'B' Movie
by Paul

Comment:

Originally posted by SandyP: What an excellent use of bleach bypass. I don't think I've ever been able to pull off using that filter where it looked good like this.

I think it only really works where an image already has high contrast that is 'working' for you. My favourite image where I used that filter is this one:

The Barn
by syker

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives: Excellent contre-jour composition, I really like the lens flare too. The negative space is (mostly) marvellous and the building has plenty of intrinsic interest. I the slight violet touches it has introduced.

Critical stuff: I wish you had cloned out the shadowed areas at the bottom of the image and kept the negative space unsullied.

Overall: An effective image that is more than the sum of its parts.

Overall:

Reflections of Narnia
by Mark1966

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives: Wow, this is marvellous, evocative work - a real treat to behold! The edit works perfectly, the high contrast, the grain, the framing. The scratches on the plexiglass work like an overlay to brilliant effect.

Critical stuff: Nothing.

Overall: Fabulous. 10 and a fav.

Red Eye Tetra
by freakin_hilarious

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives: I love this. Fantastic post processing that is a perfect match for the image - it has a frozen look about it. The bubbles at the top are spectacular and the red eye works really well. I love the vignette too and the starkness of the blown parts of the image. Nailed.

Critical stuff: Nothing at all.

Overall: A great image - I'm looking forward to seeing who put this together. Bumped to a 10.

Retro in Red
by GeneralE

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives: The coloration is pretty good, it is a great shade of red and the green and blue highlights work well too.

Critical stuff: Everything else (sorry to be harsh) - the subject matter itself is, in my opinion, super-dull; to pull this off I think you would have needed to have made some bolder lighting, shooting and editing choices. With a really critical rant I could say 'unfocussed', 'ill-composed', 'distracting, cluttered background' but actually I don't think any of this is accidental, I think they are deliberate choices and that make me want to know more about the context.

Overall: This is a difficult image for me, in many ways it is something a 5 year old might produce with a point-and-shoot, but it isn't - this is something that has been 'seen' and chosen and offered in good faith. In the final analysis, the limitations are in my viewing; I don't get it and I don't like it but I'm guessing you do and I'm also guessing that you're a much more creative photographer than me - I'd never have the faith or commitment to stand by something as viewer-challenging as this.

I'm going to score it purely subjectively though, I know I may have missed it's merit but my vote is mine to give and I'm afraid it's a 3 from me; after all, your honesty with the image deserves an honest reaction from me.

River Tree
by jomerner

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives: What an interesting scene and one that confounds the viewer - I can see the meniscus of the water adjacent to some of the branches so I assume this is lying on the surface. What I can't work out is why the 'tree' has such sharpness while the ripples top left are so out of focus - I'd have thought they would have been in the same focal plane. The square composition works really well - my wife just said to me that it looks like an album cover and I can see that it really does. The flower of course is the star here - a vital element that lifts your image.

Critical stuff: There are parts of the image (the branches) that look a little over-sharpened and the highlights on the flower are perhaps a little bright - also I do find the ripples top left a little frustrating because their OOF nature, the eye is drawn there but is not satisfied.

Overall: A very well composed and most interesting image - my frustration with elements of it are minor compared to the overall impact of the image. I like it.

Rotor Wash
by CorySmith

Comment:
Not something you (well, me) see(s) every day. Excellent stuff.

Enter The Umbrella Man
by Quigley

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives:This has a very dramatic feel about it, I really like the composition and the lighting is really top notch. DOF and sharpness is pretty amazing for this light level.

Critical stuff: In some ways the scene looks a little too contrived - I wonder if the smoke (was it a canister?), if I use my hand to mask of the left hand side of the image, with the man's back being adjacent to the left edge it becomes (for me) a more effective image.

Overall: Very, very competent work - well beyond the likes of me, but I can't help thinking that less may have been more. Still, I do admire it. 8.

Duchesne PE
by zeuszen

Comment:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy). I'll be picking one of these images for the Mu (most underrated) award:

Positives: I really, really like this - the colour and grain, the mix of focus and blur, the inverted figures, the overall mystery of the object, the play of the light on the surface - all these elements contribute to something more than the sum of the parts.

Critical stuff: Nothing at all.

Overall: DPC is a better place for entries like this, images from people who understand the difference between seeing and just framing. It won't do well, but it gets a 9 from me.

Morning walk
by sjul

Comment:
This is a very beautiful image - wonderful light.