Amanda
by Madukes

Comment:
Just my opinion, but just one bright blue eye doesn't work. ~4

Lodore Falls
by Imagineer

Comment:
Good image (DrAchoo?). The falls are beautiful, especially at the place where they hit the water, the way they go out in rays. I personally do not much care for the huge rock in front at the left. For one, it looks like some sort of animal looking on. You probably couldn't avoid it, but IMO it really doesn't do much for the image. ~8

Ducky Does the Dishes!
by Buckeye_Fan

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

This is a fun image, one that brings a big smile to the viewer when you first look at it.

In my view, the image is well exposed, and the colours are nice. It meets the challenge (there are bubbles in it), but it doesn't "sell" the idea of bubbles.

The weakness is in the composition. First, there's too much information, too much stuff. Less is more in many cases. Second, what information you present needs to be presented cleanly (beautifully). Even with cropping, the background would still look a bit messy.

In other words, I think what would have really helped this image is to set it up a lot more carefully. Go closer, have a hint of dishes in the back, a ducky floating on bubbles in front, a hint of the edge of the sink, and you might have yourself a good image.

I hope this helps. If I can be of further help, please let me know.

~Ursula

.....too hot in the kitchen
by Car54

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

This is a beautiful example of "found" photography. On a personal level, I'm glad to see it's a gas stove, not electric - I'm very partial to cooking on gas stoves :)

Strong points of the image: The composition is good, the stove stands out even with all the business of bricks and windows and lines in back of it. The colours are harmonious, and pleasing (although I've always wondered why anyone would use either "mustard" or "avocado" for appliace colours).

It meets the challenge, that is, it follows the ROTs.

I'm wondering about the post-processing. You do not say anything about it in your notes, but it looks either tone-mapped or edited with S/H in some way. Whatever you did, it works here.

My own favourite detail of the whole image is little dancing figurine in the window behind the stove. It gives the image a joyous quality, sort of like, "The range is outside, but I'm still dancin'!"

Something that might improve the image (hard to tell if it would, but it's worth trying) is to take it more right on, that is, not so much at an angle, so that both the sidewalk and bricks to not go smaller towards the right.

I hope this helps. If I can be of further help, please let me know.

~Ursula

Under Construction
by abroken1

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

This is one of those beautiful images that gets lost in the middle, where nobody comments because they don't find anything really wrong with it, but also because it's not a spectacular shot, one that would get people to at least say, "WOW!".

In other words, this is a very good image, but it is not a wow image.

As your one commenter points out, the details are very good on the focal plane. The out of focus part behind the little bird is beautiful, the hint of a little branch and the blurred colours of leaves/sky. The out of focus part in the foreground (on the trunk) is not as interesting. Unfortunately for you, it is this not so interesting part that dominates the image when you first look at it. There's too much of it.

From a technical POV, your exposure seems right on, and your processing is right for the image.

The image also meets the challenge, that is, it follows the ROTs.

Overall, a beautiful image with a decent score, lost in the middle.

I hope this helps. If I can be of further help, please let me know.

~Ursula

Chicken Stock
by okiesisi

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Strong points: The image meets the challenge, it is soup bubbling in a pot, it definitely looks like soup bubbling in a pot. The edge of the pot is interesting to look at.

Weak points: It is not all that interesting of an image. It does have bubbles, and bubbling, but the first thought is "soup", not "bubbles" when someone looks at it.

Technicals: F3.1 is too shallow a DOF to get all of this in focus, and the image would have benefited from being in focus over the whole of it. 1/60 sec. is too slow a shutter speed to stop the moving liquid, which gives the image even further blur.

Overall: Even though it meets the challenge, this is not an interesting enough image to score very high. If you're interested in making food images, look at images in cookbooks, food & drink magazines, and even ads on TV. They have some great ideas for food images.

I hope this helps. If I can be of further help, please let me know.

Take care,

~Ursula

B&W - Day 5
by mk

Comment:
I like the shine of the leaf and droplets, and also of the water where it isn't indented. I agree with Karen, I'm not very fond of the centred composition(s).

Cait
by Efergoh

Comment:
Beautiful image! You're an artist.

Feeling Rotten
by Simms

Comment:
I can't say that I "like" this. It's not the kind of image I would hang anywhere in my home. But I must say, it's well done. Fantastic editing job. The best really. ~10

Train Day 4
by Katmystiry

Comment:
Wow, the detail in the rusted out areas is beautiful.