Self Portrait: Warts And All
by smardaz

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

Wot no warts! First impressions, a very competent self portrait that meets the challenge well, presumably within the minimal editing rules.

Thank you for providing the lighting details, the setup is very effective, the focus is nice and sharp with good DOF and the pose is nice and relaxed. The minimal editing rule set is very strict but it does make it a great test of your camera skills, so very well done from that perspective. There are two, presumably deleted image spaces, below 'advanced editing versions' but even without those to view I remain impressed with your original.

There is nothing I can add in respect of your technical setup, it is very well chosen and, as already stated, very effective, well done.

As you say, the sensor dust does unfortunately let it down and cannot be removed within this rule set. I know from my own recent experience with a rushed last minute submission full of sensor dust much worse than yours, just how badly it goes down with the voters here which will fully explain its lower than deserved score. Without the dust your image would undoubtedly have placed much higher, certainly in the top ten, probably even the top five. We have both learned a lesson the hard way, good luck with your future submissions, Sid

ubike
by posthumous

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

First impressions are of an appealing subject reasonably well captured that I hope fits the challenge.

As a keen cycling enthusiast I am always attracted to bikes particularly action shots. Your panning action has captured the cyclist nice and sharp and introduced a little motion into the background. This is where the problem lies for me, because of the high shutter speed there is not enough motion blur in the background it looks more like camera shake, thereby significantly reducing the appeal of the shot.

The other big problem is that you have a dark clothed rider caught in the dark shadow of a tree and with the shadow unfortunately falling right across his face, probably the most important part of the image, the part where we can identify with the moment he is experiencing through his facial expression. Also the composition, I'm not sure why you feel the portrait orientation works better than landscape but I am all for a non-standard approach as long as it works. Because of the size of the rider and the amount of space he has left to ride into it probably just about works.

'I hope it fits the challenge', I am unable to judge this as I don't know what Ubique's philosophy is but I do like his comment, perhaps I am missing an important clue to that in his comment? I have followed the challenge description which has a link to a forum thread where I was hoping to learn more about his philosophy and try to work out whether this does fit the challenge, with 3760 comments to review I'm afraid life is just far too short, sorry.

Face wash
by nygold

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

First impressions are of a challenging moment reasonably well executed that does not meet the challenge. I'm sorry you haven't received any comments, I will do my best to make up for it.

Any action shot has its challenges and may not always turn out as you expect, often worse sometimes better, I'm not sure how you feel it turned out for you but for me it has stopped the action but all the important elements are missing. The main missing elements are the board and the face, without the board he could quite literally be falling from the sky into the water and not be on a board at all. Without the facial expression we are missing the excitement of the moment he is hopefully experiencing making it more difficult for us to engage with the image.

You have done well to capture the moment but the shutter speed is so high that it has stopped all the droplets of water which I know a lot of people like, I, unfortunately, am not one of those, I much prefer to have some motion blur to help me experience the moment of frenzied activity more fully. The composition is too central and would have benefited from a more effective rule of thirds hotspot approach, perhaps the upper right third, you could, of course, crop the image to achieve this if you agree with my idea.

Even with your title which should help, I still cannot see how this can be interpreted as April Fool, I must be missing something and welcome your explanation to help me understand more fully. Thank you for your submission, Sid.

g h o s t • t o w e r
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

First impressions are of a fairly unconventional approach that subtly meets the challenge.

What I like most about this is the sense of mystery that remains once I have climbed those steps to, what? Whatever lies on top or inside the structure and thats where the mystery remains, so it is intriguing and any image that can do that to me will always appeal to me.

However, having said that about the composition I am not at all keen on the processing which has left most of the image looking fake, plastic and unappealing with significant areas of overexposure. I am aware that I appear to be in the minority here with some very positive reaction from your commenters which just goes to show how subjective this wonderful hobby of ours can be where it can elicit such diametrically opposed reactions which is part of what makes photography so exciting and challenging. Keep intriguing me, Sid.

Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 4: iv, Presto
by posthumous

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

My first impressions are of a poorly executed image that does not the challenge

I'm now looking at your image and really trying to appreciate it and fit it to the challenge, perhaps because I am not familiar with the music and am not, as you suggest, able to play it while I look I still cannot alter my first impressions. Unfortunately, I cannot find anything here that appeals to me so I don't want to rub salt into the wound by detailing everything about it I don't like but its basicly everything, I'm afraid I have to agree with your first commenter.

So, what am I missing about this that holds such appeal to your three other commenters? It now intrigues enormously because I don't know what I don't know. What are these people able to see in it that I am completely blind to? I wish I knew. I would be very grateful to hear anything you or your commenters or anyone else can enlighten me with in order to help me more fully understand and appreciate this image. Please Sid.

Cascading Lines
by CodeShark

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

First impressions are of a good image that meets the challenge but lacks quality.

