Secret Window
by mike_d

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to comment now. I love the perspectives that are a picture within a picture. I like how you chose a vertical orientation for it mirrors the shape of the window. It sort of has the effect of we are looking through the window of your camera to the stone window to the outside. The ancient stone house provides us with a view to a lush and green countryside. And beyond the valley is a ridge of hills/mountains with billowy mist blanketing them. Nicely done and presented.

Sand Bath Terminus With Gnats
by lynnesite

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to leave comments now. A hazy and hot day this young mare takes a much needed roll in the sand to seek relief from the heat and those pesky gnats & horseflies. The warm reddish/orange and golden hues along with the small dust cloud being kicked up invokes the idea of it being a hot and hazy day. Normally I don't like large sun spots caught on 'film' but oddly enough I think it really suits the mood and feel of this capture. The shape and color of that large sunspot to the far top left invokes imagery of the sun that much more strongly. I love how the light adds a real nice golden glow around the horse especially on the tail, the mane, and mouth. And now I am going to spoil the review with a critique:-) Sigh, does she HAVE TO do that...I know, picky picky right:-) Often times people can connect more readily with an animal or person if they can see their face and/or expression. Seeing & looking into this horse's eyes and face would, I feel, help cement the mood my showing it's reaction to the action it is taking.

Home
by jsavinen

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to leave comments. There, at the foot of the behemoth mountain, there rests a small and humble home. It is not large by any size but it is warm & cozy and is surrounded by a lush valley of green. When I look upon your composition that is the description that leaps out at me. I also see this as perhaps a commentary on man and nature. Man's works as represented symbolically by the house is small in comparision to the works of nature which is seen in this monster of a mountain. Put that aside the view while you were there must have been spectacular to behold - the wide open valleys and these tall, majestic soaring mountains! The ideas behind the composition are good but it could be even better if some elements in the composition itself were improved. The whole mountain in the frame would be best but then we would probably only see the house as a small speck. Not how you want to present your photo I think. Keeping with the idea of the house remaining small but visible beneath this mountain you could add more visual interest in having the mountain cut across the photo at a diagonal. Lining up the foot of the mountain to start at the bottom left the slope then travels up the diagonal to end with the 'top' of the mountain in the top right corner. The other possible way to improve the look, presentation and visual appeal is to give a slight boost to the contrast and saturation levels. NOT too much mind you, just a tad for it looks a bit washed out (at least on my monitor it does). I think the tones and contrast could be a little more richer.

Flawless
by raish

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to leave comments. Ah! A study in color and symbolism to push/test our perceptions of the world and how we see it right?! When we see white here in this composition we are really seeing Red at 255, Green at 255 and Blue at 255. How can we be seeing the three colors when stereotypically when numbers are high it is an indication of presence!? Yet all we see is white. Perhaps the lens was looking through a prism? Perhaps this is all we want to see in a photo - a flawless presentation absent of anything to mar the surface? Hidden behind it all is the base foundation - the canvas that is pure before anything else is added. But then when one thinks of it the color white symbolizes purity - things in their natural state. Pure, pristine, flawless.

A sweet winter daydreamer
by picturesbykim

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back now for comments. Very nice portrait of this young girl and you even caught the falling snow as an interesting backdrop element!! Colors, skin tones and details are good and very dynamic. This has a very casual capture feel to it as that we happened to glance and catch a glimpse of her sitting there taking a breather and thinking. Perhaps she is taking a break from building a snowman and deciding what to do next. Pose is very natural and does not appear posed at all. I like the snowy backdrop but I think that there is a little too much negative space. I think making the composition a vertical presentation with closer crop to the girl (cropping out the space up to the the tree with the white bark) would bring us closer to your main subject.

Naturally Abstract
by BeckyT

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to leave comments now. Very nice macro shot of this plant leaf that really puts the spotlight on the texture with all the veins that shoot through the leaf chambers. I really like the bold colors too! The greens and reds are bold, vibrant and eye catching. The waterdrop hanging off of the leaf is a nice added element that also catches the eye. Nice work.

Dead Calm
by GIS_boy

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back for comments. The waters lay still in the early morning hours reflecting back the blue-violet hues of the sky above. Then teh orange yellow glow of the day dawning peaks up over the horizon as early boaters make their way to the docks for the start of the day. This is what story this picture tells me when I look upon it. The color clarity and hues are stunningly beautiful. Composition with boats on either side and the water channel acting as a leading line road off to the vanishing point to the horizon holds high visual appeal.

Three
by Terramar

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to leave comments. An evening stroll at the beach during low tide watching the waves as the sun slowly sinks in the horizon casting it's last warm golden rays for the day. I LOVE the warm golden hues in this composition. The young couple with their little one hand in hand between them as they enjoy the sights and sounds of the beach adds alot of visual interest to this beachscape capture. Nicely done!

National Geographic!
by kbhatia1967

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to leave comments. What a lovely portrait of this young girl! Nice smile on her. What adds further interest is that she lives in another country and we see that from the adornments in her hair and jewelry she wears. I as the viewer wonder which region she is in and the story of her culture - is there a cultural reason why she wears the nose ring?, is there a festival going on that she is wearing fancy earring and dressed so colorfully? - there are some interesting stories to be told about this girl's culture I am sure. The focus is good and the capture is a completely natural candid - in other words it does not feel posed such that we feel that we are there and have spotted her in a crowd. I know that you added the thick yellow border with the white trim to look EXACTLY like a National Geographic cover but I think it puts too much emphasis on that it could be on the cover rather than let the picture of this young girl and her culture speak to us directly with no border or a very little one. I see that the sun was most propably bright when this was captured and I think the colors must have been much richer in contrast and tone in real life than the camera captured. I think a boost in brightness and contrast levels as well as a small adjustment in saturation levels would really make her stand out. As it is here the skin tones and color tones overall seem a bit washed out and the vibrancy of the yellow border cover just calls all the more attention to that.

Rainy Days
by Yandrosxx

Comment:
Voted earlier coming back to leave a comment. Love the B&W tones in this one and the 'mood'/feel of a rainy day captured. This has such an artsy look for it is more about the mood captured here than the technicals of the shot. It is a dreary day one that calls for us to take shelter either in the car, under a walkway building or under an umbrella. This is very much a slice of everyday life the most don't spend too much thought about when we are occupying that space in time. I really get the feel of being there and feeling the moisture and dampness in the air. I like how we have the human element with the woman in the far left walking with her umbrella up. She is in silhouette and not in sharp focus in spots. Some portions of her like her legs are blurred but that just help to convey motion - and life is always in motion. I also noticed the name of the street she is going towards in the photo. "Meeting Street" makes me think of who she is going out to meet and why she has chosen today to do it. There is an unspoken story here and that is an underlying appeal that holds my attention as I create a story in my head to match the image.