Dual Complexity
by Rikki

Comment:
Wowsers! An awesome shot man. Congrats :-)

Shoot the Moon
by TooCool

Comment:
Dude! Suuuweeet! Congrats man :-)
Hey, ya better give me a credit for providing the yo-yo :-P

Raptor
by Strikeslip

Comment:
Hey Slippy :-) Congrats on the top 10 man!

Reflections
by pmichaud

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :-)

This is your entry in the 'Water II' challenge. I think it definitely fits the challenge. Your shot is composed nicely, and I think it has some nice interest in it. There is nice form to the various little puddles. I see what you mean about the reflections, very nice, especially with how you've composed the shot, with no sky in it, we just get to see the sky in the puddles, very nice.

I think the main thing working against this photo, to me anyways, is the dof, how the foreground is blurred. I feel my eye wanting to be drawn to the most lower right puddle, due to it's placement in the composition, and because it has what seems to be the nicest reflections in it, but the focus in the shot forces me to look up and left, where the shot is crisper, and unfortunately, due to the angle and lighting, no reflections in those puddles up there :-) Actually if the focus plane were reversed, where the foreground was sharp, and towards the top it blurred out, that might be really cool. A lot of folks with this type of shot would go with a smaller aperture (bigger f#) to get a deeper dof, and catch the whole scene sharp. I'm also wondering if along with the processing you did, maybe a little selective color adjustment could strengthen the presentation? That may be just a matter of taste though.

Another thing that I notice about the shot is that it is not exactly a square crop, but close (630 x 640), and maybe it is just me, but I'm not sure the square crop really strengthens the image. I don't feel it is necessarily detrimental to it, but I wonder how a more standard, like 8 x 10 crop would look? Of course, I don't know what else was around this spot, outside of the frame, maybe it wouldn't be possible.

As one of the commenters pointed out, I agree, I think this subject has great potential, and I would encourage you to explore it further, if that is possible. I understand, you'd have to catch it after rain :-) I would also try and shoot it at varying times of day, catching different lighting conditions. Some nice early morning or late day raking light might be nice. That could showcase some of the textures present, and maybe even catch some reflections of a sunrise/sunset in those puddles!

If you have any questions or comments or anything, please feel free to contact me.

Happy shooting,
taterbug :-)

Chicken
by Chilibean

Comment:
Yup, you're right, it's a chicken. :-P

Firestone
by sherpet

Comment:
Cool shot. Great natural abstract. Nice colors, great form and flow. I really like it. Nice job.

Smooth & Pure
by bbright

Comment:
Very cool shot here. Nicely composed, and great job on the exposure with the snow and all. Very nice catch of lighting there. A refreshing approach to this challenge, showing landscape texture. Nice job :-)

Stories of Her Life
by librodo

Comment:
Stunning photograph! Quite a daring composition, yet very effective. Your choice of subject here is of course, awesome. Years and years of texture there to study. I love the processing of the image. Very fitting is an understatement. Wow, the longer I look, the more and more I like. An amazing photo, well done, indeed :-)

The essence of an annoyance
by Phil

Comment:
Wowsers!!! This is incredible! You have really put together the total package here. I mean, this like goes beyond macro! So, you've got the extreme close up, amazing detail thing going on. Then you've got the fiercely strong, in your face composition. And you've got these sweet colors happening. And on top of it all, awesome lighting, ...and...talk about texture. I feel like if I put my fingers on the screen, I could feel that guy! Aaaannddddd....interest factor??? Man, fahget abowt it! :-P I could look at this all night! You know, usually, some bug macros are kinda cool, but for the most part, I'm normally like, yeah, that's good, but, anh. This shot though is just the bomb, man. Fav, 10, sign me up, yeah!!!
....oh, and...nice shot :-)

Tenaciously smooth
by ralph

Comment:
Niice! Refreshingly unique approach to the challenge. Great idea. Very strong composition with the nice vertical and all. Fantastic lighting! And a really cool pic to boot! Makes me say "ewww" ...which is good in this case .
:-)