Hot Rodola
by The Resplendent Snippycat

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Welcome to DPC. Your first challenge, and a terrific entry.

Now, I think you know there are a few technical issues with this image: not sharp, blown highlights, and all that. And that is probably what our voters who hurry through images saw, and voted accordingly.

BUT.

It seems to me that the "technical issues" help make this picture. Lots of interesting spots to linger, lots of glowing highlights to accentuate the fascinating vehicle you found. Certainly your composition is splendid. Frankly I think you captured a splendid mood, right down to the red splash.

I'm sorry you didn't score well. Keep 'em coming!

Alice

Rest in the public road
by lunix

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Hello! I've just wandered through your other Challenge entries, and lunix, I Love the way you see things and photograph them. You have a real artist's eye. Keep up the good work.

This subject, photographed in your own unqiue style, is beautifully captured.

Unfortunately, it does not meet the preconceived concept of "Comfort" in the minds of our voters. Thus it did not score well.

Not Your Fault!

I can easily see that this piece of furniture, decrepit as it may be now, once held innumerable people in comfort. And even now, next to the dust bin, it does have that stately bit of charm that attracted you and now, after looking at it, me.

So, thank you for finding this and photographing it. I shall look forward to seeing more of your work.

Alice

American Diner
by Shiva Das

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Welcome to DPC!

You have chosen a different interpretation of the Comfort Challenge, and it looks as if it was received with mixed response by our voters.

Technically, a still life of this sort usually is tack sharp, especially in the foregound, but your aperture of 4.8 offered up a shallow depth of field with "Dizziness" being the sharpest point. When viewers must puzzle out what is directly in front of them, they sometimes just don't take the time to do so. And of course, "Dizziness" doesn't exactly spell comfort to some voters.

Just one last thing - when you look at the top placement images on DPC, you may notice that many of them are extremely simple. you managed to put quite a bit of detail in this image, and my suggestion would be to try to recreate this image removing information until the minimum is reached to tell your story.

Okay, I'm running off at the mouth this morning, and probably should take my own medicine and simple down this critique. :)

But I'm going to send it along anyhow.

I wish you well in future Challenges and look forward to seeing more of your work. You have a unique way of seeing and that goes a long way at DPC.

Alice

My Bear Necessity
by obsidian

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Obsidian, if you keep this rate of progress up, you'll be on the front page in no time flat!

It's almost impossible to score well with a stuffed animal, yet you did it. Congratulations. This challenge was made for your Bear Necessity. The well-loved symbol of comfort - a properly mauled Bear - certainly struck a chord with our viewers. And rightly so, I might add, as you presented the little appealing creature very well including the highlight in the eye.

Nope, I have no 'suggestions' as to how to do this image better. You've done it all.

Good luck in future challenges.

Alice

Firestarter
by sev

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Welcome to DPC! It's always a challenge to get that first entry in and you did it.

You had a good idea here and of course it meets the Challenge. But I'm afraid those technical values were against you in this one. Maybe a lot less fire and more painting would have helped this image. As it is, the image is very over-exposed, and has lost detail in the painted area. Then, and at 15 seconds, Chris couldn't help but move, so he is in very soft focus.

Finally, in composition, your image is divided almost exactly in half. I'd suggest that you try to make one side or the other more important by giving it more space, because when the sides are equal, sometimes the viewer will just bounce back and forth trying to figure out what is and is not important.

Well, I think I've given you enough to think about.
:)
Keep those Challenge entries coming, you'll be moving up in score in no time and having fun in the trying.

Alice

The next best thing!
by juliagulia

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Welcome to DPC! I see this is your very first Challenge and you scored quite well, indeed well over your average score awarded.

This is an appealing infant shot that meets the Challenge perfectly. The cute little one with the amused eyes and the comforting toes is just delightful. The soft focus is good for a portrait of this kind.

