orange
by silviul

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This is a very elegant, very simple shot. I love everything about it. I love the sharp contrasts between the shelf and the dark background. I love how the orange acts as an intermediary between the white and black. It also grabs your eye and holds it. I love how the lines of the shelf lead your eye right to the orange even if it isn't needed. Incredible use of lighting though the hot spot on the orange does detract a little.

Only little nitpicks that I have. The orange could have been placed so you didn't have the dark spot at the bottom of it showing. The crack in the paint on the left side is a tad bit distracting. And as I mentioned above the hot spot on the orange.

Incredible shot for a first entry!

Why didn't this score better? Only the voters know for sure...
TC

Lateral Displacement
by Bear_Music

Comment:
I totally can't believe that this finished way down at the bottom of the top 100. This was my favorite of those I got to vote on by far and one of the highest scores I've ever given out...
TC

Texas State Capitol Building
by yanko

Comment:
No fair shooting up into a dome. Oh wait, never mind! :-P
TC

This Is My Life
by Judi

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This shot overall is very nice. I'm torn about the lighting though. At first I thought that it was kinda cool that it was such a dark shot, but the more I look at it the more I think it's too dark.

Technicals: Very nice focus. Very nice colors. Very nice DOF. Exposure seems to be off. The shot is just dark. If this is what you were aiming for you hit the mark. Does it work? That is another question. Were you trying to seperate the subject from the background through darkening of the background? If so you did it. However, it doesn't look right. It looks like it was post processed that way and if you can tell it was pp'ed a certain way, IMHO you failed. Kinda like if you can taste one ingrediant in chili...

I would love to be able to see the original of this.

Yours
TC

The Clown Within
by SJCarter

Comment:
Which one is you? ;-)

Bad hair day
by Arti-Elvi

Comment:
Very nice! You got psycho eyes and that is too cool...
TC

~Me~
by HBunch

Comment:
Hey Heather, Woot, woot, pant, pant...
Oh yeah, nice shot!
Yours
TC
PS: Ya gotta come to Lansing soon so we can shoot something!

Edit to add: I just saw that this is BY FAR your best score ever! Well deserved!
TC edited...

Message edited by author 2006-05-26 01:14:44.

Live free
by LevT

Comment:


I don't know what I can possibly add to the many many comments you have already recieved, a 7+ score and top ten finish. It's an awesome shot with incredible lighting and focus. Well done.
TC

Message edited by HBunch - Removed CC status....

Strike One
by CraigF

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This is a pretty straight forward shot to critique. What you have here is a very nice capture of a lightning strike! (I can hear ya sayin', "Duh", but that's OK!) But that's all it is. A lightning strike. This type of shot is like anyother type of shot. It needs to follow the same types of 'rules of photography' as any other type of shot. For example: A landscape shot needs a subject. A leading line shot needs a subject. A sunset shot needs a subject. In general a landscape, leading line or sunset are not typically strong enough on their own to actually be the subject of the shot. There are exceptions! Ask BearMusic about landscapes without subjects and he can show you many examples that work, but they are exceptions, not the rule.

This can be directly translated to this shot. There is nothing in the shot to truly be a subject. The lightning is nice, but not spectacular. Add a silhouette or a city scape with the lightning behind it and you have something special. Add a tree or house lit up by the lightning and you have something special. What you have here is almost the same as a snapshot.

Hope this helps you see why your shot topped out at 5.49...
Yours
TC

Deep Petrified Canyon
by TommyMoe21

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

First of all I would like to congratulate you on an incredible shot and a very good score! This shot begs for the what I like/don't like treatment so that's how we'll proceed.

What I like: You have an incredible set of lines in this shot. Most of the lines are arcs that start at the opening of the waterfall and build up as you move down the scene ending with the log at the bottom of this scene. There is one arc that goes agains the rest towards the bottom (the top edge as seen of the pool) to give a contrast. This alone is worthy of a decent shot. But then you add in the vertical line of the water fall that in itself is a subtle arc. This last line adds another contrast. The combination of these lines is a very subtle draw of your eye from the top of the shot to the bottom. You also have a very simple color sceme consisting mostly of very nuetral colors, browns and greys. This is broken up, once again, by the waterfall itself. It's also broken up with the little splotches of green. These almost look oversatured but that is because it is a contrast against the neutrality of the rest of the shot. Then there is the waterfall itself. It starts out at the top as a solid set of white lines. Then as you move down towards the pool at the bottom, these lines become almost ghostly. Put these elements together and you have a very nice shot.

What I don't like: There is almost nothing to put into this category. In fact there is really only a question. What would this scene look like without the distortion of the wideness of the lens (that I assume) you used here. Did the log really have that curve? Are the walls of the cave really that curved? Does it really matter? I can't tell without standing next to you as you peruse this awesome scenery!

To summarize: Kudo's on a very nice shot.
TC