Appiers To Be Frozen
by liberty

Comment:
Certainly can be cold out there, especially when that wind picks up! :-)

Thought I recognized this pier at first glance, but it's not St. Joe...South Haven maybe? Hmmm.

Don't want to hijack your photo thread, so I'll just post the photo id # (456230). St. Joseph in January...VERY cold!

BTW - I loved your play on words in your title. :)

Edit - typo.

Message edited by author 2008-02-27 09:00:58.

Free Fall
by pmk

Comment:
A top ten finish in your first challenge. How sweet is that?! :-)

Well done. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Life is Cool
by cheegirl

Comment:
He-he. This wouldn't work on just any dog...that "facial" expression is perfect for this with the downturned "mouth". This photo has giftcard written all over it! Good luck in the challenge.

my bulldog puppy
by jamesfrater

Comment:
Such an emotional expression! :) A little bit of catchlight in the eyes would boost this some. However, you did a nice job of handling the backlit environment in this. Good luck.

Concentrate
by cogerox

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First Impression

Bright with good details.

Looking Deeper

After having a minute to absorb this photo I find it to be done well overall. The details that jumped out at me when I first opened this are partially due to the bright colors I think. Add a very nice tonal range (white & blank points) with good contrast and my mind is sold.

The area around the rider's face (nose in particular) seem a bit oversharpened?

I think you did a nice job of capturing a true "panning" shot with this. Shutter speed and panning movement combined well to get the right amount of background blurring.

One thing that may have held this down some is that there isn't much room for the biker to move into - the composition is a bit tight IMO. A little more room to the right would have made this stronger.

Hmmm. I just read thru the comments you received during the challenge. Quite a few thought this shot didn't convey enough motion and that the results were accomplished with a shallow DOF.

Maybe 1/60 was too fast after all? :-) 1/30 would have showed more motion, but been trickier to keep the subject in focus.

Still, I'm a little surprised at the score. Had I seen this ahead of time I would have predicted 5.5xxx to 5.8xxx. But then again, I'm not the best at predicting. :-)

I thought you made a nice effort. There's always next time, eh?

Questions? If yes, feel free to send me a PM and let me know. Thanks!

I'll take my toast well done!
by jrmyrnsm

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First Impression

Crispy! Why? Quickly followed by, why not? :-)

Looking Deeper

Glad you didn't burn up your kitchen taking this shot. The flames are actually quite nice. Some good height to them and nice color too!

From a technical standpoint the flames are the primary subject with the toast being a close secondary. The flames are also going to be the focal point from an illumination standpoint. This makes everything else seem like darker (secondary) players. Hmmm...having a hard time with technicals on this shot. What else... Compositionally the plate balances out the flames and keeps the presentation from becoming too centered. The noise (lack thereof actually) is good - nice clean image in that regard.

Could you have used another background? With the flames I can't imagine using anything flammable...hmmm.

I don't know. I guess in the long run the photo is fun and humorous. Not extremely exciting, but not a dull poorly done entry either...kind of middle of the road. A safe shot to get a quick chuckle from, hit the '5' button, and move on.

Wish I could say more in a constructive criticism mode...

I'm glad you had fun putting it together and I do want to say "Thanks" for putting comments in the Photographer's Comment area (not many people make that effort).

Questions? Let me know. Thanks!

Bread Man
by posthumous

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First Impression

Cute! That's the first thing that honestly came to mind. :) Then comes "ta-da!" as it appears the bread man is making a grand entrance.

Looking Deeper

Yes, it's cute, clever, and all that, but there are some positive items here in the method of presentation. The positioning of objects are obviously well thought out. A nice play on angles with the basket coming across from the upper-left (nice leading line also BTW), and the cushioned furniture back coming across from the mid to upper-right. The way these lines intersect brings the viewer right into the main subject area, and quite naturally.

The technicals are all in place with nice DOF, good use of lighting, and a well focused subject. Read your notes...good use of exposure comp to handle it.

Looks like you had fun putting this together, and I certainly enjoyed taking another look at it. :-)

Questions? Let me know. Thanks.

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! :-)