Positive Reflection
by tsikakis

Comment:
Really quite a powerful image. The processing works very well, and the simplicity of the composition makes it almost iconic. Very interesting. 10

River portrait
by puzzled

Comment:
Beautiful impressionistic painting :)

squirrel4.jpg
by meyers

Comment:
Cute pose, great composition, fantastic depth of field.
Ooh, you've got the f2.8 lens? I'm jealous :)
Great pic, I love it.

ONE
by electrolost

Comment:
I love this. You've captured a moment. The birdie seems deep in thought, sort of distractedly walking along while its mind is elsewhere. And oddly, I can very much identify with the mood. So the level of personification present in the picture very much impresses me - it's not often you see a picture that seems to express an animal's emotional state :)

Lone Flight
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment:
I love the expanding sense of possibilities present in this picture. It's something about the way the bird is going upwards. And you're right, detail shouldn't be required to appreciate the message of this... To me, what the bird is saying is: "I am alone. And I am free. I'm a master of my own destiny. And there's an expanse of sky ahead, to fly through as I choose, as far as my wings will carry me."
The simplicity of the image makes the message both clear and powerful.

watching
by Retroesque

Comment:
What really makes this shot for me is the reflection in the TV. The image itself is on a small, limited space, but then you sneakily manage to get what's basically a vanishing point into one of the reflections :)

The light is pretty cool too - I like the outline of light framing the chair. And the DOF works for me. The retro processing feel is very cool too. Damn you for lack of sexy models and northern lights though, whatever were you thinking :p

Poetry
by zxaar

Comment:
Wow, that is beautiful! An intense burst of colour that hits you and makes you jump as soon as you look at it... The title is most appropriate, to me this is like visual poetry. And who cares about the score, I'd be happy to see this on my wall any day.

Watching her grow up
by snaffles

Comment:
Hey Susan! Greetings from the Critique Club.

I seem to remember you posting in the TS thread about this picture, and wondering why it was doing badly. Through CC random assignment, I seem to have been picked to answer that. So please don't get offended, I'm just trying to help.

Things I like about this photo:
I think the idea is sweet. There's a sort of invisible movement of the child in it, almost, as you imagine the child playing day after day, and the toys watching from the shelf. The colours are great, especially that horse, and yes, you're right, the eyes are very cool, especially the way they all seem to be looking in roughly the same direction, as if watching someone.

Things I don't like about it:
The composition is extremely busy and seems entirely random. That piece of table at the bottom seems out of place. The shadows are noisy and the highlights are blown. You can see traces of oversharpening. The randomness of the composition combined with the POV makes it look like a snapshot. I'm sorry, I think the idea was good, and the subject had potential, but I just don't think it's a very good picture.

Ways to improve it:
First of all, lets get you away from auto settings... At least get used to using aperture priority, it still gives you all the wonder of auto exposure, but with some creative control over your images. ISO100 to get rid of the noise. Underexpose a little bit because of the highlights, make sure the aperture you use is sufficient for the sharpness you want (the oversharpening seems like an attempt to compensate for this), if it's too dark, get a tripod out, your subjects aren't going anywhere in this one. Just make sure you've got the technicals. Then... Try different arrangements of toys, different angles, play with the possibilities of different depths of field. Try light-painting them to see what happens. Maybe have a moving object or a single ray of light (long exposures allow for all sorts of messing around). Just play with it and find out what works. And shoot and shoot until you come up with something spectacular.

Hope that helps, and good luck. If you fancy a side challenge, you could always try reshooting and seeing how you can improve that shot!

Jelena

It's Showtime
by pointandshoot

Comment:
Oh god. Amongst all those staged surgeon shots, this one's probably the most true to life one, and I'd say also the best. Gives me the creeps, but then, how often do I normally find myself staring out of a womb...
Fantastic shot :)

..people, cars, noise, people
by dougi555

Comment:
Fantastic artistic representation of a busy street from a child's POV. Though I sort of wish the actual POV used was a bit lower, to fit a child's perspective. Though I'm willing to stretch it and accept that the kid was on his dad's shoulders or something :)
Anyway, this is great, I love it.