Hyles lineata (white line sphinx moth)
by briphoto

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Hi Brian!

Composition
Excellent - but what if you went wider and got more of the flower? I like your use of thirds here.

Color
I think the detail in the colors of the caterpillar here are amazing - I don't like the blur on the flower. I wish I could see those colors be richer.

Focus
Good shallow DoF, but you got the edge of the flower - I like it behind, but not in front. Nice highlighting the fauna though.

Lighting
He wasn't gonna wait for sunset, probably. :) I like this shot at this time. The lighting brings out his own colors, which are the highlight of this shot.

Overall
A 7 score is a fabulous vindication of when you've done something right - and you have. Congrats and happy shooting!

faith in chaos
by stephan

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Hi Stephan!

Composition
Because your background is almost unseeable, the composition is hard to judge - the ant is nearly centered, but coming into the shot, which is good. I would have preferred an even tighter crop on the ant.

Color
I don't like what you did with this, but that's just my preference. Obviously you had an idea - it wasn't communicated to us because we couldn't see notes during the challenge.

Focus
Off, but you know that (given your comments).

Subject matter
Good choice of subject. I would have preferred the ant doing something, or going somewhere, thought.

Overall
Post-processing kills this for me, but you wanted to do it - don't be disheartened by this score. Sometimes you kill a shot, sometimes you really do extremely well. One of your shots (Edison's Gift) is one of my 3 favorite shots on this site - keep shooting!

America's Heartland
by Geocide

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Hello, Adam.

Composition
A great subject - I would have moved closer to eliminate the fence and crop a lot of the sky out. Your subjects are the cows - focus on them, get to what a cow is - maybe eating grass, maybe laying down, maybe with a baby calf nearby - what IS a cow? Just an animal near the fence?

Color
I'm not fond of this exposure. I think iso 400 is really high for a daylight shot in normal circumstances. Use the 100, run the shutter at 1/160 instead or something. I think your colors would be more saturated (you could also fix this in Photoshop/PSP).

Focus
I'd think this cam (excellent cam) can focus better than this. Did you use a tripod? It's pretty essential for the kind of shots that do well on DPC. I think the hairs on the head could be crisp, etc.

Lighting
Pretty typical daylight shot - perhaps the different iso and shutter speed would fix the slight darkness here.

Subject matter
Fits the challenge well.

Overall
Just one of those shots that may not have worked as well as you hoped - good luck next time - you have some great shots in your gallery. Keep shooting!

Stylin'
by Yomi

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Nice to meet ya, Jubei.

Composition
I love the crop on this - I love the crop because it takes up the full side of the frame. That's a great choice. I wouldn't have even minded a bit more off the right to complete the design.

Focus
Your DoF is super! I noticed you eliminated the fence, and at the same time blurred a perfect green and brown background. Unfortunately you blurred some of the crown and feathers on the back of her neck, but again, not sure it's controllable.

Lighting
What time of day was this shot? I would have liked it just a little less harsh in the lighting, but this is critique for the sake of critique. I love the shot too much to know what I DON'T like!

Overall
I hope you're extremely pleased with your 7! :) I've never had a shot so high or so perfect. You should be happy with this - and keep shooting!

Poppies And Sedge
by GeneralE

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Hi Paul! (*waves to Isaac*)

Composition
Oohh! All this beautiful color, nothing at ALL in the center of the photo. I'm one of those who'd not like to see you center one single flower - that's boring. But in this case, as Karen said below, it's a big...nothing!

Color
I love the orange and green contrast. I wish we could see more detail in the flowers - maybe a closer view on this beautiful coloring.

Focus
As you say in your comments, it was windy - that leads to two things - accept it and sharpen the pic or come back later. Without doing either, you know what the problem is, so I'll move on.

Lighting
This was an overcast day? The flowers in the left middle look super bright - almost overexposed. If you shot near dusk or dawn, perhaps you'd get better natural light.

Subject matter
An appropriate selection - I would have changed the composition, but that's just my idea of what it should look like.

Overall
I didn't think this kind of border was legal - as did many others. I think it hurt this shot overall anyways. A good shot - keep playing with it.

Good luck!

Wild Flowers
by rcrawford

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Hi Roger!

Composition
I can't really find anything to complain about here. I don't like the direct centering of the primary subject, but the other flowers make up for it.

Color
I love the post-processing on this shot. The blues really make the yellow stand out. I plan on reproducing this kind of shot in my own work. The yellow is beautiful here and the blues are a great background, even if a little unnatural.

Focus
I like the shallow DoF, but if I were to complain (critique?) I would say that I wish the flower below the main flower was OUT of focus or moved because the shadow on it is a bit bothersome because of the super clear focus on the rest of it.

Subject matter
Great choice of flora because of the color contrast you wished to create here. Was this a pre-shot design or post-shot edit that you liked?

Overall
Overall, I'm critiquing the best flora shot of the week. Anything I say is a minor critique. This is a stunning shot, one I wish I had taken.

Congrats and good luck in the future.

Flora
by robbieh

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Hi Robbie!

Composition
Excellent use of the rule of thirds with your placement of the subject. I love how he's walking INTO the shot, as well. Beautiful.

Color
If color were an issue here, you'd have known it. The only "issue" is that it's the most striking feature of this shot.

Focus
The DoF could have been higher with a smaller aperture. Then the man would have been as in focus as the flowers around him. I think this shot is definitely one I'd have used aperature priority at like f8 or smaller.

Subject matter
You nailed the challenge, ripped a new definition of it - and should have finished higher than you did, despite your amazing score. Your subject(s) were amazing - a rare find.

Overall
This is a beautifully composed and exposed shot. I'm envious of work like this. Perfect work. Good luck on future challenges!

... Just lovely tulips ...
by Anastasia

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club
Hi Ms. Nasti!

Composition
The composition on this shot is superb. I have two minor gripes - the flower that is laying down and the sliver of yellow in the ULC.

Color
These colors are beautiful. I wish I could get my camera to come up with anything NEAR this. The saturation at that shutter speed is superb. I love the contrasts of the white and yellow on the greenery surrounding it.

Focus
The focus on this shot bugs me a bit. It's hard because my eyes see the petals and flowers as focused and all of the green out of focus. At this aperature, I'm surprised that this much of the flower is in focus, but I like the strangeness of the focus here.

Subject matter
Well, the subject was flora and you shot outdoor flowers - can't beat that! :) I am also wondering about these tulips - I haven't seen flowers like this before.

Overall
Overall you got a 6.3! What do you want me to say!? haha

Ok seriously - with the exception of those two minor compositional things, all is beautiful here.

For You Mommy
by OneSweetSin

Comment:
Greetings fromt the Critique Club

Composition
The sharp flower and blurry background works well for this photo. I like the kid's half smile in anticipation.

Color
The bright yellow really sets this picture up - and none of the other colors contradict the bright, happy mood set here.

Focus
Absolutely perfect focus. The sharp flowers and the blurry kid draw our attention right smack to the flora here.

Subject matter
The color and focus on the flower make this a good selection for flora. I'm glad there's no black bg behind him. ;)

Overall
Very unique, excellent picture. Congrats.

.
by dsidwell

Comment:
Ok, I REALLY hate the R in this font. But otherwise I love the camera here and in the dpc challenge art. I like the ribbon's strange colors - but it doesn't tell anything about the site. Who would be motivated to come?