Beach Huts
by hughletheren

Comment:
Nice shot, though it feels washed out a little by the over-exposure. less time would have saturated the colours more. Good work though, has potential.

Balloons
by WILDBLUE

Comment:
Well, it made me stop for a moment, at least. I don't think though that there's anything I really like about this - as an abstract shot there's obviously nothing wrong with it at all - in fact there's a lot that good about it, but I just don't find it interesting. For me, just as a grat subject poorly photographed is still a poor photo, a well photographed poor subject is still a poor photo.

Blue Tower
by Sonifo

Comment:
Well, i know it scored pretty well, but this was my favourite of this challenge and I'm still disappointed for you - as others have commented, it's that lighting. Should have been further up there. Perhaps because it isn't really about the glass, it's about the flower, but it's still a great shot.

Ed

Round the Bend
by Budweezer

Comment:
Hi Max - critique club ...

I'm no great fan of the selective desaturation technique, but here it's effective and useful - emphasise the curves.

I'd back up the point about the horizon line - it seems a little arbitrary to put it dead centre: if you could have got a bit higher and placed the horizon further up the shot there might have been even more impact.

The other down-side is tha amount of noise in the sky, and those big blurry lumps. I wonder if you've over-processed the shot, or cropped out too much for the resolution of your camera. Worth trying a programme like Neatimage, which is excellent at getting rid of just that stuff.

The space and emptines you've caught is excellent though, good work.

ed

Leader of the Pack
by bjc0001

Comment:
Hi Brad, your critique club moment is here ...

Well, I like this shot - after the shot I just had to crit I can't believe you scored a whole .8 lower.

Placing the focus on the second car seems to be a lot of people's bugbear with this, and I don't understand people's reactions to that: to me it seems a great technique to get a sense of both foreground and background, giving process to the range of distances rather than things just tailing off into the background.

I like the high-key lighting, and really technically I'd guess you pretty much achieved what you were after. So welcome to the odd world of dpc designer-photo preferences - because I've seen shots like this do very well, and I really don't think i can tell you why yours hasn't, because I don't know. I think i just don't 'get' this kind of shot - it isn't what I'm into photography for (I shoot 'found' situations in general).

Perhaps John Setzler is right with his comment about the background - things like this need to be really smooth technically to do well here: but I like the graininess in the surface the cars are on - my reaction ws that it might be texture rather than processing.

Without any commentws from you, it's difficult to know what you were trying to do though.

Good luck

Ed

Shoreham-By-Sea
by marbo

Comment:
Mark (this has to be you, doesn't it?) - what i really like about this is that it has the slightly over-exposed quality that so many postcards have (few shadows, very bright, no moodiness), and that you've cropped it to pretty much the right dimensions. You get a 6 - though tbh I haven't really decided what I'm looking for in the challenge - 'typical' postcard, or one that I'd buy ... Could certainly imagine this in one of the shops by the harbour there, or scribbled on with 'our holiday flat' and an arrow in biro.

Elm Hill
by Galina

Comment:
Not sure about the sepia - and I know Elm Hill very well indeed: used to drink round there often, a few years ago.Like the text and bordering though, and nice to see the place here.

Wakulla Springs: The Real Florida
by Budweezer

Comment:
Good shot - as to postcard-ness, I think you could either have cropped just under where you've placed the text, or put the text lower down: it looks like a mistake being that far up the frame.

Milton Keynes - Home of the Concrete Cows
by pinback

Comment:
God, haven't seen these things in years - they must be pretty old now? Like the shot - DOF especially. Text doesn't read too well - I guess that's a function of the resolution of the upload more than the curly script. And what else is there to shoot in MK?

Philadelphia Museum of Art
by ClubJuggle

Comment:
That big blank expanse of wall doesn't help this shot - as a postcard, that is. It makes me wonder if the view from 90 degrees to the left isn't better ... and the way the trees obscure the building also doesn't help. Also looks like a bit of over-sharpening has gone on around the top of the building, but other than that a good solid technical shot. can imagine it on a postcard stand - but I wouldn't buy it!