The Proud Pelican's Secret
by vawendy

Comment:
Good lighting and tones of black and white are good. I feel like the position of the pelican's head towards me is that he is staring me down. The coloration of light and dark by its eyes makes it look angry and aggressive (like he is furrowing his brows). I could read it that he is proud in the way that he is looking down upon me - like he is better than I. The 'secret' part of the title is really hard to portray/represent for it is something that is not necessarily tangible. Not sure how one would effectively represent that in the image...maybe something in the background that is hazy/mysterious in shape????

GriEVE by Lizzie Wilcock
by Judi

Comment:
I think you captured the spirit of the word and title...Grieve or grief can sometimes be a road one travels alone. I really like how you include the telephone poles in the shot. One lies lopesided - perhaps symbolically it means the person feeling grief feels the world has tilted or perhaps the lines of communication have been altered/skewed in which the person who experienced the loss is not understood or feels others cannot truly understand their grief....or perhaps I am reading way to much into the image and it was a happy accident. Huh, now that I am looking closer I notice that the title has EVE part of grieve capitalized. This lone woman on the road - and Eve? Is she leaving or traveling the road alone? Make one wonder. The only critique I have is that be careful in processing (I've made this same mistake). The sky has some rainbow curved bands that are visible. Other than that, great capture - bumping up a notch.

Jumping Jack
by Lawton

Comment:
I like that there is some stop action here with the jacks tumbling out of the hand and the one jack hanging in mid-air. Some nice details on the elements of the photo. I wish that there was more of the hand visible so that we could see more action in the scene. Background is a little odd in that it adds a distracting texture to the scene. A flat black would have allowed the jacks to pop more visually. Also, I am a tad confused of how the game of Jacks ties into Jumping Jack(s) (which is is a jumping exercise started by jumping to a position with the legs spread wide and the hands touching overhead and then returning to a position with the feet together and the arms at the sides.) It could be that you did it as a play on words but I'm not sure it succeeds.

The other half of a broken heart (JoAnn T. Neis)
by stphq

Comment:
Lighting is good and the elements of the composition fits very well with the title. But the composition just lacks that something, some 'umph', that would elevate it from just being good to great. Trying to put my finger on it. I think - I think what it is, is that there is little drama/tension. Let me clarify what I mean. The heart is just 'handed to' us - it is held together whole within the confines of cupped hands. There is little tension or wonder if it will be mended. It is almost there. Hmmm, perhaps having one hand emerge from the bottom left corner with the red half of the heart and another hand emerging from the top right corner with the black half of the heart would introduce tension by making the viewer wonder if the two halves will unite as one??? Just a thought which you can take with a grain of salt.

The Snow Child - by Eowyn Ivey
by Kelli

Comment:
Nice details in the subject - love the play of light on the jacket the shiny highlights that make that jacket pop. Great detail on the little girl and great capture of expression that shows the joy lighting up on her face. That open joy smile has a giggle of happiness ready to burst forth.

The Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain
by blindjustice

Comment:
One of my favorite stories from Twain. The nephew of the fallen angel, Satan, stands at the door -'beware, the stranger at the door' for what he says and does can expose the futility of mankind's existence. Things appear in black and white - or do they?! I can see this stranger at the door and hear him say, "Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought--a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!� The figure at the door is he, us, or is he the angel who lambasts the human race? This lone figure at the door has no visible head - it makes me wonder does that represent 'vagrant thought', 'a homeless thought' because the it is a body without the head. It is incomplete for the head wanders elsewhere and this thought is not fully realized. It stands at the door between darkness and light. Nicely done, I can see this as the cover for the novel.

The Enchanted Forest: A Scottish Fairytale
by MargaretNet

Comment:
Love the verdant greens and the path that winds and curves off into the trees. Nice details in the forest trees, bushes, and grasses. The hue of the trees and the greenery does invoke the idea of enchantment...however there is some odd brown/sepia tones at the upper left and right corners that seems at odds with the hazy blue tones of the sky.

Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach
by Jutilda

Comment:
Beautiful colors and great details. I like how the stem extends out of the bottom left corner and leads the eye up to off center of composition that has the soft orange & yellow hues of the tulip.

The Name of the Rose
by banmorn

Comment:
A good shot of a rose - but there are some improvements that can be done to take this from good to great. First off there are some parts of the rose that are in focus and others not. For greater depth of field a smaller aperture and longer shutter time would give that - but it is recommended you use a tripod to avoid camera shake. Or if you have a camera that has a setting that has multiple focus points I would recommend using it - it can produce fantastic results. Next the lighting seems overly harsh - the color yellow is too bold; almost neon in glare. Too heavy on the highlights (light) and not enough balance of/on the shadows which would give the yellow a more deep, rich hue. In smaller matters, the color yellow is not what one would expect to represent the book (that is those who have read it). Given that the novel takes place in medieval setting; a murder mystery set in a monastic library. The tone and mood of it is more dark than happy. Yellow tends to be a happy, cheery color.

No Country for Old Men
by mpeters

Comment:
The technicals of the image are great - the lighting on the burned out matches is spot on and the blue smoke with detail in the swirls is visually captivating. One can infer some symbology of the shot and just the title. The passing of the old to ruin and decay. The lifespan of humans (as represented by the matches) is short and we burn out. All goes up in smoke. When the lights burn out the darkness will come - hope fades to smoke and ashes. I have not read the book so I have to trust that strength lies more in the symbolic connection to 'good vs evil' in the content of the book rather than a literal representation of the book itself. The 'country' being the darkness or the place that is hidden in the darkness rather than the setting of the book - border Texas.