Skippy
by cynthiann

Comment:
Nice shot here. Your friend's eye are a little soft however, you were shooting f/2 on a squirrel who are not known for being especially patient with photographers. A smaller aperture may have granted you enough depth of field to get his (her?) whole face in focus while still having the blurred background.

As for the challenge? I see two triangles here formed by eyes and nose then paws and nose/peanut.

Overall, a great shot that landed you in the top third.

My Inspiration
by rebel36

Comment:
Nice self portrait. Now if you had flipped it you would have created the illusion that someone else shot it. :)

Wonderment
by gwe21

Comment:
More out of focus than soft focus. Tough difference to quantify but this one edged over to the wrong side of the line

I do however, like the colors in the shot, the composition and the expression you captured. I hope you took one that was in sharp focus too!

Tulip
by NikonJeb

Comment:
Pretty sharp for soft focus. That aside I would have tried to use a reflector to fill in some of the more shadowed areas. With less contrast this would have naturally appeared softer.

First Light
by whiterook

Comment:
Not really soft and in fact looks oversharpened in places. (Not just for this challenge but in general).

The Hunter's Rest
by riot

Comment:
Fantastic image and a subject that suits this challenge well. Well captured!

Bye..... Ya'll come back.
by WalesP

Comment:
I like how the pillars frame the shot. Moving to the left a bit with have removed the black of the left hand window though.
The sepia works well with the soft mood you are trying to capture. The model's dress works well with the soft focus concept as well. Her pose is unfortunately a little stiff. It would also be nice if her hand was motionless when you snapped the shot as the motion blur is a little distracting.

And the title? You aren't taking a picture of Ellie May so the Clampett title doesn't work here.

The New King of the City
by breadfan35

Comment:
Congrats on your first ribbon. I really like the lighting you chose. It definitely helps create a mood here.

Big Boys Kite
by JimiRose

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club!

Nice leading lines in this with great colors. I'm not sure if I like the extra kites in the background however I don't think they are that much of a detraction. If anything they help give us a sense of scale. Nice sky but it looks noisy for some unknown reason. (Oversharpening maybe?)

I would have been tempted to rotate the image so that the string came out of the corner buts thats just being nit-picky. As it is its a simple pleasing composition that fits the subject well.

The challenge: There were a few kites in this challenge so not entirely original however it wasn't done to do death either.

overall: great image that is stirs up memories of my own kite flying

Behind Tulips
by gg3rd

Comment:
great idea. I would like to see a bit more depth of field. for starters. Composing this without the background vegetation would be nice. Aside from that a really great image.