At Night The Silent Monks Return
by boomer

Comment:
Lovely colors - the sy sets off the building very nicely. The shapes of the "creatures" are a perfect addition.

Wasted Light
by Kolya

Comment:
This creates a nice pattern. Good colors that work well with each other.

Shadows of Light
by xdavemanx

Comment:
Well thought out and executed. Works well in black & white.

myself 10 seconds from now
by ltjman

Comment:
Cool. Well done time warp.

On Fire
by jaka_gledeg

Comment:
A very nice abstract.

Mother Goose
by cbeller

Comment:
Hi Chris and * Greetings from the Critique Club

Your "Mother Goose" is a very striking image with an excellent nature story. I suspect it did not score higher because of the challenge you entered it in. It's a rather difficult image to say it's exactly dead centered - and may voters ger really picky about "meeting the challenge" exactly.

Here's some suggestions on how you could take the same inage and make it even stronger:

a) You shot it fairly wide open (f5.6) and at 1/1500. Even with a zoom lens you could stop down 2 stops to f11 and hand hold at 1/125th. That may be marginal - but would definitely work on a tripod. By stopping down you would gain more DoF and may be able to hold the goslings in the forground in focus.

b) If you wait a bit, it's usually possible to get a catchlight in the Mom's eye - which adds a lot.

c) Remove the 3 circles in the water, top left.

d) I'm not fond of the "half birds" on the left and right edges, try to avoid cutting body parts off.

These are just my observations, a "one man's opinion" - others may not agree, so just consider them.

Even with the 4 minor suggestions noted, it's a good stong image - but maybe not the right one for "centered."

Keep shooting and striving to meet the rest of your 2004 DPC goals!

-Tom-

To the rescue
by terje

Comment:
Hi Terje and * Greetings from the Critique Club *

This image is very compelling and wonderfully rendered. As many commenters have said, it's superb photojournalism. I can not believe it didn't finish in the top 10 - or even with a ribbon.

Please disregard the comments that implied you were "lucky" getting the shot. I personally believe we make our own luck in most photo endeavors. You were there, you had your camera, and you reacted quickly enough to capture a perfect story in the making.

The image holds key elements, such as the gloves on both hands, the shape in the car, the position of his feet, and the pose itself.

Exposure wise - it's right on. The huge contrast between the dark black smoke and the orange flames is really dynamite.

My only suggestions for improvement would remove the "centered" aspect so it would not fit the challenge as well, if at all. That suggestion would be to move the camera to the right a bit - so the the rest of the care would be shown.

Overall - great seeing and reaction, congratulations.

-Tom-

Lighting up the nightlife
by Firsty

Comment:
Nice seeing, the fading sky goes with the lights on the building very effectively.

Watershed
by steinar

Comment:
A good portrait - very nice lighting on the face. Perfect exposure and focus on the face as well. The major trouble I have is that rotten bright sky, it needs to go.

The sleeping pinetree
by tp-fcp

Comment:
Mysterious and a bit eerie. Great colors - the light coming in from the left that illuminates the green grass is critical to your image and is perfect. Your placement of the distant light halfway behind the tree is also right on. A strong image I like more and more as I see it.