Gaze
by ScooterMcNutty

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Lovely ethereal feel to this shot, I definitely had it pegged for top 10 which is where I am glad to see it finished (gave you a 7 in voting). You look more like you are floating than levitating, certainly no feel of a jump to it. The relaxed hands, serene face and billowing dress add to the dreaminess. Bet this took a fair amount of jumps to do.

Now nitpick time...if only you had been about 2 feet over to your left you probably would have been in the top 5! Yes, the edge of the roof growing out of your head and the drainpipe is the only thing that kills the shot for me. It may have given you a bit more space to gaze into. I'm not a huge fan of this sort of pp but here it does help to enhance the shot and not overwhelm it.

Overall a lovely shot, just watch out for the edges of roofs and drainpipes in the future :-)

Feel free to PM me

Susan

Mary Poppins
by talzam

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I really like this shot. The nice pop of the umbrella and the flat feet your gf managed to give you, and the strong shadow clearly showing the cleanness of the shot all very well done. The muted tones help her stand out. The composition is good and the bg has enough elements to add interest without detracting from your model. I would like to have seen her face dodged out a little, but otherwise a very nice shot. I jumped about 100 times too for my entry and it's a lot of work, getting the height and keeping your feet flat at the top of the jump. Hope you got your girlfriend something nice after all that jumping!

Out of interest, did you try to desat the pic? Curious as to how it may have looked in b/w.

Feel free to PM me

Susan

iFly
by JamesDowning

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Definitely an underdog shot, and as I gave you a 7 in voting, somewhat surprised that it didn't do better. But this is quite edgy and I can see why some refer to Apple - it does have that very clean, stylized, graphic-novel look. I personally love low POVs, and the stark leading lines do make this a very strong image. Oh, those voters...grrr!

I would say that the cut-off leg/foot definitely had an impact on your score, and perhaps some of those masses of white space you're about to fly into. Your hand is at a third but may have done better if your body was more at that third, than behind it.

Still, you finished on a respectable score, so keep on shooting and entering what you want. And above all, have fun.

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

O, stone, be not so.
by mrjssims

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This is a very well done shot, I gave you a 7 in voting. I like the loneliness implied here and it's eerie that the date is one day before my birthday, November 27th.

There is a great range of tones here; there is also a few cluttery items behind the cross that are a bit distracting. Don't know if you could have moved them or not, but they do draw the eye away a bit. The vignetting at the corners might not suit all tastes either. The comp plays very safe with its centredness - shooting more from the ground up might have made for a more impactful image. Don't be afraid to hunker down and shoot up at a subject, especially one like this.

Overall a pleasing image, sorry that it didn't do better. But as has been suggested, it could have easily been entered in All Alone, too.

Feel free to PM me.

Susan

The Flying Paintress
by Alex_Petrini

Comment:
Great work Alessandro! I knew I'd see this on the front page. And buried in one of the threads here and also on Natsumi's site is an explanation of how she gets her shots, and from the sounds of it she only does one capture. Mind it IS tough keeping the face relaxed while jumping, but it can be done :-)

Hover and Hurry
by markwiley

Comment:
Hope your daughter got a raise in her allowance! Lovely colours.

I'll take the High Road
by pamb

Comment:
This is a fantastic shot, very glad to see it on the front page. Well done!!

ETA: You owe your daughter a bonus in her weeklt allowance! :-)

Message edited by author 2012-03-14 00:37:53.

Green phase
by sinistral_leo

Comment:
Absolutely great shot, so glad it ended up in the ribbons!

Curled
by Brielle

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This is a lovely example of how elegant and simple a shot can be. The slightly crumpled look of the petals sets off the pistil very well and lead nicely into the curl of the flower. Lighting is just enough to capture but not overwhelm the delicate colours here. Sad that FSs tend to be very tough on images like this, as it does need a tad more pop to it in terms of colour. The shallow dof is good but a little odd as the pistil in the one petal is in focus, yet its leading edge is oof, and part of the petal behind it is in focus.

Now for the nitpicky part - I'd like to see the curl a little more on a third, it's just too close to centre. The greyish tones in the lower half of the image seem to detract a little from the colours above; the grey just doesn't enhance them in any way. Personally I'd have gone for a tighter crop, and as it seems you shot handheld, I'd suggest a tripod for such a shot so then you can concentrate on capturing the details and refining the shot without worrying about shooting fast enough to capture it. Reflectors should have been able to help mirror those gorgeous subtle tones.

Hope this helps, feel free to PM me,

Susan

Vinegar Fly
by alexlky

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

That is an astonishing amount of detail considering how tiny the fly is. Macros are indeed painful to shoot as just the tiniest motion (of you or subject)and you've just lost the dof. So not surprised you shot at f22 which is probably pretty maxed out! Liking the composition and the shape of the leaf/blade of grass being echoed back in the body and wing shape of the fly; just find the eyes a little close to centre. The colours are nice and poppy and you placed very well especially for a bug macro. The only thing I find a little puzzling is the echoing line at the mid-underside of the leaf and around the edges of the wings. Some slight movement on the subjects' part, I'm guessing.

Overall a very eye-catching shot of a very cool bug. Keep shooting and entering!

Feel free to PM me

Susan