We all begin our lives as innocent as a lamb
by Azrifel

Comment:
gorgeous pet portrait - hang on, wait - wrong challenge! Great baby animal pic. title does well to tie image to challenge. great DoF & colour. maybe lacks slight "x factor" needed to score very highly, but I like!

the clouds came first...
by kerjan

Comment:
there are a couple of other cload shots in the challenge the b&w one does this better (I think) but yours is better than most of the others. Perhaps not quite dramatic enough here. Sky could grade faster to darker blue (increased contrast would help) and clouds do not seem to have a very white colour at thier whitest - a levels tweak would help that. Compositionally, a bit more cloud or a bit more sky (depending on which is more interesting) with possible adherence to the rule of thirds would improve the image, I think.

Tragedies Beginning...
by theFinn

Comment:
Great picture - nicely taken.

Only criticism is in choice of book version, as collected works means that we see a lot of pages on LHS: doesn't imply "beginning". Also, while I agree that prologue is the right place to emphasise, it comes halfway down page of text - again, slightly off the beginning topic.

Overall, though, very nice pic.

Just starting out...
by samtrundle

Comment:
gorgeous baby. Amazing eyes. great focus levels, catchlights, etc. Only criticism is slight lack of ingenuity in relation to challnege subject.

Evolution or Creation?
by Node

Comment:
gorgeous image. stunning chiaroscuro. only criticism is lack of ingenuity in relation to the challenge theme - leaves a bit to the title. But lovely.

Lewis and Clark Meet -The Epic Journey To Explore The Lousiana Purchase Began, Oct. 1803
by popdeepop

Comment:
nice idea, but there is far too much blank space around the central element. And the tree growing out of statue's foot distracts. Colours v muted. Very grey background should be minimised.

It All Starts With One Leaf
by labuds

Comment:
good detail and lighting. Subject not very clear (what is it?) though and elements of image to sides distract.

Ho'omaka 'ana
by khrys

Comment:
Striking image. Good scene. Border really detracts for me (thinking postcards here!). Tree might benefit from slight sharpening, and sun area is a little overexposed (for a key compositional element).

EGG
by doeboe616

Comment:
aha - I spot a monitor being used here... need to get the lighting perfect if you are going to get decent marks for this style of photography, but the hand and egg are too obviously distinct from the chicken.

Of Transformation
by Prime_Time

Comment:
very pretty image, good colour and detail. Thematically a little challenging - I am not enough of a horticulturalist to know whether this plant is beginning, but willing to give the benefit of doubt!