Vintage Nude
by Paul

Comment:
Super work Paul. Classic, elegant, tasteful. Love the light mate.

Pollination
by hopefulcrafty1

Comment:
Your image is correctly exposed and the composition is very good. Colours are bright and the title is short and to the point. Unfortunately the shallow DOF you used is off, the camera focused on the hind pollen sack, if your camera allows, try manual focusing for macro work. Critically the eyes need to be in focus and thus I doubt it would be entertained for use in NG.

Frog in Allamanda Flower
by Diamonds

Comment:
Lovely shot. I think it is engaging and impactful enough to be published. It is certainly an iconic NG style image. Perhaps the name, both scientific and common of the frog would have been used in the title by NG.

Americana: People and Culture
by colorcarnival

Comment:
Indeed a good culture shot, mall in the BG, kid at a baseball game? I just don't get why he's looking elsewhere beyond you. What's the rooster up to in the background? NG have published work like this.

The Resurgence of the Osprey
by vawendy

Comment:
Woah, how agro is that bird? Super engaging shot. Thanks to your great POV and the simple BG this image pops. It is imo a worthy shot for NG. I have one small niggle. Did you use sharpening? NG have pulled submitted work off their site if any PP other than dodge, burn, bracketed HDR, pano, are suspected. I love the shot, the timing and other elements are really well done. I'll take a flier and say vawendy?

Hit and Run
by aznym

Comment:
1st response after opening the thumbnail: Wow! This image flies in the face of many of the comments I have left on other images in this challenge and may be "paraded" by some of the Prima Donnas who did not mark my crit's as being helpful or openly challenged them post rollover in the forums. One will contradict oneself occasionally. Critiquing is a very difficult thing to do. Expect to be attacked if your anything less than complimentary. Mostly it's boot licking because people are afraid or too PC to pass negative (read constructive) crit. Blah blah. Back to the shot.
It's urban. Its blueish. Its blurred. It's not tack sharp. It's not WILD life. The animal is not making eye contact with the reader/viewer. It's running from not toward the viewer. There's no catch-light in the eye. Is there an obvious story in the image?
Having said all that, many a shot in NG flies in the face of 1x and DPC conformity. Tack sharp, well lit, even exposure, smooth gradations, ROT. Need I go on? What I love about this image is the fleeting moment in time caught by your eye. The squirrel is beating a hasty retreat from something or someone. He's midair! The pan and slow shutter speed is giving movement to an otherwise static medium; stills photography. It's not a new technique sure but in this case, as in NG, shots like this are published to accentuate something in the text, relevant to the story. Squirrel vs man? Squirrels adaptation to the city vs natural habitat.
I love it and it's refreshing. Kudo's for submitting this highly unusual and atypical image in a difficult and controversial challenge.

Spider Underworld
by reneekerr

Comment:
Very unique image. Something for the annals of NG no doubt. Very nice crop/composition/exposure/background. Others may think there's too much dead space bottom left but I think it helps focus the eyes to the insect story going on here. Is this symbiosis? You got great focus on the bee, extremely shallow DOF, the pollen dust is just too comical. The spider is so close and yet it's not as pin sharp as the bee. They are in the shade of the flower and getting the exposure correct with a high enough s/s must have been very tricky. It's a great shot and imo your skills should be rewarded with a page in NG. 8.

Hey buddy can you spare a dime?
by wuwei

Comment:
This is an exceptional macro. To get the minuscule flat focus plane on the eyes and on the leading edge of the wings shows technical adeptness. Sure, a cold bug is easier to photograph but that's not guaranteed here. It could be a summer shower. Great focus, PP seems basic enough, perhaps the green has been pushed a bit and I'd be wary of that if submitting to NG. Lovely framing and composition. The picture can stand on its own merit without text. The title is not NG typical, more likely to have the common and species names. It's worthy of publication. High marks. Bumped +1 to 10 (please change the title to something more Nat Geo centric!)

Photography Workshop : Wellington
by keyz

Comment:
Oh my, your lecturer(s) are going to have a field day with me...and the voters with you!
Urban art, fashion (the OOF passer-by) and street photography have all had a place in NG. So don't discount this image on the fact that it's not a Cheetah chasing a Gazelle in the Masai Mara...
It has an odd balance between the art and the human, compositionally speaking. B&W is not a traditional (read modern) tool in NG. Yes it's been used, especially in landscapes. What springs to my mind when visioning NG is colour, colour and more colour. You selected a low DOF/huge aperture, the art is the FP of your image. The title is certainly not what NG would use. What is it? Post modernism? Braille? Aah and there it is. A title for your image!
There's a bit too much PP in this for NG to accept it methinks. Dodge and burn and multishot bracketed HDR, pano and crop is all they allow.
It's great PP work, would fit in any one of a dozen DPC challenges but the only way NG would publish it is if it had relevance to the article it might appear in. So not all is lost...

The Variations of a Flamingo's Plumage
by sfalice

Comment:
We are not worthy! Superb image with exasperating detail. Love the framing. The BG is extremely well handled (It's in a zoo right? Not unusual for NG) and lets the main subject pop in 3D reality. Perhaps this was achieved in PP or merely with superb exposure technique. i.e. -0.5 EV. Be wary if submitting to NG if you have PP the image. Publishable? Definitely. Perhaps a tiny bit more crispness on the head, beak and eyes but overall, high marks. 10.