Old Boots
by agwright

Comment:
Not sure how this was done, but it is one of my favorits for sure. I especially like how you set the light on the boots. A 9 from me.

Crystal Clear
by dg02

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Initial thoughts/My opinion
Great clear image, speaking of lines, texture and a wonderful sky. To me it does not work for National Geographic too well.

Content/Composition
You captured at the right moment a wonderful place: as your title says the image speaks by its clear and crisp appearance. The leading line of the bridge, the texture of its wood and of the surrounding field work very well together. That the walk leads to the small forest makes the horizon more interesting and the great clouds make the image complete.
I really can't see any flaw here.

Camera work -technically
You did a great job technically: focus, exposure and white balance all set very well.

Digital Processing - Technical
Also regarding the post processing no issue to be mentioned. Especially the sharpening is well done: not too much, just right.

Fits the challenge
To my personal taste the image comes short here: I cannot envision a story that comes with the image. The title would have been a possibility to give the viewer an idea in what context to place the beautiful image.

Ancient Artifacts
by Samara

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Initial thoughts/My opinion
Nice looking antique ceramics, a bit soft/unsharp and the selection of background and light is not too well.

Content/Composition
The two bottles are really nice and fit well to the challenge topic. Also how you placed them and cropped the image is OK.
The main issue of improvement is regarding the background and the light. I would have chosen a darker one to better contrast the not too dark ceramics. Maybe also with some shadows on the ground and the background.
Speaking of shadow I want to address the light: it is set rather flat. The light is set very homogeneous and the objects are well exposed everywhere. However, this style would be more appropriate for an archaeological journal or catalogue: it's rather clinical without too much atmosphere. For instance some soft light from the right would have produced some shadows and thus more depth.

Camera work -technically
Focus is OK, but the DOF seems a bit narrow: the ceramic in the back is less sharp. White balance and exposure are fine.

Digital Processing - Technical
A bit more sharpening would be fine, also border.

Fits the challenge
Yes, it fits well, could envision it in an archaeological article.

Good luck for your upcoming submissions

Four of a Kind
by Konador

Comment:
Congrats Ben!
When I saw it during the voting, I thought: that's Ben's because he's right now pretty much in B&W and the sheeps look very British too.
Keep up the good work!

Hong Ma
by Shiiizzzam

Comment:
Very crisp and clear! I do like the selective desaturation and how you framed it: due to the lower white part (is it a fence?) it apears to be very 3-dimensional. I have the feeling as if the head comes out of my screen. Good luck!

Year of the "Three Little Pigs"
by bjallen

Comment:
This is just wonderfull: you captured a great moment of all three of them jumping. Of course would be nicer if you would have panned the camera and thus get them sharper. However, such a shot is so difficult to take and a on-time chance that panning was probably not possible. Good luck to you and from me a 9

Four of a Kind
by Konador

Comment:
That's a great one: B&W works wonderfully and the cropping/framing too. What did you tell or do to the sheeps to make them look this way?
Good luck!

Overview to the Underworld
by banmorn

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Initial thoughts/My opinion
Great point of view, right on the topic. Took me quiet some time to get what it is though.

Content/Composition
This is of course a very special point of view you have form your apartment! The view to the trees from far above is already very special by itself, but the grave stones just top it. Very good choice.
However, the image is a little confusing: it takes some time to get what one is looking at: first there is the network of the tree branches and then one sees some rectangular bright "thinks". Only at the very top one can see that there are actually grave stones. Then, after reading the title the image becomes of course clear.
A more clear, easier to get portion (maybe just the top) and a tighter crop or more zoomed in would have been better.
As mentioned by others, the image appears to be a little bright/low contrasted. Darkening it would probably improved it a bit.

You mentioned that the trees should resemble their roots under the grave yard. While I do see the intention, it didn't work well for me: even if I try to imagine this, my brain switches back to the inverse, real scene. Doesn't matter much though.

Camera work - Technically
Focus seems fine although the image is a little fuzzy due to the many branches, but this is not important. Exposure see above.

Digital Processing - Technical
You did a good job on sharpening: not too much, just right.
A border might have been nice.

Fits the challenge
Of course, very good!

Good luck for your upcoming submissions

Electric Laces
by Geo_Griffin

Comment:
Great job on the image itself and the final result. It's of course very much Photo-Shopped, but who doesn't like shopping :)
What I like most are the thin, pale lines of the tip and in the very back as contrast to the bright laces. Good luck.

Carnivorous Plants: Nepenthes Rafflesiana
by amsmyth

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club
Hi Anne;
Got you again!

Initial thoughts/My opinion
Your submission lives from the shape and texture of the plant and a great background. It very comes short regarding the image quality though.

Content/Composition
The way you cropped the image was very well done IMO: letting the plant come down from the upper right works well for me and how the leave(?) goes up to the left too. I also like the texture of the plant.
What I like very much is the background: great fresh green and the yellow and orange spots make it interesting and dynamic. Way better than a simple uni-coloured background. Makes the image very natural.
The light is not very special though: looks very homogeneous, thus there are no shadows and brighter parts, which would give the plant more depth.

Camera work -technically
Exposure is very good and focus seems to be fine too. As mentioned by wetland, the DOF might be too narrow: the lower part seems out of focus in contrast to the middle section.

Digital Processing - Technical
As mentioned by most commenter the image comes short regarding its quality: it's rather grainy. While this works nice on the background, it's very problematic on the foreground. It makes the texture look fuzzy. Also it looks like been oversharpened, as one can see at the form the bright line around sharp structures.

Fits the challenge
Yes it does, I could envision the image in an article on tropical (?) plant in the rain forest.

Good luck for your upcoming submissions