The Lady At Mirror Lake
by TommyMoe21

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A pleasing landscape that is assumed to meet the challenge

A lovely location that has been enhanced by your thoughtful inclusion of your wife in the scene. Her inclusion gives us a good strong focal point and also gives us a sense of scale of the grandeur of the location. I like the skies a lot.

Your composition and exposure are generally good, the reflections are a welcome addition. Technically your settings are good, nice low ISO and I assume a good tripod for support. You have achieved a huge DOF through your choice of a small aperture though if this actually the smallest aperture I would generally avoid it in the interests of best image quality.

Like your commenter I am not keen on HDR treatment, the colours are a little too saturated for me, I prefer more subtlety and a more natural looking result though having said that your image is a lot better than many I have seen using this technique.

Thanks for your submission, Sid

dpi29297
by Maharet

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An excellent figure study assumed to meet the challenge.

This is a very capable study worthy of all the aching limbs and effort involved! I like your composition and her pose, the windy evening gives it another dynamic, the exposure is good through most of the image. I also like the shape and colours in the shawl she is holding and the way it is blown by the wind.

There are two issues that needed a bit more attention to detail, one is the slight cropping of the shawl, there is a lot of base that could easily have been sacrificed to get all of the shawl in frame. The other is the sloping sea!

This is generally good submission that was up against the toughest competition, well done, Sid

A Taste of Bokeh
by WonderDude

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A fairly pleasing flower study that meets the open brief of the challenge.

A simple shot of a simple subject taken with a simple lens in a satisfying way for you. It is satisfying when you can use simple and lovely old lenses in conjunction with a digital camera and it will hopefully lead the way for lots more similar experimentation for you.

With regard to the image itself I like the composition leading in from the top left the way it does and as your commenter observed, some lovely contrasting colours too. What I am not so keen on is the distracting over-exposed square behind the flowers, unfortunately it overpowers in a negative sort of way. The other issue is the sharpness overall which given your high shutter speed is obviously not camera shake so therefore must be down to the lens itself. It doesn't exhibit as softness per se but more a resolving issue, there is apparent sharpness but it just doesn't seem to make the flowers stand out the way they should.

Thanks for your submission, enjoy your use of manual lenses, its very rewarding, Sid

Rejected
by clickodak

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A basic shot that meets the challenge fully.

The main subject, the trolley, obviously meets the challenge brief in full. I like that you have chosen to represent the challenge in a way associated with the trolleys use to enable the shopper to get the groceries from the store to their vehicle and that this stick of celery didn't quite make it ΓΆ€“ it ended up rejected.

In view of my interpretation of your image you could argue that it should be taken as it is in the midst of the car park where it was left but to me your image has a lot of background distractions. The main one being the lorry, the person and not least the yellow line, of those I think only the person is a desirable element the others are not contributing to the end result. I've just realised what I thought was a lorry is in fact the trolley's owners name, ok, but I still think a different viewpoint closer in on the celery and its cage like surroundings through the corner in a more abstract fashion would have made it a stronger image with much less background distraction.

Sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge, I hope mine makes up for it, Sid

Waiting to be wheeled in....
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An image that fits the challenge in an obvious sort of way.

I like that you have chosen to concentrate on a viewpoint that makes it immediately obvious what we are looking at but it just doesn't seem a very inspiring sort of image. As one of your commenters has pointed out the focus is on the second wheel throwing the lead one into soft focus which somewhat spoils the effect.

I think the repetition of the wheels would have been enhanced by cropping the front one so that we don't know its the first one but we have the illusion of a never-ending line of trolleys that just goes on ad infinitum. I like the diagonal of the composition but what I think would have also improved it would have been to go in close on the wheels looking up towards the rest of the trolley structure, this may have made it more interesting and engaging. The debris on the floor doesn't add to the shot and would have been better cleaned up either before or after the shot.

A good attempt Janine but not one of your best, Sid

Lost In Thought
by Pangurban

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An excellent portrait that is assumed to fulfil the challenge.

A very striking portrait that, like all good photography, is all about the light. I like your low viewpoint which has allowed you to exclude potential distractions and isolate your subject against a plainer background. Your portrait is also about timing, you have captured a reflective moment that works well because it suggests a natural expression that shows a complete unawareness of the camera or anything else at that moment in time.

Your exposure is generally good with good detail throughout though I do feel that you are pushing close to the boundaries of overexposure in some rather important areas mainly the lady's forehead. If you had underexposed by a third of a stop I think you would have given just a bit more room without darkening her face too much though it is, I have to admit, I very fine line. There is possibly a little too much space above her head but her gaze needs some space to look into and because of it I think you just about get away with it.

It is a very appealing portrait that in any other related challenge would have done well but the nature of this particular challenge is lots of high quality entries to compete against. Well done, Sid

The Peace Bridge
by Rodert

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A futuristic looking image that is assumed to meet the challenge

Your image has a very futuristic feel to and as has been observed amongst your commenters very clean lines that to me make it look like an architects proposed plans for a bridge project. That is not meant to be a negative remark but one that recognises the sharpness and DOF throughout. The red tones of the bridge make it stand out strongly against the cold blues of the rest of the image.

The composition is very good emphasising the unique bridge against the cityscape, the frozen river and the plain blue sky this all hangs together very well indeed. Looking carefully at the sky I am feeling that there may be some banding there but its very feint and unobtrusive.

All in all, an excellent submission that must have had some tough competition to place so low with such a respectable score. Thanks, Sid

Soar High
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing nature study that meets the challenge well.

The sky and clouds is an appealing image in its own right but the inclusion of the bird adds the strong focal point and interest. Given the nature of the challenge I like that the bird is relatively small in relation to the rest of the frame though challenge-wise I could easily live with it being even smaller.

There are a couple of things I have to add about it that I think would have helped it, the first is the composition, although it is not accurately central I feel it is too near the centre, I think for this challenge I would have composed it nearer to the bottom right, flying into the negative space to emphasise the vastness of that negative space more readily. The other is over-sharpening, the bird has a perfect halo all round it that makes it look like a cutout that has been pasted onto the image, for me it detracts in a major way.

Thanks for your submission, Sid

Red Rose
by clickodak

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A flawed entry that meets the challenge well.

An interesting challenge and I like your composition with the rose occupying a minimal space leaving plenty of negative space. Like your commenter I feel because of the minimal space used for the rose it should not have been slightly cropped in the way that it has, we should be able to see all of the petals.

The biggest failing is what I assume to be sensor dust, if it is not then your background is soiled but there are several specks immediately above and to the right of the flower. The plain white background itself doesn't add anything to the overall image in the same way that say using the sky would have done. My preference would have been to compose this from below with the plain blue sky filling the rest of the frame or against a plain green grassy expanse, they would just look more natural and therefore more appealing.

Thanks for your submission, Sid

waiting for Cinderella
by avermaa

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An original and creative image that fully meets the challenge.

What an amazing pair of shoes, as you say, fit for a princess! I've often thought light and glass were made for each other, there is always potential within them for a good photography and here you have found it with your candle light and your own light painting, you have managed to light so many facets in interesting ways, well done.

I like the black background but like your commenter without knowing otherwise it is natural to perceive this as a reflection. This is where I think you had even more potential, it would have been nice to see the pair together reflected in the black glass of a table. As it is you still have a great image with a good well controlled exposure, very appealing. I think it deserved a higher place, I can only assume there was some amazing entries.

Thanks for an interesting submission, Sid