Oh! Pick Me!
by PDavis

Comment:
Easily one of the finest cat portraits I've found on this site, in my opinion. 10 from me.

James
by Shadowi6

Comment:
A bold attempt, so I give you credit for the mere creativity. I think I would lightly burn the torso, though, as it is so much more washed out than the rest of the face.

Hoping For A Treat
by abrunz

Comment:
It's nice composition, but a bit blurry and without striking enough contrast to persuade me. I love the effect of the lights in the background, but at this close a focal range, I think the distract a bit from the subject. I would personally take my dodge tool, set the exposure really high, and lose all but the dog itself in this shot. That sort of high contrast, coupled with some sharpening edits, would make this more striking and original to me. 4 from me. Good luck in the challenge!

Portrait of a ladu-1
by Kayzzaman

Comment:
Way too ill-focused and grainy, with too much contrast. It looks like this was shot with too little resolution; try setting your camera to record at a size much larger than what you actually need, because then resizing images for the web is possible without losing detail or adding "noise" like this. Also, had this been at a higher resolution, I think that some creative post-processing could have salvaged this image and made it a solid 5 or better.

Captivating
by persimon

Comment:
Beautiful composition and nice cropping. I would rate this one higher perhaps in another challenge, but among so many submissions of extremely high caliber, this one is just not the most original, so I rated it a 6.

Dayton
by brownsm

Comment:
It's a timeless expression on the subject's face, but the lighting on the features makes this look slightly overexposed. I might try lightly burning the cheeks and chin regions to bring out those freckles, too.

dead wood
by cascananas

Comment:
Sorry...I've looked at this one a couple times now and even with the wide berth for interpretive submissions, this one just DNMC for me because it's neither in portrait orientation nor does it focus on a living subject (the title even says so). The photo is decently executed; it just cannot score well for me relative to the others in this challenge with so many superb submissions.

The Drunken Master
by tiby_dicu

Comment:
Lovely idea and nice composition...but not as well-executed as it might have been. It's a bit too grainy and ill-focused to persuade me.

Liz
by dsa157

Comment:
Very flattering, but for my artistic taste (entirely subjective), this feels too "posed" and hence "unnatural" for me. The subject's expression is nice...though distant.

... the boyfriend blues ...
by roz

Comment:
Beautifully executed, and the post-processing really draws the focus squarely to the eyes.