Chairman of the Board
by crabappl3

Comment:
Congratulations!

Deannda

Headache In The Makin'
by Drake

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This is a wonderful overall image, I love just about any animal shots though :)

The motion of the bird is excellent, capturing it in both positions, in and out of the food dish. Really shows the "action" of the shot.

To me the angle of the shot and the cropping seem just a bit off. Capturing birds on film is hard enough so not sure if you could have gotten another angle or not but I'm thinking more of a side view would have really made this picture pop for me. Also the cropping on the bottom seems to high, cutting his tail off hurts this shot to me and the top crop seems just a tad tight also while you could have come in just a touch more on the right.

Hope this helps!

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!

All that Glitters
by Neuferland

Comment:

Originally posted by Frankie_Lv: .......The shadows in the picture just do not match the lighting. No matter how you use the light (angles/strenght) or even fill flash the shadows just do not match. There has been a lot more image editing and enhancing here then the photographer states and it is all bad. I could go on here and type for another hour but it would prove useless. The photographer of this photograph knows what was done and clearly understated it in there comment box. How this got the score it did is beyond me. I would have to rate it a 1 or 2

No there was not any more imaging editing than what is stated. As for the shadows, that is how they came out. I admit I went to far on the color adjustment, too much red adjustment.

Here is the original shot, resized only:



Deannda
Thanks for your critique

Inflated Plastic Frosty - ususally deflated and flat on the ground!
by Samara

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hi! Ah, the inflatable icons of Christmas this year. They drove me nuts! :)

This is a decent shot overall but doesn't really jump out and stand out from the rest. The title tells me that this is a rare occasion that it's actually inflated and for the tacky side the deflated version might have worked much better. Having a flat snowman in your yard type thing.

You have a very wide crop on the sides yet very tight on the top and bottom. Maybe a more balanced crop would work with this, taking a bit more off the sides, especially the right side, cutting down on the distracting background.

The lighting is also a bit dark it seems seeing the bright patch of blue sky in the upper right corner.

The house is distracting in the background. I know you can't move it, LOL but maybe trying a different angle to shot from to still get your main subject but have a less distracting background? Or even at night, after the house lights are off and the snowman is still lit up?

I hope this helps.

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!

The "strangels"
by cristiano79

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hi! This image is without a doubt a tacky Christmas decoration when you really look at it but sadly nothing about the image makes me want to really spend time looking at it and trying to figure it out. The title does help some but not a lot.

The shot is from behind one of the angels and that is where the confusion comes in, you can see the wings on the one in the background but the one in the foreground really has no definition. A hard subject to shoot overall I'm sure. It's also a very busy shot, if you could have just had one angel in the shot to simplify it?

The cropping is a bit tight on the angel in the front perhaps lending to the confusion of what they might be. A bit looser crop to include the whole angel might help. Also the focus seems off on part of the angel. When this close to the subject I would expect to see the entire subject in focus, the head and hair seem a bit fuzzy.

The lighting is good, natural light from the window works very well with this shot but would work even better if you came from a different angle and was able to block the windows out. The colors are also very well done.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!

Message edited by author 2004-01-13 09:20:48.

Break!
by wingy

Comment:
Congrats!!!!

Progress
by kncoughlin

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hi! Here to do the indepth critique you requested and I hope I can help.

I really liked this shot during the challenge, gave it an 8 as a matter of fact, now let me try to explain why it didn't get a 10, though it has that potential for me.

First the aspect ratio of the size of the thighs to the shoes is really distracting, the feet look so tiny compared to the thighs in the shot, it's a bit disorienting and hard to look at for any length of time. For a poster to work for me I want to be able to look at all day long if needed or at least want to look at without causing a bit of eye strain. The washed out look on the thighs is also a bit distracting yet works for this shot overall. It grabs your attention and brings you into the shot. If we could get those feet to look just a bit bigger! :)

Also the cropping or angle on the floor is also off a bit and makes me a bit dizzy to look at it for too long. Maybe a slight rotation to balance it a bit would also help with the foot/thigh equation.

I like the lettering and the font but the side borders seem very heavy on this shot. Maybe if you brought them in a bit, left the top font as is and made the lower font a bit smaller (not the same size as the top) so it would fit it would work just a bit better.

Hope all this helps, if you decide to play with this image and take any of my suggestions, I would love to see it!

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!

Dreams are like rainbows. Only idiots chase them.
by johnm

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hello! Well, I made some comments during the challenge, now to get more nitty gritty.

Like I said before, I love this shot overall but the balance seems off because of the bottom rail cutting across the way it does. Maybe if it was slightly rotated to straighten it up but then that would make the upper part off balance, wouldn't it? It's a tough call on that one.

I wish there were comments so I could figure out just how you got this shot so maybe I could offer another idea on how to straighten it up or balance it out more. Are you on the level below the man looking out. Is this a posed shot on his part or a lucky shot on your part? If posed maybe you could be more directly under him so you could get the rail to be a little straighter while still having the tower going up the center?

I like the way the tower also fades into the fog, very nice effect and capture. The lighting is very well done on this shot.

As for meeting the challenge I'm betting you lost some points there with some voters because the title wasn't very motivational in the traditional sense of the word and the lack of border on the shot. I know I felt confused by the title compared to the shot and if it has to do with the person who designed and built the Eiffel Tower I'm not that familier with them so it wouldn't make sense to me.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!

hurt
by imagesloyola

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hi! This was one of those shots that really made me think during the challenge trying to figure out just how it met the challenge and still not sure if I get the true meaning but I'm guessing from the title that you are talking about the edge of pain that can be inflicted?

Anyway about the shot. I like the overall shot, the simplicity of it but the composition left me wanting a bit. I'm thinking the imbalance of the stem of the cherry cutting up the negative space across the top is what is throwing me off. Maybe if you had removed the stem and left that area clear? The focus also seems off just a tad on the cherry itself but very clear on the wire and while DOF is usually a good thing, to me on a close up shot like this, everything should be in focus. Also, if the wire coming in on the left came out of the corner instead of just above it.

I hope all this helps.

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!

Vapor Trail
by Olyuzi

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hi! I like the idea behind this shot and I think I understand where the "edge" part is coming in on a couple of different levels, the edge of the water, the edge of the board, the edge of danger and it almost looks like on the edge of a storm!

The color of the water threw me off at first when I voted on this originally, guess I'm thinking all water should be blue but if nothing else we must think outside the norms on a lot of our shots. While the horizon looks very hazy indicating it might have been an overcast the day the light on the wind board and reflection of the water to the right makes me think the sun was peeking through at some point.

If you were going for the rule of thirds on this shot the board could be a little more to the right and maybe a slightly tighter crop on the bottom, bringing the board more into focus and better utilizing the negative space of water and sky around it. If you decide to recrop this shot I would love to see the new version. It's a wonderful overall shot and with a slight tweak to the brightness (just a touch) and the recropping I think this would make a fantastic shot.

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!