dreaming of you
by Rikki

Comment:
Hola Rikki! Greets from the Critique Club.

(Yes, I am just doing this for the free study.)

This is just so great in so many ways, your imagination and creativity always inspire me, man.

The only thing I can say that might be on the critical side is that you could have used a bit more sharpening.

Ears, I like the ears, you hardly ever get to see nice ears in a portrait. :o)

Silence
by Ennil

Comment:
Hola! Greetings from the Critique Club.

Ennil, oh, Ennil. Jeez, what am I supposed to say here. Why did this finish 40th??

I have no clue. Maybe it was too much statement for the viewers, though that, in itself was subtle.

I think the red below the eyes and on the nose was a bit much, and didn't seem to complement the maroon scarf and purple very well. But then, my wife is always telling me how clueless I am on colors.

I actually like the hands in the picture, the eyes are absoluetely fabulous, the use of a ringlight is great. You might have sharpened them a wee bit more though.

All in all a good photograph. Your work is always good though, but I'm not sure this came out as "great". Of course, that's all subjective. :O)

Jenna
by Kelli

Comment:
Hola! Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hey, I know how hard it is to photograph kids, I have three of them, and they're all boogers. I just entered one in a current challenge that is being less than well recieved, just as this one was.

I think the lighting could use some work, it's hard to get babies to look where you want, but letting the eyes shine and connect to the viewer is essential to portraits, I'm learning.

Keep trying, studio portraits are difficult to get spot on, especially if you have no lighting and the subject is a little one. You might look at picking up some slave flashes that fire when the flash on your camera goe off. Work on posing and lighting, with a dummy if you have to. :O)

Christine
by Chilibean

Comment:
Hola! Greetings from the Critique club.

This is a beautiful portrait, and apparently got high marks from two who should know, Anastasia and Kiwiness. Crayon, Philup, and hotpasta too. I like getting comments from people I respect, sometimes more than getting good scores.

I think I agree with tryals that this is a wee bit too green around the edges for me. And I do not find that the blur helped only becuase the editing was a bit spotty, meaning that it was a bit too obvious, and doesn't seem to be evenly applied. Doesn't mean that you didn't, just means that it doesn't look that way. Either go dragan, or not dragan, this is a bit in between.

I love the pose and the eyes are just gorgeous. Very demure expression nice whites and catchlights.

Spicy
by bseifipour

Comment:
Hola! From the Critique Club!

Wassup Brian.

I think, for this challenge especially, that a tigher crop/composition were needed. The negative space here might seem artsy, but what people really wanted to see were faces, faces, and more of their faces. The top 9 were all tight crops, (#10 had other things distracting from the face) and 8 of the next 10 were tighter crops. That makes 17 of 20 at the top tight, mostly face crops in my estimation.

The negative space here is just a bit too much I think. The eyes are great, but, again, a tighter crop could have served to highlight them. He r face is turned a little too much away from the camera, and thus the viewer. Automatically takes a bit of the connection out of it. Turning her face down a bit and more toward the viewer, makes for a better pose.

The lighting is great, I like that, a bit more highlight on all the great hair would have done you well also.

Mother, Mentor... My Heart
by Coley

Comment:
Hola! From the Critique Club!

I love, and I mean LOVE this picture, Cole. The composition is so well thought out. It really makes a connection with the view, and it tells something about the subject, even without the title. I love pictures with a point and a story lately, so this is right up my alley. If I had come across this in the voting, I would have given it at the very least an 8.

The only thing that may be hurting you here is the lighting/color may be a little bit cool (just a teeny bit), and the expressions of your daughters and somewhat your wife, are not quite inviting. I think maybe just getting a small smile out of them (not a beaming grin or anything) could have helped the viewers connect with them a bit more.

The subtle heart shape that you mentioned was a bit too subtle for me. Maybe I need a bit more hand holding for that to come across to this view. All in all, a great shot, and should have been rated higher IMO.

Adriane
by saracat

Comment:
HI! from the Critique club.

In this picture I like the pose and composition in general, but there may be a little too much negative space on the right.

This could use a bit of sharpening I think. Especially on the eyes, left eye in particular.

Lighting is good, but not spectacular. One thing that i noticed in this challenge is that the top 10 all had their subjects looking directly at the camera, and thus the viewer. This really serves to create a connection between the viewer and the subject I think. The top 9 all had much closer crops than this, and great lighting and sharpness on the eyes.

I agree with the others that commented that there is a bit much noise, and the background, while being seemingly neutral, actually may distract with it's blandness. You may think about color coordinating with your subjects in the future.

into the blue....
by AzCKelly

Comment:
I keep meaning to try one of these, I love the way the water kind of looks like a globe because of the roundness (and slight distortion?).

Onion Bloom
by AzCKelly

Comment:
This is a great shot, I didn't vote on that challenge, but congrats on the top 20. I sort of wonder if a shallower DOF would server to highlight the open bloom a little better, but it's really great the way it is.

Remembrance
by jwillerton

Comment:
You know, I'm usually pretty loose with DNMC comments lately, but I really don't think this meets portrait in either of it's meanings very well. You're either showing me a person's face, and letting that tell me about them, or you're showing me something about the person in another fashion. The problem being here is, I don't know what you're trying to tell me with this, and I can't see their face. I'm sure the necklace has some significance, but you're not laying it out for me.

But, the lighting and pose are nice, the desat worked well to highlight the necklace. I think the extra exposed skin is more of a distraction than additive to whatever message you might have been going for.