More time looking; less time shooting
by e301

Comment:
Ed

This was one of my top three. You have a nice eye and a subtle touch with editing. Personal taste would have asked for a twek in the contrast, but his has a nice moody feel theat might be lost if you did so.

Nice work.

Weathered And Beaten
by dpdave

Comment:
Dave

Such a forlorn look fits the condition of the boat *grin*. It's a natural subject fo a photograph, and on of my favorites in the challenge.

You've done a nice job capturing the tonal range and the detail of the flaking paint. The composition puts the 'face', and the lines of the boat pull the viewer's eye there.

My first suggestion assumes our monitors are calibrated the same, but the colors look slightly muddy to me. I've found a one-stop over exposure lends a 'snap' to darker subjects, without a loss of highlight detail. The muddiness may not show on your monitor, though - a difficulty with online images.

My only other minor nit are the 'holes of light' at the left edge of the image. They tend to pull my eye away from the subject.

Just my thoughts. A very nice image.

Jerry

face
by visaksen

Comment:
Villy

I like the spread of subtle pastel colors and the sense of age in the 'face'. Technically, the only nit I have is the branch at the lower left appears to be out of focis; but that just might be a trick of light, since I'm looking at a low-res image.

Artistically, I tink you could darken the area of the left 'eye' to make the 'face' instantly recognisable. Perhaps the 'mouth', also, then lighten some of the highlights for a bit more 'snap'.

Just personal opinion, of course.

I didn't vote in this challenge; I would have rated this higher than the average you received. It's a clever piece of work.

Jerry

Human lollipop
by Dufus

Comment:
Stefan

While the rock has an interesting profile, and you made humorous use of the formation, the low contrast of the rock makes it difficult to get involved with the interesting detail of the rock. The obvious manipulation of the sky bothers me, as does the out-of-focus 'lollipop'.

I think you would have had a nicer file to work with if you'd closed the aperture for a longer depth of field and used a slower shutter speed, possibly opening up the combination a full stop to add sparkle to the highlights.

This is all personal preference of course, and I see from the comments others disagree with me. I see a greater potential for this image, however, and applaud the eye that saw the figure.

Jerry

Tower Bridge
by Zap228

Comment:
Nice shot! If you could color correct the greenish lights to a yellow, I think it might work better with the hue of the sky.

Wanna fight?
by Nazgul

Comment:
An excellent image. Perfect exposure, focus and great detail. The eye contact between the two holds the viewer's attention nicely. My one nit is the hair in the young lady's face, but manipulating it out might cause more problems than leaving it in.

Nice expression on the cat, although I'm ot sure it matches the title.

Cat welcomes owner
by Lastgud

Comment:
Lastgud

Well, Ivve been to Norway and had a layover in Reykjavik, but I've never seen a Norwegian forest cat. Sounds ferocious *grin*.

You set yourself a difficult task: a handheld self-portrait with an active cat and an on-camera flash.

The crop and the manner in which the cat frames your face is nice, but the cat's face isn't visible, plus his head and paw are blurred from motion. I think, with editing, it could become a decent photograph, but as is, it's just a snapshot (apologies if I seem too direct). There's a loss of detail in the highlights, and the yellowish cast doesn't work, imo, against the redness in your face and it turns the green of the shirt a alightly sickly hue. The glare above the head is distracting. These could be corrected to a degree.

As a B&W image, these difficulties would be eliminated and I think, by tweaking the contrast, you would come out with a successful image.

Just my thoughts, of course.

Over The Top (berenyi) And down the slide
by train

Comment:
This is absolutely delightful! The subtle coloring, angle and quality of the lighting, composition. I'm almost speechless, and my friends will tell you that's quite an accomplishment *grin*

My one suggestion would be to dodge the stem to black right where it touches the edge of the frame. Not very thickly, just enough to place a thin line of black there to stop the viewers eye from following the stem out of the frame. The black 'break' will force the eye to stop, and the proceed back down to the flower, where yo want it to be.

I certainly hope you have this one up for sale.

Kudos.

Warmth of First Snow
by sannok

Comment:
sannok

I like the warmth created by the color shift. The patterns created by the branches and leaves also add interesting detail to the overall piece.

WHere this fails, imo, is the lack of a define subject - or main point of interest, if you will. The point near the light is obviously intended as such, and that's where the eye is initially drawn because of the high contrast there, but I can't define what the object is (the shape doesn't stand out sufficiently}, so we have a background with a highlight, but no discernable subject. Lacking that, it's kind of neat, but fails overall.

Just my opinion, of course.

Christmas Magic
by Konador

Comment:
Konagor

Technically, an excellent image. Nicely exposed, held just long enough to paint paint some of of the branches with detail but not so long as to wash out the colors.

I think my one nit would be in the composition - the placement of the doorway. It faces out of the frame, and combined with the walk, tends to lead the eye out of the image. It's an uncomfortable feeling. Like a person looking out of a frame, and the viewer not knowing what's there. It can be powerful if that's what the artist intended, but I'm not sure it was your intent here. Apologies if I'm incorrect.

As lovely as the colors are, they are only one element of the composition. They grab the viewer's eye. I think if the blue had been placed in the upper left third of the frame, approximately where the large patch of red lights are, the door and walk would pull the eye towards the middle of the frame.

Unless this is a close crop, it would mean reshooting the frame. I can't tell what is to the left and bottom, outside of the frame, but I think if it were more lights or if just faded to black, it would be a more pleasing composition.

If have the time to reshoot it, I'd be very interested in seeeing the results.

Just my opinion, of course.