Water and Fire
by 'Pong

Comment:
Critique Club

OK, this looks like fire, but I if I understand your details correctly, this is only water? If this is so, you made a great job at making this look like fire, great illusion. Just a shame that your comments couldn't be seen during the voting. I like the way that you have made a ring around the outside and the lower part of the water has great texture. Also the colour and contrast here is good. Personally, think you would have been better off taking a picture of real fire, I think that it would have been more dramatic. Still, after all the bush fires over there, can understand the reason not too!

Speed Reading
by paynekj

Comment:
Critique Club

This was one of the ideas I tried out, even with a slow shutter speed I found it hard to get the motion I was after. I think that you did a good job here. Your composition is good and the simple background works well. With a slightly slower shutter speed you might have got more motion and it could have been very effective. Perhaps if you play around with the shutter speed and also try using a colour book to add a bit more interest, you might find a great picture! Good Luck to you (yours looks better than my attempt!)

Freedom
by Brenna Kimi

Comment:
Critique club
Hi there Brenna,

Well, I am sure you gathered from the comments that this was a bit small and people couldn't make out what you were photographing. The composition is a bit too clustered, so the main point isn't obvious. It is hard to see that there is a flag here, partly to do with the motion but also the angle isn't great. If you had taken a picture of it from the front and used a slightly faster shutter speed, cropping out the background to focus on the subject and get rid of the bright light, I think it would have done much better. Good Luck in the future.

House Finch
by Swashbuckler

Comment:
What a fantastic capture! Great use of DOF, great background! A little grainy but wonderful picture.

Dixie in December
by rll07

Comment:
Lovely portrait. I was expecting a Xmas bauble around his neck or something like that, cause of the title.

Marco
by amonteforte

Comment:
Great focus and DOF here, lovely capture of the expression. Possibly a bit too much background space.

Birds Eye View
by spiderman

Comment:
A bit too grainy but interesting lines shown in the composition

Earthbound Stars
by mjcecil

Comment:
Super sharp! I need to learn to use the sharpening tool, the effects here are great!

Stairway to Heaven
by goodtempo

Comment:
Hope that my stairway to heaven is not as old and rusty as this one! Interesting picture though. Maybe it could be a little more to the left, to even out the corners of the top of the frame.

Lemon DROPS
by justine

Comment:
Not sure that I like the use of DOF here, cause I think that the lemon at the back is more interesting than the lemon at the front and so want to see more of that one! Thats just me though!