Cascadilla at Dusk
by cresus

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club Zeke!

Lovely soft water flow. Certainly gives a peaceful, tranquil feeling.

Just a few things: I realize the arch might be a part you wanted in this shot but I'm not convinced that it works perfectly. While it may shut the top of the image down it also makes the sky pull your eye away from the subject. As someone suggested below, a grad filter would've helped darken the sky a bit so that is definitely another route. I also see the tilt that others mentioned.

Some contrast would've also helped your score here. Everything seems to hang on the gray side and not enough on the black and white. You really need that "pop" to pull out a great score here. I also see a bit of noise that is probably from shooting at ISO 800. Drop that down and leave the shutter open longer if you need.

Overall a great effort with this beautiful image.

Thanks for the opportunity to critique this shot Zeke.

Cheers - Phil

Teenager and Mother Rescued as smoke engulfs home
by train

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club Sally!

Simply put - a great capture and perfect for the challenge. It's very difficult to comment on technicals for this shot as I don't necessarily think that technicals are the most important point for photojournalism shots like this one. I will comment as to how I think you might've gotten a better score in a perfect world.

The angle hurt you here. I can see by the caution tape that you didn't have much choice (hence the "perfect world" comment above) but this shot makes the viewer want to see as much of the house burning as they do the survivors making it out okay. The same angle hinders a sense of connecting with the victim as you can't see the child's face. The caution tape itself is a bit distracting as well.

Overall a good image for this challenge indeed.

Thanks for the opportunity to critique this image Sally.

Cheers - Phil

V8 Jetboat Championship Series
by Heavy

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club Evelynne!

Great capture for this challenge and not too bad a score. Focus and sharpness are nice and the huge spray helps to make this shot. I also like the boat's position on the left side of the image. A couple of things that might've grabbed you a better score are:

The foreground grass/weeds are very distracting. Not sure if you need any foreground in this shot at all. You're camera has exposed the white water as gray so you'll need to adjust this in post processing to make the white explode in the image. Colors are pretty flat so I'd hit it with some saturation and see what you come up with.

You really started out at a disadvatage because of the ugly overcast so you made a decent save.

Overall a great effort. Keep'em coming!

Thanks for the opportunity to critique this image Evelynne.

Cheers - Phil

Flyin High
by climbin2thetop

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club Armando!

Congrats on your highest score to date.

Not really sure as to what I'm supposed to critique here as the shot is pretty much spot on. The crop makes a great flow here. Love the use of open space here as it's giving him something to jump into rather than just a frozen speed capture. May be just a tad over sharpened but not really much to mention. I'd also be willing to guess you'd have hit a higher score if the border was left out.

Overall an excellent shot/capture that you should be proud of.

Thanks for the opportunity to critique this image Armando.

Cheers - Phil

Memorial for the Six Million
by banmorn

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club Robert!

Looking through your portfolio and challenge entries I am impressed by your work as your usual use of color really appeals to the DPC crowd. The lack of anything popping out here is one of the things that hindered this image from receiving a higher score.

Exposure, color, sharpness, etc. - all the technicals are there so I can't really critique that. Nice job.

I think if someone takes the time they will find the depth to this shot. However, we know that this isn't always the case here and you really have to find that one thing that will grab someone and hold them for a few seconds. This one just happens to be a bit busy. So many things here are fighting for my attention and I can't settle on one thing in particular. I think cropping out the front flowers and just showing us the statue with the Israeli flag in the back would've achieved a better result. Demand me to focus on the poor child then make my eye to drift to the flag. Would've forced a more emotive feeling therefore translating into a better score.

Thanks for the opportunity to critique this image Robert.

Cheers - Phil

Hanging 'round
by harmsusmc

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club Michael!

The lighting and angle really got you here. In order to get this semi-correct from this view you'd need to - 1 Use the flash to try to bring him out or - 2 Spot meter a dark spot on him and try to burn out the overexposed highs that this would cause. Personally I'd opt for number 1 if another angle that would use the available light isn't an option. As it is, the image is flat and doesn't much give me the feel of him repelling. It actually looks like he is almost out to the side rather than coming down.

Thanks for the opportunity to critique your image Michael.

Cheers -Phil

Deep, deep in the jungle
by Ragga2000

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club Ragnheiður!

Let me start off by saying that overall this was a great idea - especially for your first submission. I like how the lovely model was placed in the shot and I am certainly a fan of dark, emotive images such as this. I see by your post challenge comments that you now know some things to try differently but I'll try to give you a couple more.

This would be a great candidate for painting with light or at least some selective lighting. The use of flash here brings out a bit much of the tree and makes it fight for my attention from the model. As was said below, you've lost some texture as well because of the lighting. Also, for shot like this the model needs to be much dirtier (at least for a better score at DPC). It looks like some was smudged on her arms but I'd actually like to see more of it and quite a bit on her face and hair. Would definitely give it a more "Deep, Deep in the Jungle" look.

Overall an excellent first challenge entry that isn't anything to frown upon. Can't wait to see more of your work.

Thanks for the opportunity to critique your image Ragnheiður.

Cheers - Phil

Head Dress
by prentice

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club prentice.

Good colors and a beautiful subject. Centered nicely which is exactly what is called for here. I like her look and the emotion she is emitting. Only a few things that I feel would've helped your score.

First off, because of the exposure and shadowing in her eyes you'll need some dodging to bring them out - or at least some fill flash on shoot. Voters at DPC really like the eyes to pop. Because of the title I feel that I need the headdress to come at me more. It seems a bit soft and could use a stronger unsharp mask. Also, the open space in the top left is somewhat distracting and keeps pulling my eye towards it. The way you cropped the hands doesn't really bother me but I do see that as something that people might not like.

Overall a good shot that might've got you a higher score in a different challenge as it seems that some didn't think it fell into Photojournalism. Personally, I think that is in the eye of the beholder and what one might consider Photojournalism others may not. I think it fits nicely.

Thank you for the opportunity to critique your image prentice.

Cheers -Phil

Monkey Business
by ShutterPug

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club ShutterPug!

First off let me say that I find your title and image hilarious (hope that's what you were going for) but also might have been better received in the "Clichés and Sayings" challenge.

Nice capture. Great subject matter and focus. I do believe there might be a couple of different ways to crop this:

1. A tighter crop all around, taking the trees on the left completely out of the image. As it is, my eye is drawn away from the subject to the out of focus foliage and especially the rock.
2. An off centered crop taking the vertical part of the rock out with the animals in the right third would lead you right to them.

I also think you would've placed higher if nature had cooperated. The way these two "lovers" happen to be lit and placed makes it seem like there is only one monkey but with two torsos and heads - a bit flat. You also might consider applying some unsharp mask to the animals alone to bring out some fur detail. Just lacks the elusive "pop" that the voters look for but overall I think it's a great effort and subject.

Thank you for allowing me to critique your image ShutterPug.

Cheers - Phil

something new.jpg
by noodleboy

Comment:
Overall I like this image. The colors here are some of my favorites and the off centered subject is nice. I think it would be more powerful if the unfocused flower in front was cloned out or pulled out of the frame while shooting.