Welcome
by jjbeguin

Comment:
Now I think everyone misunderstood here: the first impression is of an opening of light at the end of the tunnel - the cliche is perhaps doubly apt because of the use of it photographically - and the alighting of the eye on the number causes a wonderful disorienting shift in perspective, and does indeed produce the more ironic effect in the title. Fun image.

a single light source to dramatically light up a mudpuddle under a hemlock tree branch in my drivewa
by charliebaker

Comment:
I guess the best approach is not to vote at all.

Castor Leaf
by pointandshoot

Comment:
Good tonality, good display of the near-abstract natural world. Colour combination is interesting, but it's not absolutely grabbing me I'm afraid.

Baby I'd Love You to Want Me
by General

Comment:
There's a certain technical achievement to this kind of product shot, which you've achieved pretty well. It would be more seductive, perhaps, if you paid a little more attention to the reflection of your light-source - the most effective of such shots use a big soft-light not only for the diffuse nature of the light, but also for the glossy quality that is lent to the product by the large area of the direct reflection - removing some of the 'cheap'-looking effect of a single spot of light appearing, as here, on those beads for instance.

Ghost
by Ernir

Comment:
Given the advanced rule-set's lack of restrictions, I think some work to increase the general contrast of this shot might have helped you: the transparency of those faces is made by the lines appearing through them, not the washed-out quality, and anyway the image is just too generally grey for big impact.

~
by Arcanist

Comment:
A fine, detailed portrait; everything is as it should be here. The clasped hands, I think, bring s sense of determination to a pose that might have spoken of contemplation or exhaustion without that.

CONTACT
by mandyturner

Comment:
This place has never been kind to blurry photographs, however meaningful they might be; when the composition of them is as apparently random as this - given the drift of colour into the bottom right corner, what is the point of the negative space in the rest of the image? - the voters are likely to be harder on you. There is good stuff here, although it may be better in your own eyes than it is a communication with an audience: for instance, again, that (lack of) cropping. Are we certain that this is the best possible way to present this capture? My answer would be 'no'.

Light as a Feather
by Katmystiry

Comment:
Lacking composition, really, I'm afraid. Has the feel of un-cropped full frame image which badly needs at least a judicious crop. I don't see what the immediate appeal is supposed to be, nor do I feel that my eye is guided through the image, and both those elements, I think, have to be strongly present to make such a simple image work.

In the darkness of lies
by TUBORG

Comment:
I'm no fan of such portentous titles, especially when accompanying a portrait, but let that pass. I have a real problem with that small section of her right cheekbone showing - it's a between-two-stools moment, I think; I get your point, to emphasise the bone structure, but you've not completed the job really. Good detail and so on, but that should be a given I think, and the more nebulous and complex elements of an intriguing image aren't here, for me - almost, perhaps, but that small problem can make a large difference.

Yellow mellow
by alpharich

Comment:
Culturally, I think the inevitable priapic comparison is begged here; i'm not sure i want to go into that though. However technically, there's the sense of slight channel clipping in some of the solid yellow areas, and of a fake element to the light intensity to image left. That channel clipping is what gives the more solid yellow areas a sense of missing detail, when the focus is definitely spot-on.