Gold Over Gotham
by Pretzel

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

Great silhouettes and sky that meets the challenge full on.

Your cityscape has a lot of interesting silhouetted shapes which against the clear but golden sky works very well. I like your starburst sun from the tiny aperture you have used it forms a good strong focal point that is very beneficial to the image.

The softness that one of your commenters has picked up on is probably due to that very small aperture I usually tend to avoid using the smallest aperture for this very reason. Well done for correcting your dirty sensor, something I failed to spot with a recent entry of mine until it was too late, I got justifiably penalised for it, I'm glad you picked up on it as you did.

Thanks for your submission, Sid

Cloud Light
by clickodak

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An interesting cloudscape that meets the challenge

It's often difficult to accurately record the stunning beauty of nature as we see it, the camera's metering being geared to produce an average result for an average scene but what you have here is beyond the camera's ability to accurately record being outside the dynamic range that it has.

What lets the image down most of all for me is the massive burnt out area in the middle where the sun was at its brightest and also your processing. In your attempts to rescue the shot you have gone too far with the processing and you now have an unnatural abruptness between the transition areas where there should be a softer natural blending from one colour to another. These sort of shots usually work best in more natural surroundings so here we are left with near silhouettes that in themselves do not form interesting enough shapes so we really need to see more of the detail itself.

Sorry Marcel, it doesn't work for me this time but a potentially good attempt, thanks for submitting, Sid

breezes
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A lovely nature shot that tries to meet the challenge in a different and interesting way.

Given the specifics of the challenge brief that the shot should be taken during the golden hour of dusk or dawn I'm not sure that your image exhibits the qualities of light that are to be expected at those times. Don't get me wrong, I do like the shot and the way it portrays a golden feel through the lovely colour of the crop. I also like the golden bokeh and the shapes that the crop is being blown into slanting across the frame as it does.

What I don't like is the overexposure, in particular on the crucial area of the topmost head which is probably the most important of all of the heads. One or two of the bokeh circles are also burnt out which detracts in an important part of the image. The top of the image is horribly burnt out too which detracts from the overall result somewhat. It is this area that signifies to me that it was not taken during the softer and more amenable light of the golden hour and therefore fails to meet the challenge directly, the light is just too harsh.

I do like your interpretation, thanks for the submission, Sid

Converse shoes meeting
by clickodak

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

Congratulations on a great interpretation that fully meets the challenge.

Well done for coming up with such a very effective idea to create such an excellent image that has been justifiably rewarded with unanimous appreciation here. The key around which the image centres is the white toed circle binding the shoes and the image as a whole together. The other equally strong element of your image is the square crop excluding the empty detail from the shoes this makes it work very well indeed. I also like the child's colourful shoes at two o'clock, they also add to the overall effect.

I'm really pleased for you that the image has done so well with so many warm accolades from an appreciative audience, very well done Marcel, Sid

There's No Place Like Home
by mlhannah

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An effective shot that meets the challenge well.

Your lighting is good in the way it is emphasising the manufacturer's name which is a name I am unfamiliar with but I assume is associated with a quality shoe? I also like the way the other heel reflects the wear that the shoes have had, this is a refreshing change from stock type images of brand new shoes that look as though they have come straight off the advertising page. That same lighting is picking out the textures of the leather and the stitching in a way that adds to the detail of the whole image.

I'm looking at your exif data and really wondering why you have used such a very small aperture? I know you are close to the shoes and therefore a reduced DOF but given the restricted depth within the shoes themselves I would have thought you could have used something nearer f8-f11 and still got everything in sharp focus. The reasons I mention it are mainly that you are making life harder for yourself in that your shutter speed is much slower thereby requiring good camera support and the smallest aperture will often degrade the overall image quality. Often as well the ISO is raised to get back to more manageable shutter speeds although I'm glad to see you have not done so here.

Anyway, thanks for your submission, Sid

drunken landscape trying to sing
by posthumous

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An interesting image, the product of an enquiring mind

Although your images are often very different from each other I am starting to recognise your uniqueness which separates them from so much other work on DPC. You are not afraid to experiment and whats more you are not afraid to share them which enables us all to benefit from some interesting experimental imagery. This is another interesting example where we are treated to some recognisably near focused aspects together with some wildly out of focus elements in a reversal of what would be expected from a less experimental approach.

I don't regard this as anywhere near your best work but nevertheless it is no less interesting for the end result in helping us look at a scene in a very different way and at least one other person appreciates it too! Thanks Don, Sid

full bore
by sidpixel

Comment:
I do wish I could stop being allocated my own images for critique!!!

If anyone stops by and feels the urge to critique this I would be eternally grateful, thank you in anticipation.

Shoe
by CRoche

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An original approach that meets the challenge.

I like the originality of your entry I am confident its the only one of its type in this challenge. As one of your commenters has already remarked should the shore be more or less visible? So, let's explore both approaches, if you had made the show more visible then it would have more readily fitted in with the challenge theme and perhaps achieved a higher score, who knows. Completely invisible, well then it meets the challenge in an implied sort of way which may detract voters, however done well the red light would show up better and I think it has the greater potential.

This is where the image falls down a little in that the wavy red led outline has good definition on the sole it starts to fail on the uppers and is a complete near miss on the heel. I think if you could have defined the outline more consistently throughout you would have had a much stronger image.

I must commend you for your originality, keep those creative juices flowing, Sid

A L L • S T A R S
by Ja-9

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

Congratulations on your high placing for this appealing shot that meets the challenge well.

As has already been observed by your commenters this would a make good advertising stock image. You have chosen well in your choice of location and background, placing of the shoes, aperture and focus point, it all works very well together.

I like the whites, however, I feel it has been pushed a little too far, there is some overexposure and loss of detail, I think probably half a stop less would have retained the detail. It is not a major issue but to me it is evident and undesirable. There is a blueish tinge on the whites that would also benefit from some adjustment. I like the orange colour and worn nature of the road lines together with the textures, it adds a nice touch.

Well done Janine, Sid

Fired Up
by mrjssims

Comment:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that meets the challenge well.

What I like most about your image is the crop it makes the image very appealing and so much more interesting than the bog standard 'chuck it in the middle' approach that is so often seen. However, what lets it down badly is what I suspect to be camera shake. I'm not sure what size your lens was but as you are probably already aware your shutter speed needs to be correspondingly higher as you go further up the telephoto range. There is no sharpness anywhere which has also been exacerbated by your cropping in on it, perhaps at original resolution you may have got away with it, but it is plainly evident here I'm afraid.

It is essential to meet this challenge that you caught the flame in a very obvious sort of way and this you have achieved, well done. The sky is a very vivid blue I think it would benefit from being toned a little, it is quite overpowering as it is.

It's a shame that it wasn't sharper it would have scored higher but thanks for submitting, Sid.