Napoli
by Rino63

Comment:
I really like this- the toning works quite well for this. The perspective really brings home the manner in which the buildings loom over the child.

Caterpillar & Eggs Diptych
by GregoryB

Comment:
Very effective use of depth of field in both. The caterpillar, particularly, is depicted in an interesting and new fashion, challenging one to consider what they are really looking at. Very cool.

Out For A Walk
by Luci11e

Comment:
Hello and greetings from the Critique Club-
The first thing that strikes me about your photo is that it seems a bit washed out. A lot of the different tones seem a bit flat, which is likely due in part to the focus, but seems more pronounced than it should be given the scene. Beyond that, I can̢۪t help but agree with Michelle about the relation to the challenge. I feel like the misplaced focus is simply added into a photo, and I̢۪m left wondering why. Or perhaps how it benefits things?
An alternate way of looking at this, though, is what would have made this scene more fitting the challenge?
Did you consider maybe getting closer down to the ground, opening up your aperture a bit more (maybe F/6.3 or 7.1ish to decrease the depth of field a bit more, and focusing up very close at the grass? This would make the horses seem bigger, and more looming, as well. Plus, the foreground (grass) does have a connection to the horses as well, and it̢۪s also something that happens to the best of us at times (accidental focus on something that slightly is obstructing out view.
Also keep in mind that with an aperture like f/9, you̢۪re going to have very deep depth of field in general, and also that these horses will be near the infinity focus of your lens, if they aren̢۪t actually at infinity, so they will appear to be in the same degree of focus as any object from infinity to just before what is considered infinity on your lens, so things will all look almost the same.

Night Shadows
by Jutilda

Comment:
The lighting is really where the magic of this shot is. The dropoff in light is great, obscuring things but not entirely. Dramatic whites and blacks. Nice, simple border, too.

Creepy crawly
by scooter97

Comment:
Interestingly, this is neither a caterpillar or a bug. It's a ladybug larva, so don't ever kill them!
Nice job showing the protuberances, both on the larva and the flowers. Great colors.

Message edited by author 2010-06-04 01:42:50.

Come closer... I'm just a leaf
by scooter97

Comment:
What great placement for a photo of a crab spider! We always see photos of them perched upon flowers and in the vertical position... this one is very different and great. The shadows really add to things as well.

Green damselfly, the second
by Pug-H

Comment:
Personally, I prefer the first. The darkness in the background blends too much with the wings and obscures things.
Regarding Saker's comment about getting close to damselfies- it can be done if you move slowly. If you find an area that they enjoy, you can also sorta move in, at which point they'll all fly away. Then get in a position that's comfortable and wait for them to return. So long as you keep your movements slow and to a minimum, they'll come back.

macro flower
by MacDonald

Comment:
The flower petals make for an exceptionally cool background for the pistil/anthers. Very cool.

IMG_5945
by MikeO

Comment:
Ha, I already commented on the noise for your other one. You should've been able to drop your iso on this and still maintain sharpness though, so I would recommend that for this specific case. If you've got a flash, that would help things a lot for dropping your iso. You can easily make your own diffusers for very little too to eliminate the harsh shadows a bare strobe will throw on your subject.

IMG_5936
by MikeO

Comment:
Nice job slicing the scene with your dof. A little noise reduction would help this a long way- even just hitting it heavy handed and creaming the heck out of the green would do it.