I met my Fantasy on the street today...
by front_element

Comment:
Ooooh! Nice bike!! Good B&W tones.

Bend steel with my bare hands
by moonwell

Comment:
Nice! :-) Very well done...I think I can see how you did it, but I had to look really close! Great colors and lighting...very well executed.

Ice Nymph
by fadedbeauty

Comment:
Lovely work on the eyes! I'd like to see just a touch more color in the skin...but a lovely shot!

Life on the lines
by pitsaman

Comment:
Lovely textures in this shot!! Really love the feel....very emotive.

Leftovers
by Elmakias

Comment:
::: Critique Club ::: ladyhawk22

First Impression - the most important one: Good composition, but it looks overexposed....causing the colors to be muted.

Composition: Composition for this image is good! The pumpkin is well placed and I like the leaves as a background.

Subject: The pumpkin was a nice choice in subject, especially as the colors would compliment the leaves well. A fresher pumpkin might go over a tad better, but I wouldn't call it a bad choice by any means!

Technical (Colour, focus, and light): The colors in this photo suffer a bit because of overexposure. For this challenge especially, the colors really need to pop off the screen in order to catch the voter's attention. Try reducing the exposure to get more accurate colors. Adding a little bit of saturation to the pumpkin would be a good move too. Focus looks alright, though it might be interesting to use a shallower depth of field (smaller aperture) to blur the leaves in the background a bit.

To grow its vote?: I think the overexposure is what hurt this image the most. A little bit of overexposure can sometimes be fixed using a Levels adjustment and/or adjusting the Contrast/Brightness.

Summary: Good composition on this photo! With a little more attention to the exposure settings it would come out really nicely.

...or backlighting?
by LevT

Comment:
::: Critique Club ::: ladyhawk22

First Impression - the most important one: Lovely colors in the leaf that are contrasted nicely by the darkness of the background.

Composition: The placement of the leaf and seed pod on the left are lovely. I'm not sure I care as much for the leaf on the right...I might have considered cropping it out. The light shines off it oddly and it pulls attention away from the more lovely part of your photo on the right!

Subject: A good choice of subject, especially when paired with the darkness of the background. The lighting really makes the colors and details of the leaf stand out.

Technical (Colour, focus, and light): Colors in this shot are lovely!! I really like them. Focus looks good as well. The lighting is really what makes this shot here and certainly demands well deserved attention.

To grow its vote?: To grow its vote, I would recommend cropping out the leaf on the right. I think that is likely what hurt it the most. The other aspects of the photo look very nice!

Summary: Technical aspects look good on this shot. Try to be aware of where your eye is drawn and remember that you don't want to include something in the shot that would take the focus away from your beautiful subject! All in all, a beautiful shot, and one to be proud of!!

butterfly
by Zenjohn

Comment:
::: Critique Club ::: ladyhawk22

First Impression - the most important one: Lovely colors in the butterfly, and I think selective desat works well for this shot.

Composition: Composition on this shot is pretty good. If you were going for a more minimalistic feel, I think the crop is just fine. I personally might crop out a little bit from the bottom. I think there's enough texture and black & white space to make the butterfly stand out even if the bottom of the plant is cropped out.

Subject: I like the subject of this shot quite a bit. The delicate shape of the butterfly really contrasts well with the woody texture of the plants in the background.

Technical (Colour, focus, and light): Colors on the butterfly are very vivid, thoug the butterfly looks a tad oversharpened. I like the selective desat in this picture and I think it works well for the challenge. I like the DOF too, with the texture of the thistle being in focus (as well as the butterfly) and the background plants just adding to the scene more quietly. There are some portions of the plants where the white highlights look slightly blown out...could likely be fixed with a little levels adjustment.

To grow its vote?: To grow its vote, I would fade the sharpening on the butterfly a bit, and be certain not to blow out the highlights. Those things really seem to catch the voters eye (as I've had to learn myself!).

Summary: A good concept for this challenge, with a good follow through. Just a couple of simple nitpicks to possibly improve the score on this lovely photo.

Color balance
by alexgarcia

Comment:
::: Critique Club ::: ladyhawk22

First Impression - the most important one: Nice market shot with lots of different colors and textures.

Composition: Composition looks good. I might be interested to see the shot a little more angled, so that we get a longer view of the market stand. I also might suggest placing the shot so the scale is a little higher in the photo...it's rather close to the center right now.

Subject: Lots going on in this shot! Certainly plenty of colors. I like these marketplace shots quite a bit...they really give a feel of the place they're taken.

Technical (Colour, focus, and light): Colors look pretty good, though there seems to be a slight yellow tone to the photo (possibly because of lighting?) Focus looks pretty good too, though it seems a touch soft at the corners of the photo.

To grow its vote?: To grow the vote here, I would suggest really making sure that the focus is spot on. In this style of photo (which strikes me as somewhat photojournalistic) the focus can really make a huge impact. It's certainly not horrible, but the sharper the image, the better. I also think that composing the shot to remove the scale from the center of the photo would improve the score as well.

Summary: Lots to look at in this shot! Just a couple things to adjust and we're rockin' and rollin'!

winter blues
by ursula

Comment:
::: Critique Club ::: ladyhawk22

First Impression - the most important one: Wow, stunning image. Was not surprised to see this getting a ribbon!!

Composition: Beautiful shot! I like the composition just as it is...it splits the screen well and the angle is really good, especially for showing off the backlighting. Might be interesting to see the flower tilted ever so slightly with the face towards us...but really, I love it just the way it is!

Subject: Great choice of subject for this challenge! Really works well to show the lighting technique that was carried off so well here. Beautiful colors that keep the interest of the viewer, and the water droplets add a nice texture.

Technical (Colour, focus, and light): Love the shallow DOF on this shot! Again, seems to show off the lighting and gives an ethereal air to the photo. Colors are spot on! Truly fabulous. Lighting is spectacular!

To grow its vote?: Oh goodness....I really don't think there's anything I could suggest!!

Summary: Wonderful photo and masterfully captured! Congrats!

Message edited by author 2006-01-18 11:25:18.

Recipe for Success or College Cuisine
by fotomann_forever

Comment:
[ I]::: Critique Club :::[/i] ladyhawk22

First Impression - the most important one: This photo made me laugh!! Anyone who's gone to college definitely gets a kick out of this one!! It's so true!

Composition: Composition and creativity are certainly a plus on this photo. I like how you used the books for a backdrop and the notebook as the base. Makes the scene!

Subject: Again, when I saw this photo I thought it was hysterical! And certainly creative. There may have been some voters who would have preferred to see it as a prepared dish, as opposed to still being in the packaging.

Technical (Colour, focus, and light): Lighting and colors look good! And focus is good too, though I would be curious to see it at a shallower depth of field, to slightly blur the titles in the background.

To grow its vote?: I think to grow its vote, I would have showed a bowl/plate of some prepared as well as the packaging. Most people probably expected to see food, rather than packaging. But the colors and other technical aspects look pretty good to me!

Summary: Kudos for a very creative idea that certainly gave many many people a smile :-)