Dammit, I'm mad!
by MinsoPhoto

Comment:
great monster lighting

After the Last Run
by mrchhas

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

At first I thought this was a studio shot with a painted b/g as the colours and shapes of the mountains looks almost too good to be true, and the light on the boots is very even overall. Nice, simple, uncomplicated work and glad that you were willing to delay the apres-ski part of the day in order to get it, the light is getting that soft golden glow. The comp is very stock but it's not easy to make skiboots look interesting and you did put it at thirds. My only nitpick is that I would have liked to see some of the foreground to give it some depth and to show what the boots are resting on - skiis presumably. A lower ISO might have helped soften the b/g as parts of the mountains are a little blown out.

But apart from that a good entry that finished well overall, and I bet that cocoa tested even better once you were done your shoot! Keep on shooting and entering!

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

The Artist
by gyaban

Comment:
Christophe, this is just such a spectacular photo, so glad it is a single capture and you made an art out of the lighting - not to mention the makeup/hair/outfits on you both. Lovely shot and as usual huge congrats!

The Godfather
by wernerH

Comment:
Wow, a week ago I wrote a critique for you, now I'm writing you a congrats on winning your first ribbon! Excellent work! :-)

Cinderella's Toe
by talzam

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This shot definitely made me smile and probably would have given it a 6 or 7 in voting. Love the cute idea and creativity, but a little bit of toenail trimming may have helped. Especially when shooting for Basic challenges, you want to make sure your subject is as camera-ready as possible because you can't use clone and similar tools. Just rounding off the edges would help.

Lighting is a little dim, the dof is Ok but makes the scrunchie dress look smudged. The stickpin is a nice little touch, as is the crown and smiley face :-)Overall a nicely seditious image that dares to boldly go where most DPCers fear to tread, so kudos for that!

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

Que Sera Sera
by alexlky

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

You must be glad that you finished so well in this challenge, good work! I gave you a 7 in voting. I like the subject gazing up and out of frame, at what we can't see. The slightly agape mouth almost looks like he's as ready to talk as howl/screech/chatter. The eyes are disconcertingly human, but then we're not so far apart - after all we share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees, so mr Macaque can't be much further away.

This is a fairly daring shot and it looks like that paid off. I don't see any comments indicating dead space to the left and he's tight to the right side of the frame...again kudos for not playing safe, it paid off here! I never even noticed before that you used a light sepia instead of b/ but that gamble also worked well.

Only nitpick is the OOF eyes, but you have lots of details there in the face and the eyes are so expressive, that you're forgiven :-)

Overall a very good shot that pushes the envelope, glad it worked out so well for you. Keep shooting and entering!

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

La La Loopsy's dreams of being a real girl come true!
by sjhuls

Comment:
This reminds me of the movie Coraline, only in Technicolour. I gave you an 8 during voting, can only think that the creepy factor triggered too many itchy voter fingers. It is cute but unsettling at the same time.

Where'd All Macawlors Go?
by crack_seed

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

The title isn't really all that bad and does draw attention to the fact that it's a very colourful bird, robbed of its beautiful plumage. I like the offset of macaw to the left (though I don't think the bulk if voters did, sadly), the focus is great and the dof captures a ton of detail including a good sharp eye. The one suggestion I would make is to jack up the ISO to 500 or 640; one of the few things about Canon that I do envy is their ISO performance. That'll bring out the whites, and imho it's always better to do that as much as possible in-camera than relying solely on pp, though a little more contrast wouldn't hurt.

Overall a very nice shot that finished just out of the 6s so not bad work at all. Keep on shooting and entering!

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

curiosity
by lobrin

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Your buddy is indeed an African Grey parrot and they're amongst the smartest of all parrots; I gave you an 8 in voting. They also have wonderful grey tones in their feathers, which you managed to capture quite well and which translated to b/w nicely. Like the tilt of the head and comp, though the top of the head/beak is a tad bleachy - ISO 200 may have been enough to get all the detail, or it could have been burned out as this was an Advanced challenge. The contrasty background offsets the bird very well, very yin/yang. The focus on the eye is great, as it needs to be in an image like this.

Only real nitpick I can see is the shallow dof. Most lenses aren't at their best wide-open. If you can, try reshooting with a deeper dof and a slower shutter speed - he's clearly not afraid of you and he's on a perch, he's not in flight, 1/640 should be fine. Have fun!

Feel free to PM me

Susan

She's A TrainWreck, Is Better than saying She's F.U.B.A.R. (ask a vet)
by sjmflash

Comment:
very busy pic