See the light
by Melethia

Comment:
I've come back to look at this again. It just extraordinary.

Hudson's Point
by tnun

Comment:


Awarded for the August 2012 Free Study.

The Beauty Routine
by pmichaud

Comment:
SC have been kind enough to correct my typos for me - even during the challenge.

I really liked this.

OldcarDPC
by MJITB

Comment:
Greeting from the Critique Club:

Nice find and really good POV - I'm a big fan of the foreground foliage, this works really well.

The haloing around the car is, in my view, very problematic - it stands out and then detracts from you fine work. The car is the star here and your chosen aspect ratio does little to maximise the space it has on screen. You have some croppable space to the right that you could have culled to give us more car.

The B&W toning is just about right and your control of highlights in this stark lighting is very accomplished.

Overall, you've done a good (but im my view not optimal) job.

Best regards

Paul

e-Plant
by saraclicks

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

Three 10s and a good number of 7+ scores, you hit a number of people's sweet spots with this shot. It's executed pretty well and your selective desaturation is done with great precision. Is it necessary though? The scene may have worked better if you had allowed the plant to merge with the board through shared coloration.

Your depth of field and associated precise focus is highly effective and isolates the plant well. Well enough not to need the desat for emphasis.

Overall, this is effective and well executed but the desat is a polariser.

Paul

2012
by tripodman

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

Certainly a strange building, possibility indicative of a strange land but for some while be castigated for lack of a 'stranger'.

I do enjoy the structure and find the gentle suppression of highlights and shadows adjacent to the curves quite compelling. I wonder why you ddn't make the central vertical vertical?

I think I might have been tempted to tweak the levels on the building to bring the white to true white, I think that would have lifted the image a little.

Overall, it is an interesting shot but its minimalist nature does limit your choices somewhat.

Just some thoughts...

Paul

Dreams of the Sea
by riot

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

Superbly rendered image, well captured and pristinely presented; great tones too.

The image feels serene and has enough mood for a Zen challenge - here in stranger in a strange land, proximity to subject won't close enough for those who seek to personify the term 'stranger'; certainly we see something that does not belong here.

If this is the image you were after, I don't think there's any suggestion I could make that would improve it - your technicals have a flawless feel to them.

Overall - a fine image.

Journey to the past
by Kroburg

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

I think this is a tricky image to critique - it is clearly highly competent but it is full of choices that have the potential to polarise opinion. Your scene is just about perfect; great train in great scenery but you have taken that from us - we can no long enjoy the view as you might have but now see a sepia-converted approximation - a less than perfect conversion too; highlight data seems to be compromised in the clouds. We can only imagine the greens and yellows we are missing.

You've done a lot right here - the rest of it is a matter of personal taste.

Best regards

Paul

Stechelberg
by marabu61

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

I rather like this; I think the selective desaturation works fairly well and unlike some other commenters, I really like the foreground rails - I particularly like the middle distance where the tracks cross.

The train has bags of character too - great colours and some pleasing asymmetry.

Your aspect ratio does you no favours, the 800px max has forced a very narrow and small overall image - never a good thing.

A very creditable entry though.

On Track for a Lasting Love
by Shea927

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

Great technicals here in terms of focus exposure etc but the apparent tilt is problematic as is the cropping of her knee and finger. They are a great couple and this is a really good picture of them but they do dominate the scene; we see the tracks but you make us not care, your composition asks us not to look - "look at the people please". I suspect your score would have been fairly similar if you took this same scene without the couple; that give's you a sense of what they have brought to the scene.

Without them, you had many processing possibilities; with them, your kind of compelled to treated them with some (editing) respect. They limit your options for getting creative.

Just some thoughts...

Regards

Paul