shopping-street
by pla2

Comment:
Lots of great colors here and an interesting scene. Something you couldn't control but something I did note is the abscence of people and vehicles on the right. The picture seems a little unbalanced because of it.

The lines of the street work well by drawing your eye into the scene and therefore create depth.

The slight motion blur of some people is effective as it adds a nice feeling of movement in the shot.

Composition:
I am curious how this would look if you did a portrait orientation shot. (Say if you were to crop to the left of the yield and to the left of the left hand side walk (if that makes sense).

Sunset in the Rockies
by thomaspeople

Comment:
Well...sorry to be the first to comment on this. Anyways...here goes:

The colors are nice here and I like just the tiny bit of sun poking over the mountains.

There is some interesting clouds in the sky. A bit of post processing would be able to put some more contrast in them and make them more dramatic.

Being only 640 px its hard to get a really good pana but we can still get a feel for how this would be on a larger scale.

Composition: A little blah. Kind of hard to really do much about it though. I might go a little lower to get more of the mountains. I'm guessing that band of yellow between the mountains and the clouds was what really caught your eye. If you were to recompose this with that in mind it might make this more effective.

All in all you caught a beautiful sunset. Something to consider (and I should do this myself too): before you snap a picture of a scene, think about what caught your eye in the first place and make that your focal interest. Chances are that if it caught your eye it will capture other people's eyes when you take the picture.

The Silent Calm of Dawn
by BrianR

Comment:
Interesting colors captured here. Stranged processing hurts this image. (The grass and the trees appear to be oversharpened and look unnatural.

I like the way the trees frame the picture however they are quite dominating in the scene.

The composition is okay but it could be stronger. I think this compostion is a sort of compromise. Its not really emphasizing any one element. The composition could be changed the to lend emphasis to the sky for instance or to the reflections in the water.

The challenge:
A still reflection certainly is a given for this challenge. The strange processing in the trees give this a harsh feeling however and create a sense of agitation rather than calm. Softer lines would accentuate the feeling you were going for.

spinning wheel
by techdoc

Comment:
lol...its been a while since I've seen this. (My shot of this got corrupted and I only ended up with half of the wheel).

Nice colors and use a long exposure to create motion. There are a lot of distracting elements in the background however.

The composition Positioning yourself closer and looking up might create more visual appeal. It would also get rid of a lot of the busy background. Putting the center of the wheel in the middle of the frame is somewhat boring. An off center position would create visual drama.

The challenge: Right on. You can't say this DNMC at all. I don't suspect there will be a lot of Toys R' Us Times Square pictures entered either so this is quite unique.

As an aside this is far better than the picture I took.

bamboo snake
by Jelena73

Comment:
Creative approach however this does appear to be lacking some focus. I can't really see what the camera autofocused on if anything to be honest.

There is a lot of noise that does distract from this image as well.

The colors are nice and well saturated. The shape of the bamboo does create visual interest.

The challenge: Certainly a unique take on this challenge. While there is isn't actually motion in this capture, the shape of the bamboo creates a sort of visual movement throughout the frame thus meeting the challenge nicely.

Let the world spin around you
by Judi

Comment:
Interesting colors in this shot. I'd like to see a bit more saturation in the vegetation and especially the sky but as it is its alright.

The motion of the subject is well portrayed and captured. The positioning of her arms and legs create a feeling of implied movement, while the flowing scarves and hair give us a more obvious sign of motion.

Composition: The placing of the main subject is perfect. While perhaps not composed using the rule of thirds, her motion does seem to make it appear that way. The leading lines of the stalks takes you into the frame and creates depth nicely.

The challenge:
Creative approach to the challenge and one that is quite unique. The setup and locale also aid in giving this a lot of originality.

see the wind spin
by bvlindalou

Comment:
Great colors and use of contre-jour. I'd like to see the top part of the sky lightened a bit so we see more detail in the upper part of the windmill.

Perhaps converting the whole image to purple would be effective as well. (I'd like to see a sample later).

Nice use of a longer exposure to show motion.


Composition: It could be better but I can also see you were trying to line up the sun with the center of the windmill so your options were fairly limited. Nevertheless, the oblque lines created by the fin do create some nice drama in the shot.

The challenge: This definitely fits the challenge. Furthermore it does so in an interesting way.

Reflections
by yanko

Comment:
Interesting use of reflections in this shot. The angled composition works well in this case as it draws the eye throughout the picture and creates drama.

The colors are rich and vary from subtle to bold creating visual appeal.

The exposure is great here and well controlled. Post processing appears to have enhanced some already good contrast above while leaving the subtle details in the reflection below.

The challenge: The colors and the props you have chosen work well with the challenge. Normally one could argue that the diagonal composition wouldn't give the viewer a feeling of peace however in this case it does somehow.

On the Waterfront
by gzupruk

Comment:
Interesting approach to the challenge. The black and white conversion works well here. There is a bit of tilt to the picture that is evident in the posts of the dock. (Slight but still distracting).

The composition is alright. The boards of the pier kind of take the eye out of the frame though. The verticals of the pier do help anchor the image well. (Perhaps why I noticed that they were a little tilted).

Exposure is good and there a good range of tonality to the image.

The challenge: Water is quite common in this challenge however this is a fresh take on that theme. The black and white conversion does give this a peaceful feeling that really sells the viewer on this shots relevance to the challenge.

Dawn on the Shoalhaven
by Belfry

Comment:
Just a bit tilted but I like the idea. Perhaps coming with the stick/tree off to the side would help as well.