right here waiting for you
by ashishparmar

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique club.

You had a good idea with this one. Executed well it would have been a good fit for the challenge. There are a few areas you can improve on though.

First, as some commenters said, make the image bigger. You can have 640 on the longest side so try and use it all up!

Next, the lighting really is harsh. It looks like sunlight to me so there may not have been much you could do depending on where this nest was in your attic. Hanging a white sheet over the window would have been a good start.

Lastly, if you can, getting closer to fill more of the frame with the bird and the egg would have reduced the disctration of the grass in the next a bit.

Good idea!

PM me if you have any questions

Cemetary Iceland
by BAMartin

Comment:
My first thought is why is the horizon not levelled off? Nice colours. The sky seems a little grainy - maybe just due to the resolution. The gravestones are also maybe just a little too centered.

Overall I like it but could do with some more PP :)

I Hate Cigarettes
by rupypug

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

Wow, looking at the comments you certainly drew out lovers and haters for this image!

Composition: Composition is ok but if anything it is a little bit centered. Your title refers to cigarettes so the clock is not going to be seen by many as an integral part of the image. What we see first is that big yellow rectangle on the billboard - right in the middle. Where to now our eyes say? Left to the rest of the billboard or right to the clock. Thats one of the problems with putting something in the middle of your shot.

Technicals: Lighting is both good and bad in this shot. There is a nice moody feel the way it is but it is not being used to draw attention to a particular element, rather it is just there, as it is. The image size also feels wrong - an almost panoramic style but we don't have a lot to see in most of the image.

My Feelings: OK, I wouldn't have voted quite so low as this ended up being but it was never going to score high in this challenge. Your thining was good behind the image but one of the "tricks" at DPC is to make sure your image fits within the "popular" definition of the challenge, otherwise you are going to get lots more of those "DNMC" comments and votes under 4.

PM if you have any questions.

Blinded by Hate
by nemesise1977

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

Composition: Nothing wrong with the composition here.

Technical: The commenters have hit the nail on the head. The lighting is a bit dark overall. It is hard to get closeups of eyes done well. From your notes I gather than you wanted this dark look. The trouble is that while it does accentuate the words in the eye, it also makes the details of the eyelash and the rest of the eye harder to see and thus it feels like there is a problem. The word "hate" is nicely lit for the most part but there is a hot spot on the "T" which also detracts from the overall feel. Is that a hot pixel at the top of the eye or some stray light. Hot pixels you can close out in basic rules but just make sure thats what it is :)

My Feelings: Good fit for the challenge but the lighting is what cost in the score department. One of the better "reflections in the eyes" ideas for challenges for a while.

PM me if you have any questions.

Love Takes Two
by eyeimagine

Comment:
Greeting from the Critique Club.

Composition: The rose and the wildflowers dont appear to be interacting with each other. The rose by itself would have made a nice composition in that the negative space would have drawn the eye down to the rose. The wildflowers by themselves would have been a nice off-center composition. Together like this, it has a messy fell and my eye doesnt really know where to go. You've also cut off a flower/bud on the right which distracts me.

Technical: The water drops are a good idea and you've gone for a lot of small ones which works well on flowers like this. The lighting on them is a bit harsh as a couple of commenters pointed out. Nice bright colours overall. The border almost gets lost on this with the image having so much black. Try a thin white line around the image before the thicker black?

My Feelings: I don't really get the link to the challenge and the two almost unrelated types of flowers doesnt engender any emotion towards the subjects. Simpler is often best.

PM me if you have any questions.

Morning Commute: Holding On
by hotpasta

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Composition: You seem to have broken all the rules in this one (slanted horizon, major elemented centered) but it doesn't hurt the image this time. The curved nature of the intersections lets the horizon be on an angle and it helps guide me from the right to the left. I do find the couple are a little burried in all the people in that I find myself being drawn to the others to see what they are all up to.

Technical: The B&W conversion is good but the bright patch above the buildings is very distracting. A tighter crop removing some top and left may have been worth a try. The border works well.

Feelings: I find this sort of photography hard to like but given the style this is a nice shot that shows good emotion.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions

Love the man, hate the habit
by snaffles

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

Composition: I like the composition as it tends to let me eye flow around the key elements in the image - the eyes, the cigarette, and the lighter in his hand. The only element I get drawn to that I don't really feel is a main part of the image is the jacket collar on the right side but that doesn't hurt the image.

Technical: Some of the commenters pointed this out already. The overall feel is that the image is a bit flat. Some increased contrast may have helped. The lighting works well in that it hilights the aspects you are trying to and is neither too harsh or too soft. Is it the DOF or motion blur on the hand with the lighter? I can't quite tell but in either case that works well as it is the cigarette rather than the lighter than your title refers to.

My Feelings: A nice image that fits the challenge in a couple of ways. Firstly there is the link that your title refers to. Secondly, your models eyes also portray a feeling of someone in a pool hall who is giving the cold stare to someone else for some reason. Great capture.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions

DragonFly
by Juliadavis

Comment:
Nice capture, I love Dragonflies although they can be creepy when you dont see them until they are right in your face!

Chiesa | aseihC
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
Very interesting, makes you want to hunt around to see what you can see in the puddles

T o P
by Elvis_L

Comment:
Top of Poles?