r h y t h m
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

Another successful return to a familiar theme Janine, congratulations on your ribbon.

Thanks for your submission

The Hogwarts Curve
by MAK

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

What an admirable feat and enduring legacy of railway engineering! Your image has captured some lovely detail in this magnificent structure yet, it all somehow fails to convince in an obscure way. The landscape itself feels strangely barren with a patchy smudginess particularly around some of the clumps of trees as though there has been some post-processing applied in certain areas? Given the detail in the man-made structure against the natural though unconvincing background it somehow feels as though it has been transposed onto the scene, I̢۪m not saying that is the case but that is the effect. Also, magnificent a structure as it is, it just doesn̢۪t feel an ideal choice of subject for the square crop, I̢۪m sorry, but it all feels rather uncomfortable in a hard to define sort of way, it̢۪s just not working for me.

Sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge, I hope this makes up for it. Thanks for your submission Marac

Water & Wax
by riot

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that makes a significant contribution to the free challenge

It̢۪s pleasing to see you experimenting to find a unique angle to make your images stand out, well done. I would say, that in the main, the angle has worked though the wide angle distortion does have an effect that it is not always easy to control in a creative way so whilst its obviously distorted on the edges of the frame, because her hair is hanging over the edge of the bath the elongation is perfectly acceptable. The things I like less are all the blown highlights from the candle-only lighting which is inevitable to retain all of the important detail of the lady in the bath. The other thing is her right leg looks as though it has been amputated, its nice to have the leg raised but only slightly out of the water would have been better. A crop of just the bath alone significantly improves the end result, do we really need to see the end wall? Finally, some colour balancing would also have improved it.

Thanks for your original idea Eugene

Furious Skies
by sacredspirit

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that makes a significant contribution to the free challenge

A great capture of the lightening strikes, it works well in subtly toned mono. I̢۪m not sure if this is one or multiple exposures? Anyway, the end result is very effective though I feel a little frustrated that I cannot see more of the water reflecting the lightening, I know it would have been difficult to predict where the strikes would sit but given the end result it might have been more effective in portrait orientation so that we could see more of the water. That aside it is still an interesting composition and a great end result well done.

Thanks for your entry Jason

Autumn garden
by tigerluong

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that makes a contribution to the free challenge

It looks an interesting location with some variety of foliage. The time of day has made the light very difficult to work with it is very high contrast and in order to retain some detail in the shadows it looks as though you have probably had to use some plus exposure compensation? This has affected the highlights blowing them in important parts of the image particularly badly on the tree stump. I would suggest that a little less +EC would have been advisable to avoid the overexposure and the shadows have quite some leeway for darkening. You might try reducing the exposure in PS and compare the results I think you will probably favour the darker version?

Thanks for your entry Frank

Hvalnes, april 10, 5.45am.
by EgillP

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that makes contributes well to the free challenge

A very appealing landscape that shouts Iceland! What really gives this image its impact are the tiny buildings at the foot of the immense hills behind them. Because of that I think the composition could have been substantially improved to emphasise that aspect of the image much more effectively. I find myself very distracted by the two posts and their reflections, they are negating the effect that you are after so I would crop them out completely in favour of more of the hill on the right. Also, I would remove the immediate land in the foreground in favour of the water, this again would emphasise the tiny nature of the buildings in relation to their surroundings. I think if you had stood nearer the water and tilted your camera down to include more water and less sky this would have improved the overall result.

Thanks for your entry Egill

Lunar Textures
by Drake

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that makes a contribution to the free challenge

The level of detail is, as you have remarked, quite amazing. Looking at your technical details 1/400 at f5.6 at ISO 100 you̢۪re right, it was brightly lit, wow! Whilst you have a very competent shot with lots of surface detail its low contrast detracts somewhat, I think you could have given it more impact by raising the contrast so that the moon really shone out from the black background. There̢۪s not a lot you can do compositionally but I think placing it slightly off-centre does improve it a little.

Thanks for your entry Drake

purity • strength • dignity
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that contributes well to the free challenge

As this was revealing itself to me on my screen I said to myself ‘this has the Janine look of quality about it’, your work is identifiable for all the right reasons. The flower has a three dimensional feel to it that gives it impact, it stands out very effectively against the dark background which in itself has just the right level of detail. There are a few small highlights on the tips of the petals that are a bit borderline but that would be my only minor criticism. There is good DOF throughout and the composition is slightly off-centre which also adds, really not a lot wrong here.

Thanks for another lovely entry Janine

My nest
by nacho_are

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

A lovely bird study that meets the challenge

I like your shot, you have taken the effort to get low down, we are able to engage with the scene at the bird level which is always much more effective. I also like your composition, with the bird on the lower right vertical of the rule of thirds and the eggs in the background next to her. However, the object in the background is a little distracting, cropping it out is a possibility but cloning would probably be a better choice to leave a little more space around the bird. This is also an effective study because it is showing the birds behaviour in protecting its eggs she has adopted an aggressive posture. What does let the shot down is the white balance, instead of lovely crisp whites there is a blue tint that spoils the effect, this should be corrected by adjusting the white balance in PS.

Thank you for a lovely entry Yazid

Mist at sundown
by gmink

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge

This looks like an interesting scene caught during the ‘golden hour’ with a lovely sunset. Unfortunately, this is a classic example of the light controlling the exposure and underexposing important detail in your foreground. Some plus exposure compensation, at least a stop, would have rescued the foreground but at the expense of the sky but you could have merged the two together in PS to get the best of both exposures. Alternatively, if you only have the one exposure you can still do the same with two versions at different exposures within PS. Or you could select the foreground and dodge it back to lighten it up. Whichever method you choose to use the end result you need to aim for is more detail in the foreground, it is just too dark.

Thank you for your entry Gaylord.