You have selected an appealing location with a lovely waterfall and attempted to make it more dynamic by using a slow shutter speed to emphasise the movement in the water. In terms of the challenge you have included your model so we have a good focal point that the leading lines of the water leads us to, she also tells us something about the size of this waterfall, she gives it scale. I like your composition it works well.

The biggest thing that mars this image is the general softness throughout. You have obviously used a tripod but either there has been some camera movement during the long exposure or f22 is the smallest aperture your lens has. If it is the latter, which I think it is, we have a reduction in image quality due to diffraction by using the smallest aperture its a shame because you have a potentially good image here. I always try and avoid using the smallest aperture for this very reason.

There is also some overexposure in the brightest parts of the water, you have lost detail as a result which, the water being such an important part of the image, also lowers its impact.

I hope my thoughts help a little, keep at itâ€Â¦ Sid

Lines in clouds
by otto22

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A strong image with very bold colours that arguably meets the challenge but not in a strong way.

Given my boating background it always upsets me to see a boat in this state, however, that aside it forms a strong foreground which is perhaps part of the problem for this particular challenge. I would like that foreground to form the leading lines that take me into the rest of the image. I'm not sure that your leading lines of the sky lead me into the image because of this strong foreground that needs no leading into. I'm probably not explaining myself very well, I hope you understand what I am trying to say.

An unfortunate problem with the boat is the large metal structure in the immediate foreground it is blocking the way into the image beyond so, in effect, acting against the leading lines objective. The very long exposure has certainly 'flattened' the water and enabled your leading lines in the sky but you also have some overexposure which is less desirable but wisely placed on the edge of the image.

I think the image has impact and I would like to like it more but I don't think it works that well particularly for the challenge brief, sorry. Sid

AIR1
by HUETH

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

First impressions are of a good shot that meets the challenge well and appears to have been appreciated with a reasonable score from the voters

I like your viewpoint taking this flags pole structure to provide interest and lead you into the lovely sky background. You have chosen well to photograph it on such a day where the clouds add interest, it looks like you may have used a polariser filter? There are certainly nice contrasts between the clouds and the rich blue of the sky.

Having the main pole come in from the bottom right hand corner creates a strong diagonal which in itself makes the image stronger and more dynamic. Where I think you missed a good opportunity was to use a much slower shutter speed to create even more dynamic feel with the blurring of the flags in the wind. Given your exif you may well have needed a neutral density filter to slow things down, this would have also helped you to meet the challenge brief even better giving a real feeling of the air driving through the image and also your objective 'The waving flags depicting the movement of air.'

The sky's the limitâ€Â¦ Sid

No pollution - fresh air - peaceful
by josaa

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

My first impressions are of a lovely landscape that meets the challenge but with a lot of overexposure

Air is quite a difficult concept to portray but I think you have been successful with this delightful landscape and, to help the viewer, in your title too. It looks like mono but I see traces of colour in it so I assume it has not been converted to mono but either way it is still very effective. I like the composition and the range of tones throughout

The one thing that really lets this image down is the extensive over-exposure in both the sea and the sky. Unfortunately once you have overexposure the detail is gone for good there is nothing you can do to get it back so its best avoided with some minus exposure compensation. I think you would have been better to combine at least a couple of exposures together one for the highlights and the other for the shadows and you would have got a better end result.

Is that a boat on the water? Its position next to the background landscape makes it difficult to determine. If it is a boat I think it would have worked really well to have paced it in the overexposed part of the water, by either waiting if it was in motion or through choice of your position, where it would have been clearly defined as a silhouette.

It looks a beautiful location, I look forward to more lovely landscapes from you. Sid

Jealous of my neighbors greenhouse
by josaa

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

My first impressions are of quite a good image with potential for improvement that unfortunately does not meet the challenge.

It does not meet the challenge because there are no lawns which is undoubtedly why it failed to score better, though all those 1s and 2s are clearly undeserved. I like the action of him watering his plants but with that gorgeous lens of yours I feel you have missed an opportunity to make the best of this. The DOF extends 1/3 in front and 2/3 behind your focus point so, with that in mind, I would say you have focussed on the man. As with any portrait the eyes must be sharp so whilst your focus point is good the aperture is too small thus making too much distracting detail in the background.

I see one your commenters suggests using an even smaller aperture to increase the DOF to the flowers. From your title it could be argued that the flowers are the most important aspect in which case focussing on the flowers with a much bigger aperture may have thrown the man into soft focus in which case you could adjust the aperture to get enough detail in him but no more thereby reducing the background clutter with emphasis where it matters.

I do agree with one of your commenters that a reflector would have helped illuminate the mans face better. I also feel the composition would benefit from being decentralised, you could crop the left side of the image completely right up to the watering can. This would place your subject on the third and get rid of unwanted background clutter. I hope this helps in the meantime continue to enjoy your neighbours harvest! Sid