Love Is a Medicine: Kiss It to Make It Better
by eris_star

Comment:
likely means much more to the photographer than the general public. what a little redhead. The flash probably ruins this for me. leads to bleached faces and dark shadows behind. 4

Aromatherapy
by Tej

Comment:
I like the reflection. a bit overexposed, but only a tad. 7

Aromatherapy
by J-Me

Comment:
I'm not sure I dig the silk plants. the candle dish also seems tilted to the left (either the whole shot is or just the dish). 5

Low key hobby
by Melethia

Comment:
I'm just going to free flow this comment. I like the shot. It's quaint and I like the texture on the thread. No, it wasn't "low key" enough although looking at a histogram it does qualify. I'm torn between trying this in B&W and keeping the nice warm browns. I think I'd keep it in color. The biggest question is, "why low key?" I'm not sure I have the answer other than to meet the challenge. The texture provided from the side lighting is good, but you don't need low key to accomplish that.

A view from St Sauveur in Canada
by albc28

Comment:
The technicals: focus is good, sharpness is less than we are used to. exposure is good. Composition is somewhat uninspired (see below).

The feel: a) I don't get a lot of tree feel to this even though there are clearly trees in the picture. More importantly though, the composition doesn't give me a purpose or direction in what I'm looking at. It looks like a snapshot taken of the vista. (that is, little thought was put into where you took the shot from or what happened to be in the picture). Our eye is not given a flow or chief subject to follow or focus on. Instead we just bounce around a bit and then move on.

The game: People were probably looking very much for "tree as subject" in this challenge.

Revolting
by howzit

Comment:
The technicals: This shot intrigues me. I like it quite a bit. However, it looks like you have too much contrast going on. I pulled it into PS and the histogram shows huge spikes at both ends. While a high contrast image may be able to imply some of the grit of war, I wonder if it was overdone. Primarily, the place it leaves you is that overall I think the shot is a tad overexposed. I primarily see this in the lack of detail on the hat on the right but also in the lack of color on the hay. Because of the high contrast you can't alter the midtones too much to try to save those areas. The focus and freezing of action are both excellent.

The feel: Again, I like it. If I could do anything with it, I would have either wanted to shoot from a higher vantage or a lower one in an attempt to completely fill the canvas with people. I don't like that you can "see through" the scrum at the top of the canvas. It would make no sense to cut heads off, but a perspective change could have fixed that.

The game: I think this was a bit underrated. Hate is a tough challenge because what people miss is you still need an appealing picture even though it is an unappealing subject. This goes down that road a fair amount.

Companions
by pamelasue

Comment:
The technicals: 1) It crooked, eh? 2) I have a very hard time figuring out how to make pines and firs look nice. They just tend to look black or dark green and gross. I don't have an answer for you on that. You did well to control the sky highlights.

The feel: One problem I see here is that the part of the picture which "joins" the companions is the part which our eye is least drawn to. Instead we catch the sharp contrast of the light sky and the dark tree. I'm not sure what to recommend to improve that.

The game: Minimal editing is so tough and you took on a picture that would be hard to get right even with advanced editing. I think minimal is going to be about a very straightforward and simple shot. Next minimal challenge, go for that.

Junipalm
by GeneralE

Comment:
The technicals: Exposure and contrast are well done for minimal editing. Junipers and the like are hard to capture detail in without having them look like a yucky mess. The perfect centering could be a hinderance. I'd have to see it cropped differently.

The feel: A cute capture of the juxtaposition, but not a ton more to this. It's sort of a one-trick-pony shot. Once we "get it" we move on.

The game: Not a bad attempt for minimal editing. You can see with the winners how they managed to get some aspect of the photo to "rise above" and add some real visual interest. That's what you need to work on.

Eau Claire - The Bow River
by Citadel

Comment:
The technicals: The image is soft. This is probably a product of not being able to use USM as normal because of all the little twigs and such. The exposure is on, but tough with all the snow. I'd like to see a bit more texture there if there was any.

The feel: the right side of the picture is just sorta blah. I don't like detrius like that at all. But, whatcha going to do in the winter? I do like the sloping curve of the river and the contrast of the whites and blues.

The game: I think the stuff on the right hurt you and adds to a bit of a "snapshot" feel to it. Working to see if you can have a similar image with something more appealing on the right would have been the challenge.

Arabesque
by anotherday

Comment:
The technicals: focus and lighting are well done. The composition is quite static with a perfectly centered subject. The low key is actually well done IMO.

The feel: What does the low key approach add to the picture? I'm not quite sure. It does give a little mystery to the mask, but it isn't strong.

The game: Pictures of figurines, statues, or general kitsch are voted lower as a whole on DPC. I'm sure you ran into some of that.