The three Ribboneers
by dougi555

Comment:
Congratulations on your yellow, Alan! Fantastic work.

Femme Fatale
by rmezzo

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression -- love the image, the tones and the light. Agree with the commenters about the sheet, I think it costed you quite a few points, unfortunately.

Techinicals -- I really love the light here. I would have like to see it as a more central composition, with rose and the gun equal distance from the edge. The focus is spot on, while the exposure on the model is good, the background seems a bit underexposed to me and is too similar in tone with the skin of the model.

Final thoughts -- I love the muted colors and the feel of the photo. Great composition and light. Good work.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Anna

House Of Secrets
by Senay

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression -- I like the serene feel here, beautiful old house and really interesting clouds. I wish the sky was blue, though.

Technicals -- The perspective seems a bit off to me, as the first glance it looks like the house is about to fall backwards. I would have preferred to see it from a different angle. While the house is nicely framed, by all the vegetation, I find the shrubs in the foreground in the current a bit distracting. They were cut off at an odd level; more of shrubs in the foreground would give the house more of a dignified look. The focus is good; the white sky looks blown out, though.

Final thoughts -- Your processing did not seem to add much to the photo -- I believe it might have benefitted from a pass of USM, some additional contrast and color boost. I also believe it would have looked great in b&w. This is definitely an interesting subject and a great candidate for HDR, so I really hope to see this house again in a different challenge or a free study.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Anna

First Aid For Your Soul
by outofthisnature

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club and welcome to DPC!

First impression: I have hard time figuring out what this is without reading your notes. The photo does not grab my attention for very long, I find the background bokeh more interesting than the main subject.

Technicals: Lighter background grabs my attention, I wish there was more light on the subject so that a viewer can appreciate all the dents and textures of the metal and the wood. While the focus is good, your composition is too central for me and I feel that a tighter crop would have put more focus on the subject and made the photo more interesting.

Final thoughts: For someone not familiar with the culture, it is hard to figure out what this photo is about, the lighter background took over your photo. Focusing on a specific element -- contrasted textures, a drop of water, etc. would have provided more reference points for the viewer.

Please feel free to PM me with any questions.

Cheers,

Anna

abandoned
by vawendy

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: I like the silhouettes, father and son "story line" is very cute. I think there was potential to make more out of the image but there seem to be very little processing done besides resizing.

Technicals and composition: I really like the framing and the angle that emphasized the height of the tunnel and really forces me to look at the silhouettes. The exposure seems to be off -- the highlights in the trees and rocks are blown out and the shadows are too dark to see all the intricate brick work. The out of focus top of the tunnel with a blue tint is a bit distracting, I cannot stop looking there and I wish I could focus more on either the father and the son or the brickwork. Lack of noise for ISO of 1600 is quite impressive.

Final thoughts: While I like a lot of the elements of the photo, I find the blown out rocks and trees very distracting. I agree that some dodging inside the tunnel and burning the trees and the rocks would have provided more details to admire. This looks like a perfect candidate for HDR, although you really have to plan for that kind of shot in advance. Some shadows/highlights adjustments might have helped as well.

Please feel free to PM me with any questions.

Cheers,

Anna

Tunnels of smell
by tinkie2010

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: This is quite an OOB submission!

Composition and technicals: The technicals (from what I can see after all the editing) are fine; the composition is centered but works for me here. The angle at which it was shot links the image to the challenge topic and is quite fun.

Final thoughts: The image is very over processed for my taste, it is definitely belongs more in the realm of digital art. While intentional, processing does not work for me. This is fun shot but is too out of the box for me (it feels more like a shoehorn, really).

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Barn On The Prarie
by Wishingdove

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club and welcome to DPC!

First impression: I like the tall grass on the foreground but the image does not have anything that captures my attention for a long time.

Composition: Your composition is too central for me, I would have liked to see it with less sky, which would put more emphasis on the grasses.

Technicals: Your focus seems a bit off -- nothing seems in focus. I would suggest getting off the landscape mode and try your hand at actually taking control over your photo -- aperture of 2.97 does not really work for a landscape shot, try F 8 and higher next time.

Final Thoughts: While your photo has potential, there is nothing there that grabs attention for a long time and the technicals are off. There are good tutorials on this site about how to improve the technicals and the processing skills as well as multitude of forum threads which can be very helpful.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Anna

Pulau Mabul Village, Malaysian Borneo
by in2truth

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Nice photo but it seems to be a bit busy and I find my eyes flitting from place to place never really settling on anything in particular.

Composition: Your composition is good, nice use of the rule of thirds and leading lines to guide the eye around the photo.

Technicals: Your technicals are good as well, great control of shadows and, especially, the highlights.

Final Thoughts: I feel that you have gone a little too far with Topaz color boosting, giving the photo an very overprocessed feel. And I really wish that that dark cloud in the top left was not there.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Cheers,

Anna

Through the Hoop
by Kokkurinn

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Welcome to DPC! While your photo meets the challenge, it does not hold voters' attention for too long. The color of the sky is a little dull and the use of the flash did not enhance the image. A little bit of contrast and curves could have helped to create a stonger contrast between the sky and the orange basketball ring.

I think it could have been a stronger image if it was shot from a slightly different angle, centering the net. While a centered composition is not typically very exciting, it could become a bit more interesting when cropped much tighter.

I hope this is helpful, feel free to PM me if you have any questions. You have a good eye and DPC is a great place to learn -- I am looking forward to your photos in the future.

Spin
by Cuttooth

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Great idea and fantastic execution! Your technicals are good and the composition and a crop are very interesting and definitely grab attention. The bottom right inner circle seems a little hot, ajusting shadows and highlights might have helped with that. I would have also liked to see it at a longer exposure to get more motion in the middle thus creating another circle.

Congratulations on an excellent photo and a top 10 finish! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.