by fotomann_forever

Comment:
Well, this is a real stretch for an empty room challenge. I have to say that this one lost me for this particular challenge. Beyond that, the blur effect is a hair too strong, and the large shadow cast by her right breast is distracting. Very nice exposure and tones, though. Nice shot for a different challenge.

Ghost
by Ernir

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

Camera Work/Technical: This is a very neat idea, but the entire image looks a little soft to me. I think that most of it may have been your desaturation technique. The blur in the faces works fine and actually adds to the ghostly feel, but the rest of the image could stand to be a bit more crisp.

Lighting: Nice choice for lighting choice, but your tonal range is very flat. Again, most likely from your desaturation technique. It looks like you simply converted this one to grayscale. As it is, a strong s-curve in a curves adjustment layer would help out a great deal. If you are using Photoshop, give the Channel Mixer a shot. While everyone has their own settings, 45%/32%/30% works pretty well for skin tones.

Composition/Content: I like the centered composition and the mirror feel that you created. Everything looks nice and straight. The only change would be to try to get her level on both sides of the frame. That sounds good, but may be a lot more trouble than it's worth.

My Opinion: You did a very nice job meeting the challenge, but this one lacks the needed pop to vault it into a higher scoring range. The one single change to make to this particular shot would be amping up the contrast. That alone would pull a much better score.

Eric

Here comes the sun
by Milacroft

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

First of all, welcome to DPC. You have found a great community that often seems like a family that is far too close to one another. You will love the site, you will hate the site, and you will most likely become addicted.

Camera Work/Technical: Your chosen settings yielded an image that is nicely focused with a decent tonal range. I'll mention more on that in lighting.

Lighting: Your lighting provides a very nice direction for the eye to flow, but it seems a little flat. You have strong lights and darks, but there is a slight haze over the image. Try to include specific editing steps in your photographer's comments. It helps us out when making suggestions in the critique. I am assuming that you just desaturated the image into grayscale. If you are using Photoshop or elements, try using a Hue/Saturation later, the channel mixer or even LAB color. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.

Composition/Content: Your composition is very strong and appealing in this image. The curved wall, as well as the separation of ground surfaces provide great leading lines.

My Opinion: I think that you met the challenge well, and could have scored even better with some slight adjustments. Voters on this site tend to like vivid colors, crisp focus, and third world models. Of course there are exceptions to the general rule, but look through past challenges and I think you'll see what I am speaking of. Again, welcome to DPC. I hope you decide to foot the $25 and join us as a Member.

Eric

Octopus Garden
by eljay128

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

Camera Work/Technical: Very nice focus and a terrific depth of field. The perfect point of your subject is nicely isolated from the background using great colors along with the great depth of field.

Lighting: Your subject is well lit, but the shadow/highlight contrast of the background is a bit distracting. Perhaps shifting your position a bit or waiting for a different time of day would have helped out.

Composition/Content: Your chosen composition is a great strength. The rusted iron provides a very nice leading line that pulls the eye right into the main focus of the image. The great depth of field keeps the eye on what is most important inside the frame.

My Opinion: Nice work meeting the challenge, as well as producing an image that is a good deal better than the 5.28 that it scored.

Eric

Birthday greetings, bottle of wine
by snaffles

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

Camera Work/Technical: Everything in your frame is nicely focused. Your colors are spot on, this your chosen white balance is also on.

Lighting: You chose a great time of day for this capture. Your lighting produced a very peaceful feeling with great highlight and mild shadows.

Composition/Content: The composition is a bit too busy and feels too crowded for my personal taste. I think composing this one without the blue envelope or the glass on the left would have loosened it up a great deal.

My Opinion: Terrific job meeting the challenge, and with a slight composition change, this one would have scored much higher.

Eric

Dusty Old Lamp
by dahved

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

Camera Work/Technical: Your image is nicely focused and the exposure is near flawless. You did a really nice job capturing nice detail on the lamp as well as on the wall.

Lighting: Very nice and very peaceful. The lighting you represented here lends a very moody presentation. I like it.

Composition/Content: For such a simple subject, you produced a very nice composition. You contrasting lights and darks works very, very well together to keep the viewer's eye flowing through the image.

My Opinion: Technically, you have a near flawless image. Your lighting is great and your composition in wonderful. I think your score suffered only because you subject is fairly commonplace. I believe that the voters need more vibrant color most of the time to hand out better scores. Even still, you produced a very nice image. Great work.

Eric

"A taste of honey... tasting much sweeter than wine" -Please Please Me
by br o kenl o ve

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

Camera Work/Technical: Nice focus. Your bloom detail turned out nice and crisp. I would like to see a more shallow depth of field. Opening up that aperture would really make the bloom jump off or a blurred background.

Lighting: I like the time of day you chose to shoot this, as it did a fine job separating your background and foreground. You did lose a little detail on some of the bloom petals with some slight overexposure.

Composition/Content: I am not too fond of the centered composition for his particular image. I think opening up the crop a bit and shift you position to one side would have greatly improved the composition.

My Opinion: I think it met the challenge just fine. I am not familiar with many of the Beatles' songs, so your title helped out.

Eric

I want to hold your hand
by Kita

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

Camera Work/Technical: The gaussian blur makes it a it difficult to tell where your focus is. Even beyond the GB, I can still see some crisp focus on the nails and the rings. I believe I would have opened up the aperture a bit to add some blur to the background. This would have helped isolate the subject off the background a bit better.

Lighting: Your lighting is very nice and very even. The subject is lit very nicely, and the darker background helps isolate your subject.

Composition/Content: I like your choice for a centered composition here. I think an even tighter crop would have made it even better.

My Opinion: Nice job meeting the challenge. With a little less blur on the foreground and a little more on the background, this one would have pulled an even better score.

Eric

Curly Swirls
by Techo

Comment:
Hey there from the Critique Club

Camera Work/Technical: This is a very interesting image that appealed well with the voters. Perhaps it is my aging eyes, but the focus seems a little soft to me. Very nice post-processing to render an image that the voters would love.

Lighting: Near flawless, and this, of course, is the strength of the image. The lighting you chose for this setup made for a terrific textured feel.

Composition/Content: Excellent, as well. The shapes play together very well to keep the viewer's eye moving throughout the entire image.

My Opinion: You created a very appealing, vibrant image that the voters loved. Congratulations on yet another top ten finish.

Eric

"Crying, Waiting, Hoping"
by Melethia

Comment:
--Trading Post Comment--

First of all, congrats on your best scoring photograph to date. I would encourage you to include your post-processing in the Photographer's Comments along with the great info that you've already included.

Camera Work/Technical: Great, crisp focus and a nice job keeping the entire scene in focus.

Lighting: The lighting is very even. I think I am reading that you used the on camera flash. If that is indeed the case, you did a fine job with it.

Composition/Content: Not bad, but I think that a portrait style crop might have worked better than the landscape. I find myself wanting to see the bottom of the nest.

My Opinion: This is a very nice image and a well-deserved top 15 finish. I think that I would have used a white border and shot it in portrait orientation. I think this one would have broken 7 with those two changes.

Eric