My Bonsai: An 8-year Harmony of Nature and Art in a Dish
by flip89

Comment:
Hello Ken from the Critique Club

I like your idea and the colour you have chosen although it looks as if you have chopped a little too much off the bowl
I also think it shows a good balance.

But with the voters of D P C I think they looked at this challenge as a Balance of objects challenge if you look at the top 10 at least 9 are objects and are all very good

I myself did more of a nature harmony image with my Weta and did very poorly also I have critiqued other perfectly lovely images along the same nature theme that only did average to low.

Maybe the sharper focus suggested in one of your comments would improve the image but I like it the way it is and the use of the blind behind makes a great background

So your score is a respectable score and a very worthy image
But as far as I can see not a lot of voters went along with the nature theme so keep trying and enjoy your photography and just know that you have a really nice image
Good luck in your future challenges
I hope my comments help
If you have any questions please feel free to P M me
Regards
Sally

Nature's Balancing Act
by LVE

Comment:
Hello Larry from the Critique Club

First of all, I like your image although the actual light in the middle makes it a bit harsh, also I do understand why you would choose this for a Balance Challenge
I myself chose to enter a harmony with nature image with 'My Weta' but it did badly. I think with this challenge D P C voters have gone more for the actual 'Balance' theme if you look at the top 10 apart from one they are all objects balancing.

The greens in your image are very nice and it has a very natural feel to it and all I can really suggest is maybe just tone down the brightness in the image possibly shooting an image like this on a duller day, sunlight is not always the best to produce nice colour in an image ( I find that with my own digital camera )
I am not very technical but I can see that my own camera definately works better on a cloudy day. Sunlight gives the harsh light.
D P C is a great site for learning and it is very difficult to achieve a high standard but it's always good to try and concentrate on improving our own technique and learning from others I know I have improved ( not that my score always show that)
But we are all very different and just because the top images get all the votes there is still room for lovely images like yours after all we cannot all be winners can we. I myself would prefer to look at your image to a bunch of objects on top of each other.
But you will also see a very professional approach to an image on this site something I myself find very hard to achieve So keep up the good work and enjoy your photography
I love to go out with my camera and create I think I drive my family nuts! But its a great way to pass the time.
Good luck in the future Challenges I hope my comments help a little and if you have any questions please feel free to P M me
Regards
Sally

Balanced Budget
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
Hello Charles from the Critique club

After seeing your list of comments I feel very technically unqualified
But I will try to give you my honest opinion for what it's worth.
You certainly made an effort to achieve this image points to your wife also LOL!

This is a very good idea and well executed and definately meets the challenge but for some reason it lacks 'spark' I think it may be the lighting, also the negative space above has a very grey sort of washed out look. I think if this had been done on a dark background (Maybe dark green, as in the bank note or black) your image would have stood out more and bought more tone to the image The knife also looks dull not because of the focus but because of the light factor
Maybe its the time of day that you shot this image
But to me, that is the only thing I can see that may help you in future with this type of image. It has to be Striking 'WOW' to win the voters of D P C over and it can be so frustrating when you have tried so hard
Believe me I know from experience
So good luck with your future challenges
I hope this helps and if you have any questions please P M me
Regards
Sally

Harmony of Nature
by lizzyc3

Comment:
Hi Liz from the Critique Club

First of all your image is very striking a lovely sunset but maybe a little over saturated or sharpened just a bit too much
The comments given are all in your favour but I think in this challenge the voters tended to vote for the images with Balance as an obvious image look at the top 10
I think what we all have to remember when we vote is that there is usually more than one way to look at the challenge
I myself did wrong with this challenge and placed an image that seemed more harmonious as you have done with the balance of nature and I scored very low.

So even though you only had an average score I dont see this as a reflection on you but more of how the voters vote, as many really nice images are like yours, just that, really nice images but not quite with that 'WOW' factor of how the people see things.
Very frustrating but keep trying and I think like us all we will one day get it right for the D P C voters. (One can only hope!)
There seems to be a very high standard on D P C with some very good cameras and equipment and some very good ideas

Your image also looks nice with the top (The darker band)cropped off

I hope my comments are helpful to you
If you have any questions you can P M me
Good luck in future challenges
Regards
Sally

After the Slide
by pmichaud

Comment:
Hello Patsy from the Critique Club

This is truly a balancing act.A great find. Well done for that!
Your placing in the challenge is also very good.
The only thing I think may have helped here, (in my opinion) is I wonder what this would look like in Black and white instead of the colour as that is what seems to be the problem with the D P C voters
It does look wierd around the sky level and the trees look almost too green
Maybe change to B/W and play around with the tonal range to give more dramatic effect. Although the image itself IS very dramatic

I dont think I can add much more to this A great image!
I hope my comments help if you have any questions you can P M me
Good luck in the challenges
Regards
Sally

Red Vs Blue: Balanced?
by timganier

Comment:
Hello Timothy from the Critique Club

I really love these warm colours so straight away your image is attractive to me. The tones are lovely
The detail and focus are also very good
I see where you are going with this but the image itself does not say Balance to me and I think when you look at the top 10 you will see how people seem to vote
If it is not obvious to a person on a quick glance people tend to vote mid to low if they don't understand the image
So even though your image is very good and a lot of images are in so many of the challenges that do an average or below vote, its just not obvious that this was Balance without the title I doubt people would see that
It is very hard to know what people will like I get frustrated myself
But keep up the good work you have obvious talent and remember to be true to yourself I hope this helps
Good luck in your future challenges
Regards
Sally

Fragile Balance
by menardmam

Comment:
Hi Marc from the Critique Club

Firstly congratulations on your placing 15th is very good

I like your image very much although it appears quite small
Idea, focus and detail all great
It appears a little dark but then that just adds to the effect IMHO
The only thing that I can think of (if I get real picky) is that you have chopped a little off the bottom cards and that is a little irritating
Also there are some great images in this challenge
So Marc what else can I say but to say keep up the great work you certainly have the talent and the abilty
Sorry if this doesn't seem much of a critique but as I said before
Its a great image
Regards
Sally

Cosmos at Jan's place
by sns

Comment:
Hello Steven from the Critique Club

Your image is interesting but the over all effect is dull
It is the light effect that does that I think which is a shame as you have gone to a whole lot of effort to produce this

The white background looks greyish and that takes a lot from the image if you could backlight this I think it could stand out better or placed the image on a dark background maybe black and covered the whole tabletop with the same cloth it would appear to be balancing in space if you can understand what I mean.
Also there is a lot of reflection on the shaker which detracts from the balancing act and is a little soft in the focus this need to be really sharp with the blade
A very good effort at such a difficult image
I hope my comments help and if you have any questions you can contact me by P M
Good luck in your future challenges
Regards
Sally

Double Dipped
by smokeditor

Comment:
Delicious image Nice balance and colour
Congrats on the ribbon

The sweetest thing.
by p_johns

Comment:
A beautiful creative and artistic shot
It caught my eye in the thumbnails and even though I didnt get time to vote I just wanted to say I think you did a fantastic job with this
All those people who gave you less than a 5! amazing!
The tone of you image is really nice
Well done