Ashes to ashes
by snaffles

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An excellent image that meets the challenge well.

Wow Susan! Everything about this is just so good, right from the original concept of the idea through to the finished result, there is a lot of thought and hard work that has been put into this. I cannot fault it but I suppose I can see why you got the comment about the teardrop but your explanation, which was obviously not available to your commenter, clarifies it.

You were up against some tough opposition regardless of the invincible gyaban but thoroughly deserving of your high score and placing, well done and thanks for your original creativity in this sad challenge.

Seasoned - Pano
by gipper11

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge.

This is quite an interesting study, I like that you have chosen three different shapes and colours of the leaves. I also like that the floorboards on which the are shown has been carefully and deliberately photographed on the diagonal it makes the end result a lot more dynamic. Those same boards, however, feel a little unreal, as though have been over-sharpened, its not a major issue and I suppose it helps make the leaves a little more prominent. The only small problem is the lighting on the green leaf on the left, it is not as uniform as the others and detracts a little but again its not a major issue.

I'm pleased for you that it has been well received here and got you on the front page, well done, thanks for your entry.

Lady Bug on Wheat
by PartyPaul

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

A lovely golden image that has a natural appeal, although it feels somewhat overexposed it suits the nature of the image well. The shallow DOF works well. The ladybird is the obvious focal point for the image and that is where I have a problem. I wish you had composed it more off-centre to the left, I also wish you had completely excluded the distracting sky, so I would suggest a crop just to the right of the furthest tendrils of the ladybird's stalk and just below the lowest point of the sky, I think this would make a big difference to your end result.

Well done, thank you for your entry.

Dragon
by darnok

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

A very impressive aurora landscape. Your choice of viewpoint has made effective use of the mountain backdrop together with the beach foreground to create additional interest. The obvious crowning glory of your shot is the aurora itself a truly impressive spectacle that you have captured well. Its quite uncanny the way the aurora has mimicked the shape of the mountains. In any other challenge this would have won but you have a well deserved front page position.

Well done, thank you for your entry.

The Summit
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

A very impressive landscape Janine, made even more impressive by the lovely lighting. The water and its lovely reflection make a good foreground point of interest. What a lovely sky you have to complete the effect, however, the upper right feels quite empty in relation to the rest of the frame and I wonder whether a panoramic crop just above the mountains may have improved the end result? It's the nature of this demanding challenge that your image didn't finish higher but it remains a very competent and appealing landscape.

Well done, thank you for your entry.

Convergence
by sfalice

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

A great cloudscape your composition works well to emphasise the vast expanse of cloud. I like that you have waited for the cyclist to add additional interest to your image. I think this would have worked better in mono, the cyclists yellow jacket is such a strong focus point it pulls your eyes away from the sky itself, the distant car may also become less obvious in mono. You could really make those clouds stand out against a strong red filtered sky, I think it would give it huge boost of impact.

Well done, thank you for your entry.

Clouds in the Evening
by dpeden182

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

Great viewpoint and great use of the fisheye lens to create something a bit different. I like your commenters analogy with a giant dandelion ΓΆ€“ excellent. I can understand why you were captivated by the marvellous colours of the clouds, I find them absolutely fascinating. Although I'm no fan of HDR your processing is quite sympathetically done, although in this instance you could argue that the extra detail detracts from the clouds themselves therefore diluting the effectiveness of your entry for this particular challenge. I also think the blue of the sky would benefit from some desaturation. All in all a competent image

Well done, thank you for your entry.

Winters Eye
by Phocal

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

There's no denying that clouds are definitely the subject here! I like your extreme composition it certainly captures the sunrise moment well, the start of a new day and new opportunities. I also like the resulting distortion from the fisheye lens but it feels unbalanced with the bulk of the land features on the right. In this situation where you are dealing with an obvious distortion like this a better option would have been to tilt the image to give it more balance, it really doesn't matter that your original horizon is way off level. Its good that you have captured some water to enable some reflections too.

Well done, thank you for your entry.

Watch your step !!!
by clickodak

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

At first I thought this was the same image as you won your yellow with Marcel, which effectively it is but a slightly different version. I can understand why you would want to do this given your previous success but these sort of challenges are in themselves very challenging and best met with an image that you consider to be your best as opposed to a DPC most successful. This image lacks the impact of your other in terms of processing, the mono tones and contrast are too limited. The image rotation of your other created an illusion and interest that is sadly lacking here. I think you could have tried something a bit more creative with a panoramic crop of the lower half of the shot with a much brighter background with burnt in shadows which would have given you something very different, perhaps you might try it and see what you think?

Well done, thank you for your entry.

6:35 am
by chalice

Comment:
Hello from the Critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge

I've no doubt that you have a much improved image from the original you describe but I think you may have just started to cross the tipping point in your processing, the sky is very noisy and unnatural looking especially at the top part of the frame. I think the darkening of the lower half has benefited especially given the challenge brief we don't want too much detail we need to have the sky dominate the image as indeed it does. However, the lump on the lower right is spoiling the composition for me I think a crop to remove that would be a big improvement. I'm sure there is a lot of potential in your original washed out image that with more subtle processing could give you an even better end result.

Well done, thank you for your entry.