18 months (a prelude to Yanko's 18 years)
by skewsme

Comment:
Your composition is an above average pet portrait shot. But there are a few things that need improvement to move this out of an above average shot to a stellar shot. In the original it is the amber golden glow of the cat's eyes that draw the viewer in for they are very hypnotic. While the colors of this cat's eyes are vibrant and bold it lacks that hypnotic amber glow because of the slight green tinge in the eyes. Lighting could be better so that all portions of this feline's face are evenly illuminated. The nose of the cat gets lost in the shadows. Another area that needs a tad more improvement is the sharpness in the details of this feline. The lack of sharpness is most noticeable on the whiskers of the cat. A higher aperture (6.3 and above)and an ISO of 50-100 will give you a sharper DOF and greater detail. Of course, you would have to use a slower shutter speed and cat's can be notorious for not cooperating when you want them too:-)

iBook - Blue Ribbon winner for Paper 7/11/2007 - 7/17/2007 Challenge
by JaimeVinas

Comment:
Your lighting, sharpness and details are good in this composition. But there are a few things you can do to improve the visual impact of the composition. First is to change the angle slightly. To me, it looks like the camera is positioned slightly above the apple rather than at eye level to it. Placing the main element at eye level will make it easier for the viewer to 'read' the pages. In addition you need to angle the open wedge of this apple a bit more away from the viewer so that the pages are a bit more readable. In your composition they are at an angle that does not make them easy to see. Kudos for trying to make the edges nice, sharp and rounded to conform to the shape of the apple. There are a little rough edges here. For your viewers to 'bite' that the pages naturally belong in the apple it really has to look the part. Sometimes the devil is in the details. Rounding off the edges of the book pages to be nice & sharp as well as cleanly rounded (not an easy task I'm sure) will pay off in the end. None-the-less a good emulation on the original.

Once upon a time there was a nut and cheese ball...
by aimeethetoo

Comment:
Ah, now look what you did! I am hungry for some cheese...going to get the Mahon Spanish cheese in the fridge to nibble on:-) O.K. back to the critique. Lighting and color tones are simply excellent in your composition! Love the model's expression and the title really plays up the humor of the photo. I really don't have any suggestions on how to improve upon this image. Good job on this one!

Rastafarian Refractions (A Tribute to AlexSaberi)
by shalrath

Comment:
Wow, nice lighting and color refractions in the glass! You have some good colors and a very nice tonal variation in the colors seen here. My only suggestion is that the it is a little dark and the vibrancy of the colors in your composition could do with a bit more zing. Simply playing around with Saturation (not too much as that you don't want over-saturation) and boasting the contrast on Brightness/Contrast levels could make the colors really pop off the page.

Take Your Pick
by MWitt

Comment:
Wow, nice lighting and two-tone color refractions in the glass! You have some good colors and a very nice tonal variation in the colors of your composition. My only suggestion is that the it is that the contrast is a little flat. Boast up the Contrast in the Brightness/Contrast levels and it will visually pop even more. Saturation is a tad light. I think the composition would perhaps benefit from a little more deepness and saturation in the tones. Simply playing around with Saturation levels (not too much as that you don't want over-saturation) as well as the Brightness/Contrast levels would really take this from above average to stellar.

Homage to Hughletheren
by brownsm

Comment:
A very good attempt in emulating the original. Colors appear a bit dark and some portions of the glass are not as well illuminated as the original. There is something going on to the left of the composition that is giving off a red cast to the black surface. Lighting really plays a key role in helping an image pop visually. Play with your lighting set-up to make sure all objects are illuminated evenly and can be clearly visible - especially that water drop in the glass. BTW nice timing on the capture of that waterdrop as that I am sure it took many tries just to get it. The other thing in how your composition defers from the original is that you place one glass on a platform while the original relies on 'illusion' by placing one glass slightly forward while the other hangs back (if you look at his tutorial you will see the placement of the glasses Hughletheren Blue Ribbon Homage None-the-less a good photo but the lighting needs to be much better.

Primary Glass after Jacko
by banmorn

Comment:
Lovely set-up and wonderful colors! The patterns of refraction in the glass are nice but only fully capture two colors instead of the three. My guess is that you needed taller more elongated glasses instead of the more rounded bowl shaped ones here to get the same effect as Jacko's. While the colors are beautiful the tones need to have more contrast and tonal variation. My guess is that lighting perhaps plays a key role. Playing with the lighting set-up may give you that same tonal variation in the shades of the color. Just found this on how Jacko' created his Primary Colors. If you follow the link to camera angles you will notice how the light source plays on the backdrop (specifically Primary colors angles. Here you see some nice spot on lighting that gradually fades into some deeper shades as it falls into shadow. That's what you need in your backdrop colors for they appear flat and one-dimensional. Adding that tonal variation in the shot with greatly increase the visual 'wow' of this composition.

Triple Glass Refraction 2
by gg3rd

Comment:
Lovely set-up and wonderful colors! Nice choice of warm colors and a fade from the red to orange to a yellow hue. The patterns of refraction in the glass are lovely to look upon. I really only have two suggestions on how to improve the visual impact of this piece. The first is that while the colors are beautiful the tones need to be a bit more vibrant - playing around with the saturation levels will increase the vibrancy of the hues and make it pop more visually. Second is the angle. It appears to me that the camera was tilted slightly down at the glasses. I think that if the base of the camera was at level with the base stem of the glasses it would give off the appearance of the glasses being more at eye level to the viewer. Of course that may have changed the pattern of the refraction but for good or bad I don't know.

Tribute to Gaurawa's Surface Tension
by 4trtone

Comment:
This is a good attempt at trying to emulate the original. However there are several areas that need improvement to catapult this into an above average shot. First you have the nice psychedelic colors & patterns as the backdrop for the paperclips but they need to encompass the whole backdrop to increase visual impact. Showing the edge of the CD and a black backdrop beyond it breaks up the patterns we see in the prismatic colors. When showcasing one major element you really need to have ONE solid backdrop; adding more just distracts the eye. Perhaps the CD was not a good choice because you don't have alot of space to encompass the paperclips without getting the edge in the picture. Hmmm, just a suggestion since I don't know all the details on the setup on creating this shot: mayhap some holographic or shiny wrapping paper might have done the trick? Next, lighting needs to be better. The paperclips appear just as dark shapes. Using one overhead desk lamp or maybe several light sources around the objects would illuminate them more not to mention minimize or eliminate the shadows thrown off such as the shadow we see on the bottom right paperclip. Lighting them better will show off there metallic sheen. Angle of shooting your subject can greatly increase visual impact. I think it would greatly improve the visuals if you shot this from an overhead looking down angle. The reasons is that it would REALLY showcase the patterns & colors of the background especially within the paperclips.

iMode 2.0
by RulerZigzag

Comment:
Nice job in emulating the original. Colors and sharpness of details are wonderful! Lighting is well done well but could be better for the right hand side of the model falls too much into shadow - another (dimmed for you don't want to lose too much shadow) light source to evenly light the model will help. My other suggestions on how to improve this above average shot is the framing and pose of the model. I think it would improve visual impact if you zoomed in just a tad closer - bring us closer to the person will show us more details. Lastly the pose of the model has his hand on the phone but his finger covers the buttons. The devil is in the details, I know, but showing us more of the object that is projecting the iMode eye would increase visual impact because it strengthens the visual cues that this is a phone. Have your model cup the outside edges of the phone with his fingers and it will showcase this important element in the composition. Aside from that good job.