the old doorkeeper
by Hoghemaru

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that fully meets the challenge

A good and interesting choice for the challenge. Your composition is very appealing with the padlock nicely off-centre and leading us nicely into the soft-focus locking aspect of the draw bolt that retains attention on the padlock in an appealing way. The texture and weather worn look of the wood adds to the overall appeal of the image as a whole. Well done Faio

No Trespassing
by clickodak

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that fully meets the challenge

An excellent image Marcel! I like your composition, DOF, focus viewpoint and most importantly the timing to show the suns warming effect on the cold metal as it transforms these surfaces into something very appealing and detailed. A lovely additional element is the inverted scene in the drops. You have good exposure and details throughout the image having avoided blowing the background highlights. The suns rays through the tree are another very appealing element. I have assumed the soft focus background is purely through choice of aperture and not post-processing gaussian blur? I only ask because the immediate foreground looks equally uniform in its softness. Anyway, this is a very strong image Marcel that shows good creative vision and technical handling, a very positive progression, very well done.

Morning Glory
by firefighter271

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that vaguely meets the challenge

Whilst your image is visually appealing with the horses as the focal point the strong backlighting dominates the shot to its detriment. There is a loss of detail in the animals but given the theme of the challenge gates would be the only obvious element to meet the challenge but your composition and lighting makes this difficult to discern. The fences are somewhat confusing in themselves it feels as though there is probably a gate on the right edge of the frame but it is not obviously apparent. Sorry you didn’t receive any comments during the challenge Ken, I hope this makes up for it.

Alpha
by riot

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

What an unusual window! Your viewpoint with the illuminated window behind has highlighted the detail of the bells making them even more prominent and ap’peal’ing, sorry couldn’t resist that. You were right to consider this for mono and a good job you’ve done of it too, there is a good range on tones with plenty of detail throughout. Well spotted Eugene, hope you enjoyed your time in Budapest.

E N T E R
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

Well done Janine, I think you have managed to fulfil all the elements of the challenge brief here! What a beautifully ornate doorway, thank you for your helpful and informative comments. The doorway itself, actually looks rather intimidating, like an alien about to consume you as you enter. The lighting is quite sympathetic with good detail throughout, although the door itself is a little vignetted it helps emphasise the middle doorway itself. I find the three items, 2 yellow and black and white oval in the lower right, whatever they are, rather distracting and feel they would be better cloned out.

Fancy Handles
by Cyrilda

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

Your single shot worked out well you have a good level of detail throughout, to be honest, I don’t really see sufficient range of contrasts that bracketing would have proved beneficial. Your composition is good with the most important elements, the handles, off-centre in an appealing sort of way. Whilst there is no real impact there is a generally appealing feel to the image with the interesting detail of the ornately decorated wood and its appealing shapes. Sorry you didn’t receive any comments during the challenge, hope this makes up for it.

Autumn Leaves
by clickodak

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

I like your composition and the colours within it. Whilst I can see why you have used this filter to fulfil the challenge brief I am no fan of these filters at all so I’m not really in a position to give you an unbiased opinion. I much prefer to see impressionism done in-camera, a couple of options to achieve this would be either to use a slow shutter speed with motion blur or complete lack of focus to produce a soft dreamy effect.

Garden of Monet
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

You have some lovely bright colours for your flowers which work well against the interesting background. Whilst I can see why you have used this filter to fulfil the challenge brief I am no fan of these filters at all so I’m not really in a position to give you an unbiased opinion. I see the title is indeed most accurate hope you are having or have had an enjoyable time in France Janine.

PyroTechnical
by riot

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that does not meet the challenge

You’re right Eugene, I recognised that amazing lens immediately! Whilst I do like your image, I have to agree with your commenters, in the strict interpretation of the challenge brief it is more abstract than impressionism. As an abstract it is excellent a truly unique representation of fireworks that I doubt any viewer was able to figure out without your engaging explanation. I very much like your creative approach in using the amazing array of lenses in bold experimental ways that enable you to create some very original images, keep up the good work.

Rosy Classic
by riot

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that fulfils the challenge brief

What a lovely image but you were unfortunately accurate with your prediction, at least you have the appreciation of a couple of people here. She is a lovely model and her pose is classic and very appealing adding a very sensual mystique. The only thing I might have altered is the crop to exclude the dark band of tiles, it gives away the fact that it has been shot into a shower/bathroom, the background tiles with this exposure are not immediately apparent without the blue band, it reveals too much and detracts just a little. Once more Eugene thanks for the illuminating notes you have included, you really do have some unique lenses, I like the way you are happy to experiment with these unusual lenses to create something genuine as opposed to relying and inevitably faking a less convincing result through PS.