I played around with the composition of this image quite a bit on my screen. The action is all in the face/toe area and you have given us quite a bit more of baby than is perhaps needed to make your story work. And, unfortunately, the eye is drawn to that large bright white area in the lower portion of the image first, rather than the exquisite expression in the face. Finally, in composition, the area to the right where the baby seat stops and rug/background begins does distract just a touch. It tends to take away from the 'composed' concept of the finished photograph.

Technically, though, this image is exposed nicely for the subject matter. You don't need strong darks and lights in a baby pic and your technical decisions reflected that.

I very much enjoyed critiquing this image and look forward to seeing more of your work on DPC.

Alice

salt and pepper/dolphin and shark...hmmmmm
by dolphnz8

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Looks as if you have jumped in the DPC water with both feet! You've entered quite a few Challenges in February and I'll bet you're learning a great deal.

I'm enjoying your cute entry in The Odd Couple challenge. I wish you had entered your camera settings and Photographer's COmments, as it makes it easier for someone to critique your image when you do so.

But I'll wing it and see what I can do... I'd say that the "did not meet the Challenge" folks may have had something to do with your score as salt & pepper generally do go together, and while dolphins & sharks perhaps only swim together these little guys are dressed alike, and one might get the impression they are friends here. (I say all this with a big smile)

Technically: The background looks a bit mottled on my screen. Could this have been caused by your backdrop? Sometimes, to correct that problem, you can even out little blotches by a tiny dose of "Curves" using the WhitePoint in Photoshop, if that's your postprocessing program. Then, the mix of salt and pepper between the two figures has some fuzzy spots. It looks a little like water melted some of the salt. I think that should have been really clear and precise to tell your story.

So, my advice is to keep playing around with composition, and brush up on some technique and you'll be scoring well in no time flat!

I'll look forward to seeing more of your work on DPC.

Alice

Lookdown
by ClubJuggle

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Oh, great. I get to critique an image by one of the people who keeps DPC on an even keel. And the guy does a fish picture!

Okay, you didn't score well (no kidding) with this rather nice creature which is almost a caricature of a fish. It's well composed in the frame, with good overall balance. Those horizontal swirls behind the fish balance the vertical orientation of the fish perfectly. You must have had a murky fish tank indeed, to be forced to use ISO 1600. Usually you can eke out a bit more ambient light than that in an acquarium shot.

Of course the voters went into a feeding frenzy over all the grain thus produced. That is the only real reason I can find to have this humorous image rated so low when it meets the Challenge nicely and is funny to boot.

Dare I say it? I wish you the best of good luck in future Challenges.

And thanks for all you do for DPC.

Alice

azalea
by belinha

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Welcome to DPC. I see this is your second Challenge, and I hope you are having fun.

You have a good range of tones in your image and it is quite well composed. Unfortunately, it is a little 'soft focus' and that made it difficult for viewers to see the beauty of this pretty azalea. And, yes, the voters told you the image is a little small.

I assume you use Photoshop to process your images. It would be worth checking your instruction book to see how to resize your pictures for competition. We are allowed 640 pixels on the longest side and that would have made your image easy to see and appreciate.

If you continue to have problems resizing your images, please PM me and I'll try to help you through it.

Meanwhile, you have a good camera and a good eye. As soon as you get the basic learning stuff out of the way, I think you are going to score well at DPC. Good luck!

Alice

The Beast
by fotomann_forever

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Oh, boy! I get the chance to Critique a "fotomann-forever" image - and it's got the head of a dead steer in it. Not only that, the steer appears to have been shot between the eyes!

Okay, to business. The lighting here is splendid and interprets the composition beautifully. Well, maybe that sharp shadow along the thigh could have been softened, since it is the only sharp line in the entire frame. But that's 'nitpicking' and probably way difficult to do in Basic Editing mode.

Technically, I find no real flaws in this image, and can only guess that the more staid of our viewers voted comparatively low on your image, thus giving it a lower score than (I think) it deserved.

I hope you're feeling well again, and will look forward to more of your humor on DPC.

ALice