DAY 6. B&W. sparrow ...
by roz

Comment:
Beautifu, roz, looks like fireworks going off behind the birdie. I love it.

Day 5 - And Certainly No Dogs On Bikes!!!
by jonfrommk

Comment:
Although dogs on bikes would give you loads of interesting images :) I like the angle, it makes the sign look warped. I think I would have liked to see the lettering completely in focus (or very selectively only just a bit in focus) - hard to do from the side, like this is done.

Bleak
by Retroesque

Comment:
I must say, for being bleak, it looks quite beautiful. I love these industrial shots. Beautiful in B/W.

Day 3 - Gazing Skyward
by Artyste

Comment:
I like the hair, it looks so soft.

Lamp.jpg
by robgs57

Comment:
Looks like a spaceship coming to get us! I like the conversion, you kept the blues very dark. The detail in the wood is exquisite.

breathe
by Doubledizzle

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Very good finish in a difficult challenge. This is a beautiful, unique image, nicely done.

Positives: The sense of "unreal", of being in a different world of sorts. The detail on the face. The water at the top, in particular at the top right. The little droplet trails.

Negatives: The image speaks of breathing, and even though bubbles are there, and part of breathing underwater, it doesn't convey "bubbles" at first glance. The big bubble in front of her face, even though part of the story, is a bit distracting, mainly because it is so out of focus and it doesn't look to be part of the story at first glance.

A number of your commenters mention a possible rotation. I'm not sure. I think it looks quite good this way, although a portrait orientation might be quite intriguing.

I see no problems with the image from a technical point of view, except for the lack of sharpness on the big bubble in front of ther face. You certainly managed to get a clean image, even at ISO 800. The warm tones on the skin and water are beautiful. I like it how the water shines.

Overall, a really good entry, creative, well done. Congratulations on your high finish!

Take care,

~Ursula

Anna, look!
by ajschel

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Positives: It tells a story, the two little girls looking at the balloon, one of them pointing at it, wonder and discovery. It's a peaceful image. Nice colours.

Things that work against the image: Both the balloon and the kids are too small, and there's too much other stuff around (the fence, the trees, the huge sky, the large grassy area, the stick and lone tree behind the girls) to look at. The subjects get lost in all of that. Also, the big blue sky is very plain, without much interest. Not a strict ROT image.

Technicals: It looks like you made the image in the evening (?), the light is quite beautiful. It shows up in particular on the tree trunks in back. Your exposure/shutter speed combination seem adequate for the image. You managed to keep colour and detail in the trees/grass/girls/balloon, without blowing out the sky. The post-processing again looks adequate for the image.

Overall impact: The story is beautiful, but it's weak in its presentation. It doesn't come through very well. From a plain compositional point of view, the thirds are thrown to the sides, and there's a big empty space in the middle. The large shadow at the bottom also distracts. In other words, it does comply to the ROT, but not really well, and it tells a story, but not nearly with enough strength.

I hope this helps. Let me know if I can be of further help.

~Ursula

White Bengal Tiger
by Kaizer

Comment:
Beautiful image, but, IMVHO, the selective colouring sort of kills it. ~7 (9 all b/w)

Breaktime
by Lonz

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Interesting image, fits the challenge description (it has bubbles) even though it doesn't scream "bubbles" because the bubbles themselves are largely out of focus.

The main positives for the image are the colour and the high contrast. The main distractions are the unclear subject and the focus on the skin (is it skin?) rather than the bubbles.

It is hard to tell what you were trying to show here. You say, "breaktime", but the image doesn't really give much of an indication of how it's supposed to be breaktime. Bubbles on a hand? The horizontal line towards the bottom and the bright glares are quite distracting.

From a technical point of view, F5.6 (lens wide open) is not enough DOF in this case in my opinion. I imagine you used a tripod, because of the slow shutter speed on a long lens. Are the bright reflections a flash? It is hard to tell.

Overall, I think this is an interesting concept to work with, but it needs better definition as to what you want to show here, and better execution, for the image to be successful.

I hope this helps.

~Ursula

Frozen bubbles
by korpen

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Frozen bubbles, image seemingly made from above, at a slight angle. At first impression this is an intriguing image, I wonder where you made this, I'm thinking probably outside. I'm also thinking, it must be cold in Sweden to have ice like this in mid April. It's also intriguing because at first glance it looks like a black and white, but at closer inspection, it isn't.

Does it meet the challenge? Yes, no problem. It definitely is bubbles.

From a technical point of view, F4 was a lens too open for this image, in my opinion. I'm not sure if you can control aperture with the PowerShot A710, but for a macro such as this one, where you likely want all of it in focus, you need a higher F-stop number than 4. If you can set it, F8 to F11 at a slower shutter speed would likely have given you better clarity.

Your processing looks fine. If anything, I would have tried desaturating (or converting to B/W in some way), because that might have helped take away attention from the green leaf in the middle.

The composition is beautiful. The square crop suits the image, the feel of slight diagonal is charming. I very much like the little frozen airholes that look like little sticks and form the background. I love the shine in the bubbles at the top half. The bubbles seem to be trying to move, to break free from the ice. Your score of almost 6 is quite good, and it seems that people liked the image.

Negatives are the green leaf, it commands too much attention, especially because it is right in the middle of the frame, and the drop in sharpness and shine in the bubbles towards the bottom. For the challenge, the other negative is that even though it is a beautiful image, it doesn't have a huge visual impact.

Overall, a beautiful macro, very textural, and a good example of how squares and circles work well together.

I hope this helps. If you have questions, comments, complaints, please feel free to PM me.

~Ursula