Surfing
by micro

Comment:
Congrats micro! Great shot!

Peace
by RudyC310

Comment:
This shot seems to lack a coherent subject or theme to me. Yes, it's a peaceful shot of a field and something in the background, but there's nothing to grab or hold the viewer's interest. I made a similar mistake (although much more grievous) with a challenge entry of mine (Hay Fever), and learned a LOT from coming in 500 out of 506 entries! I got lots of comments about "no subject", "lack of focus", "where is this going", "not interesting", etc. And while these don't hold as true for this shot, some of them do. I would suggest asking yourself why you took this shot and what you want to say with it. Then examine the shot and decide what elements support these two things and what elements don't. I think you may be surprised at the answers - I know I was...

Towering Tower
by RudyC310

Comment:
Beautiful shot with nice definition & DOF. I do see quite a bit of noise in the background though, that I think could be cleaned up with processing. Great colors and I like the angle.

Blue
by RudyC310

Comment:
This is a cool car image. I like the crop and the angled shot. Nice detail and DOF too. VW about to overtake an Audi? Perhaps... ;-)

327
by RudyC310

Comment:
I'm not a big 327 fan, but this shot doesn't do it justice IMHO. The crop is too tight and the sepia tones just don't work for me in this one. Looks like you've got some great detail available, but it's lost without color and highlights.

Food Please
by RudyC310

Comment:
Nice shot - lovely tones. I like the fact that the sea lion's curved body lines lead the viewer through the entire shot. Good work.

Standing Still
by RudyC310

Comment:
To me, the white is blown out in this shot, causing you to lose a LOT of definition. I'd even consider cropping it a little closer on the bottom too.

Peace and Prey
by RudyC310

Comment:
Not a big cat fan, but I think you got a great shot of this one. Really nice use of B/W and the composition is great.

Waterfall
by RudyC310

Comment:
I like the shot and the idea - I'd like to see it a little more off-center though. Nice colors!

Pot
by hannafate

Comment:
*Greetings from Critique Club*

First of all, I think this met the Circle Challenge very well (I scored it a 7). This shot has a lot going for it. It screams simplicity - which is great. The composition is terrific - I like the offset subject with the leading shadow. I can't really tell too much about the lighting (other than the shadows) because of the graininess of the image, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I like the color use too - black and white always work in my book, and the additional color in the light reflection on the vase is nice, not overpowering. I also like the border - again, simple and elegant, not too flashy.

Now to the graininess (I assume it was not an artistic choice, as I don't feel it adds to the image or mood of the piece). This could be from the original, just poor focus/DOF or a result of post-processing - maybe a mixture of both. Any way you slice it, that is the biggest downfall of this image IMHO. Because you're working on simple as a theme, it needs to be sharp, crisp, and distinctive. I think if you were to pump up the contrast and reduce the backlighting, it would add a sharpness to your shot that it is currently lacking. It would also increase the "pop" factor with the additional contrast.

Overall, I still think it's a strong entry and perfectly suited to the challenge. You might want to consider reshooting it and experimenting with your camera settings and the lighting to see if you can get a sharper image, because it has all the makings of a really great one.

Remember, this is just my 2 cents - your opinion is the one that matters!

Jimmy