Sensual Seductress
by basssman7

Comment:
This image has great potential but it will fail to ribbon for the following reasons:
1) it has breasts (which are beautifully shaped, but controversial enough @ DPC)
2) the left hand is bent in the wrist in a funny way
3) the neck and the head do not appear to belong with the rest of the body.
Another suggestion for improvement: there is either a shadow or visible pants near the waist line. You could have cropped these, to leave more to imagination.

And whatever you do in the future, don't act on my suggestion #1.

Bath Time
by youngnova

Comment:
Nice mood. However, has a sense of lack of contrast. If it:
1) had more contrast, (without blowing highlights) and
2) did not have the towels that are disracting clutter to me,
it would have been a serious contender for a ribbon. 7.

Little Buddha
by mia67

Comment:
It seems that while the candlelight does add in a positive way to the illumination of the scene, there is another rather strong backlight behind buddha's back that does not seem to be helping the candlelight imagery. In other words, having darker backdrop light would have helped this photo in my opinion. 6.

Bath time
by RichSeal

Comment:
This image is supposed to convey the feeling of ultimate relaxation, or that's what I would hope for in a situation like this. However, your model's posture does not seem to be the most comfortable one. The shoulders are a bit too high for comfort. Still, nice topic for the challenge, very tastefully done, with the just right DOF. I'd like to see it with more stooped shoulders (if and when you get a chance). Would make a whole point or two difference. 7.

Andrea-StPete
by bpcardona

Comment:
It looked promising as a thumbnail, but I got dissapointed with the lack of sharpness on this one. I am not against soft-focus photos, but this one does not look appealing to me. It came across as OOF at first sight and I could not bring myself to love it as a soft image.
Perhaps if you dodge the whites of the eyes a bit it may help bring them out more and reduce the (to me negative) effect of softness.

Andrea-WH
by bpcardona

Comment:
Deep DOF works well here. Since it is black&white, the background is not distracting and adds to the composition. As a suggestion to get rid of the undesirable blown highlights (which is the main drawback of this photo), I would recommend using some fill-flash so that you can reduce the shutterspeed and get more detail out of the sky in the background.

Edit to add: the hearts on her neck are flipped. A minor thing, I know, but as they are present in the photo, they should be right.

Message edited by author 2005-12-15 09:52:50.

Andrea-StPete
by bpcardona

Comment:
I feel that this one could benefit from a wider aperture (shallower DOF). This way everything is in focus and she is competing with the interesting background for attention in the photo. The composition is excellent, the rule of 3rds works well here.
See if you can blur some of that background in postprocessing and if it really is better or not.

A Fork in the Road
by Nobody

Comment:
I could not stop laughing when I read your description. I am still chuckling imagining you do it. I don't think that this "photographer's rights" paper-printout would have saved you if someone called the authorities on you - it would be the insane asylum people after you, not the DHS.

Oh, technically it is noce. Crooked horizon spoils it a bit, and I would have preferred to see the open-ended road in the background (if such composition was available to you at the time.) Nice DOF, just the right amount of blur.

ABSTRACT
by mia67

Comment:
This could benefit from just a tad deeper DOF. Bokeh is nice, but the top fork is lacking sharpness. Also, you should have cloned out the dust speckles from the bottom of the 'abstract' object. Good luck. 5.

Night Splash
by SandyP

Comment:
I loved this one. Why would anybody request a validation on this one?!