Pretty Kitty
by Becky143

Comment:
Wow. That cat has some HAIR! From the thumbnail it looks even cooler, like the cats head is this small face in the middle of flowing hair (kind of like a persons). :-)

Don't know if you made an artistic choice to backlight this shot. With the hair it's a good thought. Problem then becomes balancing the lighting out to fill in the face. Fill flash or a reflector of some sort would really help this photo reach it's potential. Because of the lighting it's hard to tell if the eyes are sharply focused or not...the eyes in a portrait are key and we should be able to see them a little better.

All JMO of course. :-) Good luck in the challenge.

My Dog Max
by sallyjo1

Comment:
Max looks very interested in something. Ok...who do you have dangling on the fence? :-) I know I'd think twice about coming over seeing him!

From a technical standpoint the photo is sharp where it counts (his eye) and good detail in that immediate area and lower neck. Considering how this composition brings the dogs "face" in pretty close, a smaller aperture with deeper DOF may have brought the score up some. The pole in the bottom right is a slight attention grabber.

Good luck in the challenge.

round5.jpg
by khdoss

Comment:
Nice placement of the subject within the frame. I like how he's looking across and that there's room for him to do so. It'd been nice to have just a tad faster shutter speed to freeze his hand motion. Wait, scratch that...I think maybe that adds to the moment and helps with the story.

Well done! :-)

Drop 3.jpg
by dssagent88

Comment:
It came out fairly decent for a first attempt I'd say. Usually when you see this kind of photo it's "perfect" in every sense; the drop, the lighting, controlled reflections, etc...

Here, the slight imperfectness adds to the charm IMO. Makes it seem "real" and not so staged at the same time.

My kitchen! My powertools!
by snaffles

Comment:
Great pose and setting. Cat's are always so curious, I'm sure yours was quite interested in the new "stuff" in his/her domain. :)

I can understand this being a hand-held quick shot, and the composition works perfectly, but the image is blurred a little. Then it appears that some detail was lost in trying to recover with a combo of noise reduction and sharpening on the cat? All JMO of course. Good luck in the challenge.

Lexie
by BeckyT

Comment:
Wonderful pose, and nice lighting to get catchlights in her eyes. Either Lexie has extremely soft fur, or some detail was washed out with noise reduction?

Well done!

Feel The Speed
by lolor275

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First Impression

Feels tight (like it was cropped too close, or composed that way), harsh (illuminated with a flash), and blurry (not smooth). While all or any of these first impressions may be incorrect, it's just what came to mind upon first seeing this photo.

Looking Deeper

For a panning shot I think you may want a little more blur to indicate motion and speed, especially with a subject like a racing motorcycle. A slower shutter speed (1/30 or 1/60) and a longer pan would accomplish this. The limited amount of background blur looks like a mistake and the motorcycle seems to be standing nearly still.

With a moving subject it's usually helpful to have some breathing room for the subject to move into. The subject here seems to have gotten past you some. Releasing the shutter while the motorcycle was roughly 10 feet more to left would have given you a better look at the rider and enabled you to leave more room to the right in the framing/composition.

Not sure what to make of the lighting. It does seem somewhat harsh from either flash or very strong arena lighting. The rider's suit appears to be reflective which isn't helping any either. Without knowing the details it's hard to address alternatives. On a positive note, better to have this amount of light rather than not enough. :-)

One other item to mention is the size of your challenge entry photo. It's not maximizing full potential. Your longest side is 600 (you can go to 640), and the file size is only 1/3 of the allowable of 150kb. A larger image with full detail will usually score a bit higher.

If you have any questions, or need clarification on a point, please feel free to send me a PM. Thanks.

Waterfront Living
by NicNic101

Comment:
Hi Nicole,

I noticed your comment in the Pet scores thread about getting rude comments on a recent challenge entry...so being curious I had to take a look. :-)

First, in your own words (from the Photographer's Comments area): "I know it is not a very clear picture... I WILL get a lot of flack for that".

Of the 10 comments you received during the challenge, every one of them mentioned "grain, noise, fuzziness", etc...

To me this just confirms your own thoughts about this image; "it is not very clear". Granted, some of the comments could have been more in-depth, and only 1 borders on rude IMO (if you take "the h**l" part out, it becomes a legitimate question).

I agree with your observations that this is a unique building. Under different circumstances I'd bet this building could do well in an architecture challenge. Perhaps early or late in the day with maybe some still water and nice reflections? What does it look like at night? Is it lit up? A little closer in maybe where it fills the frame more and eliminate some of the side distractions?

Please also consider that of the 193 votes you received, the large majority scored this at 4 or under. Be grateful that of those, 10 chose to comment and to give you some indication of what held the score down. Many on this site beg for feedback - any feedback - on why their entry scored low.

Overall, I think you picked a good subject. Just some fine tuning and listening to your own instincts would have helped in making decisions to improve this photo before submitting it for public review.

All JMO of course. :-)

Lassie
by zifengw

Comment:
This is a nice profile and you've captured nice details in her fur. While the profile is nice, I'd like to know her better by seeing her face (the eyes can really sell a portrait).

The background, in many other situations would be exceptional. The bokeh is quite pleasing. Getting a conflict with the colorful background against her fur coat with competing colors.

All JMO of course. :) Best of luck to you in the challenge.

Stella
by Rino63

Comment:
Stella is too close to the camera! Show us more of her and by backing up you can increase the DOF so her nose isn't OOF. A little bit sloppy on the selection in post-processing as you can see a distinct line where the selection was made to wipe-out/darken the background.