City of Gold
by shinryun

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This is quite a nice shot, clearly you have a tripod and know how to use it, which is a huge plus. Your lens's wide-angle end works very nicely and you have good dof going on, decent comp following the rule of thirds, lovely colours...(do be careful though, the HDR is a little obvious and you do not want the pp to detract from your image)...so where did you go wrong?

Simple. This is a cityscape, and the challenge is for landscapes. (Yes, I know, some entries are basically seascapes but include enough shoreline to call it a landscape). Many voters here are very literal in their interpretation of the challenge, and give it a lower vote than they may have otherwise.

In terms of technicals, you mention using noise reduction. I hate to say it as I shoot Nikon, but Canon does have phenomenally better ISO performance. You could have cranked up to ISO 640 or higher, and had a slightly overexposed photo to which you could have added black, without having so much NR to deal with.

I see this is your first challenge here, so don't get discouraged. Pay attention to what the winning images look like; hey, go through all the challenge images, starting from the very last page and working your way up to the first. That will help you see what goes over well here and help sharpen your eye as to what to shoot for future challenges.

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

Help!! I need GAS, and I am in the middle of Nowhere.
by tbphoto13

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Cute idea and good subject matter, I personally am a fan of 3/4, leading lines and low povs, so kudos there! Nice shot of the car, looks like it got a little spiffed up for its closeup :-) But without the title I would think it simply a nice shot for an ad.

You need a little more work to drive home (sorry, bad pun) the whole idea of being out of gas - someone walking away from the car with an empty gas can would help, perhaps being pulled over on the side of a busier road with traffic passing by (long exposure would give you this effect).

A different crop would have helped, too, as the bright V of sky to the upper right immediately draws the eye away from the car. Cover it with your hand and you'll see what I mean. Instantly you have a stronger image, though you would probably still want a person in the shot to give it more of a story.

Finally, be careful of the amount of pp you use. This is essentially a nicely composed shot, but the pp threatens to draw attention away from the car and story and to itself. PP, imho, should be about accentuating your photo, not overwhelming it as it threatens to do here.

Overall good work, keep on shooting and entering!

Feel free to PM me

Susan

Ahhhhhh...!
by mlianopr

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Nice use of grain and b/w, I like the 3/4 pov on the empty cup and reflection. Not so crazy about the bleachy area on the right, it could have been burned out to reduce the glare; it draws attention away from the subject.

Otherwise a decent image, I might have tried to push the idea of late-night desperation for joe by showing an empty or almost-empty coffeepot or Bodum next to it to drive the point home. Good work, keep on entering!

Feel free to PM me

Susan

Broken Paths
by Sunshine86

Comment:
If this is you with rusty PS skillz, girl, then some of the Expert ribbon hawgs better look to their laurels! WTG!

Forlorn, she waits...
by mefnj

Comment:
Hah! I knew it! Gave you feedback on this image and you whup my ass ;-) Congrats on the high finish.

The Old Apothecary
by Paul

Comment:
I love the setup here, a local museum has a similar general-store setup that I wanted to make use of, hence my original comment. Huge congrats on the yellow, look at the company you're in!

The Old Apothecary
by Paul

Comment:
I love the setup here, a local museum has a similar general-store setup that I wanted to make use of, hence my original comment. Huge congrats on the yellow, look at the company you're in!

Til Death Do Us Part
by Mark-A

Comment:
Lovely image, knew I'd see this on the front page. Congrats on the red!

Adieu
by gyaban

Comment:
Congrats on the blue and another 8+ finish, Christophe!

The empty spot where my heart used to sleep
by knikki

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I really do feel for you, the message here is plain to see and it makes me wince to see other members making asinine comments about your plight. Some are just not comfortable with displays of emotion.

Now onto the image itself. The bg is a little distracting, we don't need to see the french window and deck. The composition is a little messy, there are a lot of elements that distract. The lace doily, for one, adds nothing but the box of Kleenex and used tissues does. The camo blanket, model (yourself I presume), portrait and folded flag says volumes, but it's a little hard to see straight away that the photo album is very likely of your wedding.

If you like, pm me and I'll be more than happy to try and walk you through a reshoot. And anytime you feel daunted by the company you're keeping here (as you said, newbie in a sea of professionals), well, just go through my portfolio starting back in 2006 and have a good chuckle at what I was entering, especially as I had no idea at the time what I was getting into...now I've been here 6 years :-) This is a great site to learn from and I'll be glad to help you any way I can.

((hugs))

Susan

PS You can always PM the offending member and ask him to change or delete his comment.