bird in the hand
by whiteroom

Comment:
Great use of shallow DOF to strip out the detail from the child and background - they both provide a context without being the main focus of the image.

Too Shy
by bubeltrubel

Comment:
Beautiful, and your choice of toning gives is a melancholy feel that works very well.

Looking for Crumbs...
by mexico

Comment:
Gorgeous! I love how the backdrop complements the colour of the tit's breast; it's pose on the thorny branch and the catchlight in it's eyes. Your composition, with it's use of negative space, is also really strong.

Feeling Peckish
by jrjr

Comment:
Beautiful portrait - that berry is a great focal point that pulls me straight to the bird's head/ beak/ eye.

Lilac-breasted Roller
by Quasimojo

Comment:
One of my favourite birds, makes me long to be on safari this very minute. Amazingly sharp and wonderfully vibrant detail... lovely light, perfect DOF to create that wonderfully rich blurred backdrop. Love it!

wind surfing
by briantammy

Comment:
A beautifully serene image with lovely muted colours, a beautiful composition full of loose horizontals punctuated with the bird and the person on the same vertical line... just lovely.

Tufted Titmouse
by MaryO

Comment:
Stunning... I love the pose of the bird and the composition formed from it's turned body and the branch; the light in it's eye and on it's beak is lovely as is the berry in it's beak and the colour palette of the image as a whole is lovely.

No Pictures Please
by ktyocum

Comment:
Much interestingness.

The Journey
by Wenders11

Comment:
A sweet image of two brothers/ friends. I like that they are walking away from us down the path - their anonymity makes the image more universal in appeal/ story. The framing of the foliage on fully three sides really makes the forest / park seem to envelop them. The path, and the way it goes from widest at the lower edge of the frame, to narrow and disappearing around a corner further back, is inviting. I find that bird feeder (assuming that's what it is) at top right distracting and would clone it out in a non-challenge-entry version of the image. Likewise the slightly-too-strong vertical of dried branch to the right of the boys.

Across the Universe
by Kali

Comment:
An interesting image, certainly different from the norm in terms of composition and content.

Although I normally like face-on portraits of children I like the way that the anonymity of the model makes it a more universal image - more about the theme/ idea/ story than the individual.

The foliage at bottom left is a little too confused being so near to where I'd expect the head to be, and similar in colour to the model's hair. I'd like to see a pose with the back of the head more obviously included.

The clouds and sky and reflected foliage top right are nice.

Nor sure about the triangle of orange lower right.

I'm in two minds about the black at top left. On one hand it connects with the title of the photograph. On the other, that theme/ idea doesn't come across at all without the title. Then again, why should it, since there's no reason an artist can't choose to present the image and title as a whole, always to be shown together...