The Candidates
by ajfan

Comment:
yeah its a portrait, but nothing in this really excites me, its a shot we will see a thousand times over the next week (even here in England) and has no WOW factor. Also the whitebalance could needs tweaking.. 5

Who Says You Can't Have It All
by njsabs

Comment:
THis is lovely, however the biggest problem here is the skin of the models looks far too smooth and plasticy. Ideally laying off the neatimage (or noise reduction software) would of been benefical, this shot wouldnt of been awful with a little bit of noise.. Its a lovely BW conversion and a really nice posed shot. I am going with a 7 here, less noise reduction would of upped this at least a point, maybe 2.. well done!!!

The White Family
by Shea927

Comment:
a nice portrait that would of benefitted with more light thrown onto the subjects. you have a very bright background here so using a reflector would of been a great idea here. 6

Will Monkeys Do?
by GeneralE

Comment:
nice idea, it is a portrait whic is a rarity in this challenge, but a bit more time in the execution of the shot would of been of benefit here. Bringing the boys forward away from the wall would of allowed you to blur the wall using DOF techniques (wide aperture etc.) and made them stand out a bit more..

6

The 5D Divas
by BarbB

Comment:
Ah well Judi, here I am at last :)

Thats quite a collection of equipment there.

Ok first off, thank god you nailed the definition of portrait, far too many snapshots and candids in this challenge. So, I am going to explain what I like and (unfortunately) what I do not like.

Lets start with the "do not likes" first, the reason being there are not that many of them. THe biggest faux-pas here is the lighting, its not uniform enough across all the models, the young girls face at the front is quite shadowed in this shot and as we go up towards the back the lighting gets brighter. THats about it for the bad stuff, quite painless eh?

OK, the square crop and the general composition are very nice, I love square crops, they are defintely very 2007 in the Simms household. The pose is great, and by that I mean it oozes fun and light-heartedness. You are all arranged in a pleasing manner and I'd imagine this shot would look far better if we could have 720 pixels each way. As mentioned before this is actually a portrait, which in a portrait challenge is a good thing. As always you will get marked down by the anti-Judi brigade of which there are only a few bitter members. Other than that its a good solid entry, not your best by a long way, but pleasing and fun and nails all the technicals (except that lighting at the front). I predict a solid finish in the top 15, maybe the top 10.

8

PS, this commenting business is taking me ages.. gotta try to get my point across in less words. :) seeya.

I'll Save Him!
by missykim

Comment:
what on earth was you trying to achieve with the processing here? its just a ish mash of different technique, not one of which actually enhances the image in anyway possible.. also its not a portrait.. dull and uninspiring.. sorry.

3
have a readup on the definition of `portrait`.

Thirteen miles to go
by fredandaud

Comment:
note really a portrait.. more of a fun snapshot. overall and dull unexciting photo.

5

Dude
by gjumi

Comment:
snapshot, not a portrait.. nothing more to say except..

DNMC!!!

have a readup on the definition of `portrait`. 3

Power-Chicks
by DonOlsen

Comment:
OK, an OK portrait, the post-processing is a little in your face, but you generally nail what was asked of you in the challenge details. its just there is nothing to get me excited in this image..

Tres_Amigos
by hotroll

Comment:
very snapshot feel to it, not a well executed portrait, but alas it is a portrait which is more than a lot of shots in this challenge are.. 5