Haleakalā Milky Way
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that contributes well to the free challenge

A very accomplished image of the Milky Way in the night sky. Though I like the rugged line of the landscape I tend to agree with one of your commenters especially against such an impressive night sky. You could easily improve the shot with a panoramic crop that excludes most of the foreground thereby placing even more emphasis on the sky. You may even consider a letterbox type crop which removes the very bright star and placing all emphasis on the Milky Way itself?

Given your very respectable score and placing it obviously works well enough! Well done doc.

Italian Racer
by Phocal

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that partially meets the challenge

Creative use of this fish-eye lens has enabled you to present an interesting image of an everyday subject. It has distorted the bike in an appealing way that emphasises the chainwheel and wheels to suggest the potential power that is latently waiting to be let loose. However, the lack of a saddle seriously impedes the end result. As for the challenge brief of image grain although there feels a suggestion of grain it is not very pronounced, given this sort of challenge it needs to be a lot more evident than it is.

Sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge, I hope this helps. Thanks for your entry Ronnie

Turtle Island
by tigerluong

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that contributes to the free challenge

Overall, I like your image the composition works well with the distant island balanced against the foreground trees with an interesting mid-ground that gives a feeling of depth and height to the location. What lets the shot down badly is heavy-handed over-sharpening which is a shame because sharpening in this predominantly soft-focus shot was not even needed, it would have given a much more natural looking result without any sharpening. Don̢۪t feel that you always have to sharpen and when you do use it try to use it subtly looking carefully at the end result for any tell-tale halos such as those you have around the tree branches.

Thanks for your entry Frank

Cycling in the Dark
by dpeden182

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge well

As a fellow cyclist I find your image interesting and appealing, it works well in mono. In terms of the composition it could be improved, tilting the camera down to exclude some of the top in preference for the lower half would have helped and although I like the curve of the pavement, to keep it means including the very distracting person in the background. She stands out quite dominantly but has a very unorthodox pose that is not in feeling with the rest of the image. Your timing could have been better a fraction later to hide the motor-cyclist behind her.

I would always advocate shooting in colour and doing your mono conversion on the laptop for total control of the end result which is more often better than anything the in-camera processing is capable of.

It̢۪s great to see you taking up this wonderful pastime at such a young age, keep at it Peter and good luck with your future entires.

-Loading-the-Crab-Pots-
by sfalice

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting image that contributes to the free challenge

There is some interesting detail in the pots and ropes and the handling of them and together with the colours which are very vibrant it makes for an interesting image. What I think lets the image down is that it feels too tightly cropped, although its not essential to see the missing details it does not make for an appealing crop in its own right. The image as a whole feels very cluttered with all the elements competing for each other including the background which would be better in softer focus. Amongst all this the dayglo emblem on the mans hat on the left is so vivid that it too grabs your attention in a detrimental way.

Thanks for your entry Alice

The Tallest Inclined Tower in the world. Experience advisor
by clickodak

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well.

Wow, is this for real Marcel! What an amazing structure! I like your composition coming in diagonally from the corner it works well. The mono presentation and the way the top of the building starts to blend into mist also works very well. The cables, I assume, are supporting a roof of some sort? Part of me wishes I could see a bit more of this part of the image to confirm that but as it is it adds an intriguing element but the main structure is so incredible that it is right to place all the emphasis upon this part of the image, I'm pretty sure this would have been my approach too. It could be argued that there is a lack of contrast but again I think the structure is powerful that this low contrast approach works to good effect.

Thank you for your incredible entry Marcel, very fitting for the challenge.

Sunshine Coast beach.
by Pompouspete

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well.

A lovely beach that could be seen in a tourist brochure to reflect the potential for families and surfers alike with your holiday accommodation in close proximity, so well done for finding the ideal location. Having said that my preference would be for a more natural backdrop as opposed to the man-made predominance of the buildings. I feel the image overall lacks contrast, especially in the sky, some attention here bring it more to life. Also, you have committed the sin to be avoided in any seascape shot, you have a sloping sea, it not too evident but it is there and is easily rectified, do try to avoid it if you can.

Thanks for your entry Peter.

You should see the icecaves in Iceland
by otto22

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well.

Congratulations on your well deserved ribbon. Yet another superb image of such a magical place, every time we see yet another amazing image it fills us green with envy to live in such a tremendous location. Your red jacket makes you stand out vividly from the incredible blues of the background, though I think a blue jacket against the blue background with this pose would have worked even better in that it would have been a subtle surprise that adds an unexpected element. Also, I find the roof by far the most appealing part of the image and wish that I could see more of it, I think a re-composition cropped at just below the mound the person is standing on with him further to the right would have enabled you to make an even more impressive use of the wonderful shapes and textures of that roof which is where all the impact is.

Well done Otto, thanks for another amazing entry.

Welcome to Whistler!
by CameliaM

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well.

What a great location to live, lucky you! This is a very competent landscape that would fit perfectly in any tourist guide of the area, well done. Like any good landscape image it relies upon the quality of the light but also being predominantly white it is easy to get the exposure of such a shot wrong, you've generally done a good job here though there may be scope for a hint more exposure without blowing the highlights to emphasise the whites. The lighting gives the scene a much more three dimensional feel. There is a blue cast that may benefit from some subtle correction but this may not truly reflect the scene you had before you. I think the composition could be improved by placing the peak further to the right so that it balances more with the trees in the lower left and we also get to see more of them.

As an obviously keen skier what better place could you ask to live, thank you for sharing your piece of paradise with us Camelia and good luck with your future entries.

Pyros
by dtremain

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An interesting attempt that does not meet the challenge

In terms of the challenge brief there are no aspects of this image that are ‘ridiculously disproportionate’, everything feels in correct proportion. If you look at the challenge winners it will be immediately evident what was required to fulfil the challenge brief. The subject matter itself is also unconvincing it appears to be a normal controlled situation where everything appears as you would expect it to. Thank you for your processing details, I assume the second man is the pasted man, being a little larger than the foreground man? Again, there is not enough to differentiate their sizes this could be as expected in the normal scheme of size difference between people.

I̢۪m sorry to be rather negative about your entry David but I would recommend you have a look at the successful front page entries for a fuller appreciation of what was needed to succeed in this challenge. Thanks for your entry, better luck next time.