thank you fro your submission, Sid

Lost in thought
by clickodak

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An interesting image that meets the challenge indirectly.

I quite like the fact that you have approached the challenge from a not so obvious perspective with the hand as a secondary inclusion. However, from the point of view of the challenge this is probably not as effective as giving the hand more a prominent role. As I was initially looking at this I was ruminating my thoughts and I instinctively adopted a posture with my fingers in front of my mouth and the back of my hand and probably a frown would have been prominent in any image that might have been taken of me. I think such a pose would have conveyed your intentions much better. The gentleman here, to be honest, looks as though he's about to doze off!

The DOF is very shallow here to the extent that you don't have both eyes in focus which is not always necessary but here you are wanting to get into the mans head and two doorways are better than one. The composition is just about ok but feeling just a little on the tight side, the darker stripe in the left background doesn't add to the image and should therefore have been excluded, a plain wall would have been better. The window lighting is good with a nice variation from bright to dark without any excess and retaining good detail.

Your commenter got the message! Thank you for a competent entry Marcel.

Spiritual Symmetry
by Coley

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

Congratulations on winning with this image hat fits the challenge well.

Your title sums it up well, such symmetry! I find the whole scene so disturbingly unreal it looks more like an architects model. A normal sort of street with modern houses either side and then plonked at the end of the street between them such an unlikely church in such an unlikely setting. Nowhere, any signs of life, at all, it all seems so spookily unreal to me, its really weird.

Anyway, as for the execution, you've certainly nailed the symmetry perfectly, well done. It's so perfect I have had to double check that its not a mirrored image, its not, the differences are very subtle indeed. You seem to have an extraordinary DOF for maximum aperture though you will have been at the 17mm end for sure. The dark sky at the top balances well with the darkness of the rod at the bottom.

Anyway, well done. It's a shame you seem to inactive again, I hope you return soon, Sid

c u r r e n t
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

Congratulations on your high placing for your very appealing image that contributes well to the open challenge.

You know how to appeal to me don't you! Though I very much doubt you had me in mind when you shot this lovely image! The shapes and flow of the water are absolutely gorgeous, lovely diagonals, peaks and troughs, lovely tones throughout, so dynamic. There is nothing I would change about it, it really is wonderful.

It really is well worthy of the appreciation it has received here, very well done Janine.

Backhand Power
by clickodak

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An action shot that contributes well to the open challenge.

Well captured Marcel, a very dynamic image that freezes the action mid stroke. I particularly like his shadows, there are some bold colours throughout. You've got good sharp focus on the player himself and the determined effort he is making with a nice shallow DOF separating him from the background.

Your composition is good with him on the left of the frame powering into the empty right. What would give the shot more impact would be to have the speeding ball in the right of the frame. Timing wise again the shot would have more impact if the racket didn't coincide with the apparatus in the background.

Generally, a good shot Marcel, well done, Sid

gutter ball
by fngood83

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that contributes to the open challenge.

This is a cute image of the child in action at the bowling alley, I like his stance and the reflections and the way you have included the bowls station on the left edge of the frame. The low viewpoint works well, however, I think a shot a fraction later as he is releasing the ball would have had a lot more impact you may even have got a reflection of his facial expressions at the same time, that would have been good.

I do like the mono presentation, very appealing, the tones are good. I think maximum aperture would have softened the pins down a little thus concentrating the attention on the boy even more. Perhaps a portrait orientation would have emphasised the length aspect of the alleyway better than this landscape which has a lot of 'dead' space on the right, and you would have had plenty of room for his reflection too. I've only just noticed his ball is next to the pins so he has already bowled, I should have looked at your title shouldn't I! So, the shot ought to have been sooner rather than later as stated above.

Anyway, thanks for your submission, Sid

Focus.
by romil

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An interesting image that contributes to the open challenge

Its all in the eyes! You have captured his intense stare well as he waits for his food, what amazingly blues eyes he has, I can imagine being immobilised by those mesmerising eyes just before he pounces on me to make a meal of me, gulp!!! With regard to the image itself I like the way you have composed him at the lower half with space to look up into, though given his pose I think you could have moved him further to the right and also taken a little more care with cropping his left foot, its no big deal but given the space above him it was unnecessary.

Looking at your settings you could have used a lower ISO and still had an easily usable shutter speed. Your DOF is good with the tiger nicely separated from the background. Given the near perfection of the animal himself I keep getting drawn to to the red blister on his foot, I would probably clone this out.

Sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge I hope this makes up for it, Sid

Peace
by JayneRyan

Comment:
Congratulations for a rewarding result for a magnificent image, a definite fave