STOP...in the name of love
by Strontious

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

You have a very interesting image with much to see and many questions to answer. I want to know "Why the dirt and grime?" "Is the sweat turmoil or strenuous work," and "Why am I being stopped?" The model is appealing and adds to the "Wow" factor of the photo.

Technically, the choice of lighting, colors, dof and perspective work well for the emotion of the image. There is some blurring on the lowered sleeve that is minimally distracting.

The areas that I feel could have decreased the image are the tight crop on the top of the head and the positioning of the hand. Both are parts of the composition. The arm and hand, clearly in the sharpest focus, create a leading line that carries the eye right out of the picture, past the anguish of the face, which IMHO is the strength of this shot. Bringing the hand down, to the right and facing it more toward the viewer would have strengthened the composition, creating a leading line directly to the face, while supporting the emotion.

Because the face feels so important, I feel there needs to be more space on the left of the eyes. The closer something is to the center, the more our mind perceives it to be important. By having the crop so tight, the face feels as though something is missing.

Meeting the challenge: Clearly there is a single light source. Whether it is artificial or not is difficult to tell, but appears that the voters assumed it was. The lighting on this shot is easily a strength and creates much of the impact.

Overall, an emotional shot with clear appeal that could be enhanced with small compositional changes. Well done.

Becky

Eagle Eyed
by TommyMoe21

Comment:
Greeting from the Critique Club:

This is a fantastic eagle image with great details. The composition is strong with a crop that shows the image to it's fullest. It is technically very well done. The DOF highlights the bird, yet allows the details of the bird to be clearly in focus. The attention is immediately on the beak and eyes of the bird, which is supported by the clear focus and bright color.

The difficulty in taking this image to the top level is the perception of the voters that the single light source was not artificial. There is clearly a light source over the eagle's shoulder, resulting in the bright patch on the head, the catchlight in the eye and the glow over the eagle's back. Yet, most likely because eagles are generally in natural lighting, a number of voters doubted the source as artificial. In a situation like this, the photographer is at a great disadvantage if he does not clearly show his light source is artificial. Yet, the fact that this image scored so high indicates many gave you the benefit of the doubt.

Overall: Wonderful pic, strong appeal, technically superb, without a definative meeting of the challenge which hurt it some.

Becky

The Dom, Salzburg
by jrtodd

Comment:
John,

This is a gorgeous shot. Very well done. Enjoy your time over on the continent and say hi once you make it back to our humble state.

Becky

A failed date
by Frall

Comment:
The loneliness of the situation is very well portrayed here. The darkness, and blues add to that feeling. The yellow tones and beauty of the scene give me hope for him. A wonderful combination.

Oops!
by Titia

Comment:
I really like the tones in the bank and plane. There's a nice feel in the lower half of the image. The centered horizon and bright section of the sky take away from the imact IMO.

Struck Out Again
by san62910

Comment:
Very dramatic shot here. The body language says fail so well. You've done an excellent job on your crop and composition.

Couldn't catch a cold..
by owen

Comment:
Beautiful sillouette. I like the way you've been able to connect great beauty to failure.

I lost
by chugginrail

Comment:
Beautiful lighting. I really like this chess shot.

Gear Failure: worn-out socks
by fencekicker

Comment:
The technicals on this shot are nice, however the image itself is not very interesting. It would be nice to have some new socks. ;-)

thrown away gate
by -kip

Comment:
Even with the title, I find this hard to understand. I find it interesting in an abstract way, with a definite area of focus.