Enter by Moonlight
by WickedB

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique CLub -

Congrats on your first try at digital art. You did a very good job at it and the voters rewarded you well.

You did a great job at combining the two images. Pretty clean editing overall. Would hav eliked to have seen some dirt or stuff ont he bottom steps to really fill out the illusion butthat a minor nitpick. Personally I dont care for the colored berries or whatever they are, but that too is a minor issue.

Excellent editing. The dark mood works well especially along with your choices of models between the tree and stoop. This just has a great overall mood and feel to it.

I really dont have anything major to suggest to make it better. You done real good! ;) Keep up the good and creative work.

Tim

Pilgrims
by Brin

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club -

ALways a pleasure to view your work Bragi.

My first thought on this image is that the size limitations for entries is probably what hurt this image the most. I am guessing that in larger format this is probably one heck of a print. But at 720pixels and 176kb I believe you lost alot of quality unfortunately.

The scene itself is very cool - but then its Iceland. I have yet to see an Icelandic landscape that isn't. I really like the huge cross in the distance. Its a great point of interest and stands out well against the barren landscape. From a believers point of view I find this to be a great symbolic image. Out in the vast wasteland that is this world there is a beacon of light, a beacon of hope found in the cross and what was accomplished there.

The pilgrims on their trek is good too, though with the size issues they are so small that it takes a bit to realize what they are. Again - this image is just screaming to be large.

The color tones are nice. They offer a good compliment to the landscape. Rather than having a bright blue sky or vibrant colors they contribute well to the work of the pilgrims trek.

But again - its just too small. Detail is lost, there seems to be artifacting from what could be oversharpening, the general quality of it suffers unfortunately.

Oh - did I mention that this would probably look great huge? I did? ;) I know its tough having to resize so small. I have had a handful of images that looked just great until I knocked them down to entry allowed sizes. A real shame here. If I ever make it to your neck of the woods I would love to come over and see this printed proper.

Keep up the great work. Again - its always a pleasure to view your images.

Tim

Milton
by dr rick

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club -

Challenge: Meets the challenge, no problems there. Its a Free Study - it's all good. ;)

Strong points: You have some good color shere. And the capture of personification is a real nice touch.

Possible weaknesses: Some more tweaking in postprocessing may have brought this up in score. Adjusting the lighting to brighten up the shot could have helped. A slight bump in saturation to really make the colors pop as well would have beennice. You have the colors there - get the most out of them. And I know that centered comps tend to get knocked but this flower may have done well with just that. Having it be an almost straight on portriat centered and filling the frame may have worked well.

Technicals: Good focus and detail.

Overall: You have an ok pic of a flower here. A daunting task entering a flower shot into a FS. Expectations tend to be much higher in FS's and people tend to not be as forgiving. To get the higher scores you really need an image that packs wow power. Keep working at it. You have done pretty good in FS past (I love the Sea Jelly). I know you will again.

Tim

Warning : Grumpy when wet
by dewdodesign

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club -

Good capture here. Looking at the lens you used I am guessing that you had to be pretty stealthy to get close enough to get this shot. Patience is a virtue in photography isn't it?

You have a pretty nice shot. Great colors and detail on your bird. And catching that expression is real good timing. The off centered comp works well for the bird. Technically I think you did real well on capturing the detail on him and the light is nice.

One issue that I have with it that would have bumped it up a bit higher in score is the bird directly behind him. The two lumps on either side are fine but the head and body of the birds in back are a distracting element. Now I know you couldn't ask them to move or anything butthey are a nuisance none the less. What I may have tried is removing them in postprocess, especially with the editing rules allowed inthis challenge. But that could be hard and time consuming with no gaurantee on results.

I think the other thing that prevented you from getting a higher score is that while the image is nice and the look entertaining it doesnt pack the big wow power of some of the other images. Your vote curve shows that you have a decent image that was generally pleasing to everyone. In a FS this is pretty good. Votes tend to be a bit more harsh as expectations are higher. A good score for a good image.

And let me just say that I would love to be hanging out on the cliffs in Australia all day long shooting pics of birds. I am jealous.

Tim

Grace
by SherwinJames

Comment:
Beautiful image. One of my two favorites to win. Great detail, great reflection, awesome colors and lighting. Just a wonderful image. Good luck!

Triptych Outtake.jpg
by angela_packard

Comment:
Hey Angela - I think this would have scored better for you in the challenge. Where in your original entry you have a great image that was just divided by the lines - here you have more of a story going on. You are presenting different views that go great together. The only thing that I might change is have the right image of your daughters hand separate from the edge of the main pic - like you have on the left side. That might balance it out a bit better. I think this would have easily scored higher for you.

And congrats on your daughter! You will never ever EVER get sick of taking pics of her - though others may get sick of seeing them ;) And to that you tell them all "Tough noogies!!!" Have a blast documenting anything and everything. I have found that my kids make the best models. I always have the camera out and they are almost always ready to pose for me. Congratulations and have a blast!

f r e e d o m
by lowonenergy

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club -

First off congrats on the 6+score and a very good placing in a tough challenge. You did well.

I gave this shot a 7 in challenge. I forgot to go back and do my usual bumping - this may have moved up one. I don't really have alot of negative to say. Nice b&w conversion, interesting character, good use of light and shadows, and the three different sized frames work well.

I think one thing that may have improved the "story" of your shot is to have the final and largest image be the one with the most "escape" - to have that one be the shot with the furthest progression. As it is it seems like the right corner is that one. But overall you have a very good shot here. Good emotion, good technicals. I can see some of the votes at 4 and 5 being legit. I really don't know how anyone could give this a 1-3. If anythign you met the challenge criteria even before any technical or artistic merit.

Keep up the good work. Your portfolio shows a nice string of interesting and creative portraits. Looking forward to seeing moreas challenges go along.

Tim

Sunrise Waves
by hotpasta

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club -

Wow - what were you thinking submitting this image? Did you think you would ribbon with this or something? Oh - wait a minute - you did ribbon? What was I thinking. Oh yeah - I was thinking this was the best shot in the challenge, thats what I was thinking.

What else can I say Enzo. Great work. All three are great images that fit perfectly together. The b&w was a great choice over the color - though the color has its own special charm I dont think it would have scored as well. I have absolutely nothing to suggest to make this better. This shot cuaght me at first glance and I felt bad for every image that came after it in voting cause this was my benchmark. High benchmark to reach thats for sure.

Keep up the great work and congrats once again!

Tim

Pure Innocence
by angela_packard

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club -

Always happy to pull one of your images. As a single image this is great. Great lighting, nice subtle colors and I like how the outfit just kind of blends into the background. On top of that the look is priceless. A very nice image overall.

As for the challenge I am not sure if its the best choice. You met the challenge with the division into three parts, but I am not sure if thats the best choice for this pic. I would prefer to have this image without the borders and just had baby all to him/herself. I am not sure if I could suggest a way that splitting it into three would have served you better.

Again - very nice image. I really have no issues with any of the technical or artistic choices made. Get rid of the borders and print this baby out.

Tim

The Zoo
by movieman

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club -

First off - nice image and great score. You caught and presented 3 cool shots of the zoo animals. The b&w conversions are nice (though I would love to see a color version - even with the issues you had) and the layout is well done.

Not a whole lot I can comment to make the pic better. One thing that I may have done is flipped the giraffe on the horizontal. This would have placed him in a mirror position to the flamingo with his neck coming out of the right corner rather than the left. That may have offered a better balance. But this is just a small thing.

You have nice detail, caught nice poses and have three very different animals pictured. Just a very nice shot overall presented very well.

Not much else to offer you here. Keep up the good work!

Tim