Social Butterflies
by cajay

Comment:
What is absolutely stunning about this shot is the level of detail and gorgeous coloring on that green butterfly in the forefront! It looks like it has little sparkling jewels on it's wings. Love the colors and lighting on this one - and the title goes very well with the action in the photograph too:-) The other two butterflies in the background are not as in sharp focus as the one on the foreground but that is too be expected when doing a macro/extreme close-up. If anytime in the future you do wish to get a greater DOF where both the background and foreground are in sharp focus and get lots of detail all you need is a tripod, a higher aperature setting (F8 or higher), and slower shutter speed.

Garden Spot
by idnic

Comment:
Fabulous amount of fine detail can be seen in this photograph - right down to the legs of the ladybugs. Lighting is fabulous everything is illuminated perfectly. The color tones of the red and green and bold and vibrant. A very eye-catching photo.

A Cold and Broken Heart
by rjkstesch

Comment:
This is very creative. I really like the composition and concept. Shame you did not get the chance to enter due to internet connection failure - how frustrating! Anyway, the blue background is good - it is a cool color and helps to re-enforce the idea and imagery of being cold or cold. However I wonder if a red background would have improved visual impact by allowing the white tones of the ice heart to pop off a deep red.

Songs of Love
by talj

Comment:
The concept behind this idea is great Natayla!! But I think both you and I know that it could be better. Speaking of better, when you do get better (and you will) I think this is a wonderful concept to revisit and reshoot. The main problem with this is that the hearts are all flat and one dimensional. Mayhap staggering some nearer and some a tad further so that you can get some DOF in there. I really like how the hearts are reflected back in the CD because it strengthens the connection between the two main objects. The other thing that you could do to give the hearts more dimension is make some not quite so symetrical AND add a little color variation/shading. The shading can be relatively easy just use a slightly darker shade of red paint and a sponge and lightly dab all over the hearts.

Cow and Calf Rocks
by talj

Comment:
Wow, this is a fabulous place to explore and climb rocks! :-) Great photo! My eye roams amoung the tall stone 'cliff faces', the lovely greens of the grass, and the gloomy grey of that foreboading sky.

DSC_0033_edited-1.jpg
by alexjack

Comment:
Saw this in the "Pick your favorite thread" and had a closer look. Absolutely fabulous candid street portrait! There is such character in the face of this man and his pose with the guitar - I sit here and wait to hear him start strumming a tune. The B&W color tones are exceptionally well balanced. Adding this one to my favorites.

Cauliflower... brain food
by asimchoudhri

Comment:
I gotta give you credit, cauliflower really does look like the chambers of the brain. Pairing the cauliflower with the skull was a good creative move and is a visually interesting photograph. But what makes the composition suffer is that the main subjects appear in dull grey tones that really does not pop off of the black background. There is no dynamic difference in the tones of the skull and the cauliflower from it's backdrop. The color tones are flat when I know that whites of the cauliflower is much brighter that how it appears here in the photograph. I have a feeling that you mayhap did just a straight and simple Desaturation from color to B&W. Problem with the straight desaturation is that most of the time you loose the dynamic color tones. Playing with the levels in the Channel Mixer or Hue/Saturation adustments are just two ways to improve on color tones in B&W. This is a good tutorial that can demonstrate the ways to improve the image //www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=43
This is a good and very creative photo but it just needs more tonal variation in the main subjects to make it pop visually. Accomplish that and this photo moves from average to above average.

4 vs 1
by Bolti

Comment:
Your lighting on the main elements is good as well as focus. The areas where the composition is weak is in visual interest and angle. With the exception of the reflections on the blue backdrop that are a distraction this is technically a good photo - in terms of focus is good and lighting is good. But an above average or exceptional photo needs to be more than technically good - the arrangement of compositional elements needs to be visually interesting to the viewer. First off the angle of the shot is stand-offish/distant/it does not draw us in. It is an overhead shot looking down - typically that angle is used to make your main subject small or give the impression of smallness (i.e. to convey the feelings of a person feeling very small a photographer will have there model put on a sad face and shot at an overhead angle looking down -typically that photo will have alot of negative space to add a feeling of emptiness to the mood of the person feeling small & insignificant.) There is no mood in this shot so that overhead angle does not help convey any additional information. A better angle would be to bring in the viewer by shooting at level with the fruit. That level brings us closer to your subjects - it can show us details in color tones and textures that we miss from a distant overhead shot. Bring us closer to the main subject. Show us more details in the textures and tonal colors of the fruit and/or veggies and that will draw in the viewer's eye.

The Dunce
by skewsme

Comment:
Heh, very cute and creatively done! Reminds me of some of the works of the italian painter, Giuseppe Arcimboldo 1527- 1593. This little man is made up of all sorts of veggies. My critique lies in the lighting. I appears too dark on my screen. Portions of the Dunce fade into shadow such that some of the outlines of the individual vegetables get lost in the shadows. Either more lighting was needed to better illuminate the vegetable man OR selective editing to either gamma correct or up the brightness/contrast levels.

Still Life with Pears
by nheilweil

Comment:
Wow, the spotlighting on the pears really make them stand out from the background! In some ways this almost takes on the appearance of an oil painting. I love the look of this still life but I think it needs a tad more illumination on the pitcher and plates. Upping the gamma a tad or using a little more light would make those objects stand out a little more from their background. Hmmmm...just had a thought that adding a little more light might be problematic if you used a long exposure with light painting technique. If so then the only way to brighten up those objects a bit is to use gamma correction selectively or even brightness/contrast levels.