Splash
by elsapo

Comment:
What FocusPoint said, very reminescent of Joey. Great work and grats on the blue!

New Year's Resolution --------Take More Wildlife Shots!!!
by rhoadesurf

Comment:
I am so glad this ribboned, this kind of shot is amazingly tough to get. Wow, what mean-ass courting behaviour!

Kill the casualties, before you quit!
by littlemav

Comment:
Great work and so glad I gave you a 10! Congrats ol' broad! ;-)

Old Folding Bike
by jenicklason

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Love the bokeh and the details here.

Artistic: This is great use of shallow dof, and the red definitely pops without being too much. The only thing I'm personally not fond of is the pedal showing at the bottom; the pedal arm (or whatever it's called :-) just intrudes a little too much, especially as it's light in colour.

Technical: Apart from the minor nitpick with the bottom pedal, there's not much else to find fault with. Composition is simple, the ambient lighting adds a nice feel to the shot and the details of the locking mechanism are perfectly rendered. The swirly blue/green bg adds a slightly surreal edge, almost a zoomblur or lensbaby effect.

Overall: Gave you a 7 during voting and glad I did, but if it were possible to have shot it without that crank arm and pedal lower or out of frame, may have got you an 8.

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

Untitled
by ScooterMcNutty

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Hard to find too much fault here. The only thing that did jump out at me is the pattern on the chopsticks in gold, I would have liked to seen the chopsticks placed together to make a complete crane...well as much as possible, anyway :-)

Artistic: Very elegant, subtle and simple shot. Great detail on the closest chopstick. I like the various tones of red here all working together. Have to admit I like the Lensbaby effect, even though I do shoot the *other* brand!

Technical: Looks fine in terms of lighting, comp etc and the voters seem to have agreed. Looks like you used very little pp which gives you a big thumbs-up in my book. The KISS principle rocks.

Overall: This was a pretty tough challenge to get a decent vote in, and you finished at a healthy 6.2 and in the top 15. So good work kiddo, keep it up!

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

Show me the money!
by bargle

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: I like this shot, esp the oof poker chips flanking the cards. But would like to have seen it shot from slightly higher up.

Artistic: The red looks a tad on the pinky side (however I am not at my own computer at the moment), but I find the selective desat works well. I don't feel that the deck of cards to the right adds to the shot very much.

Technical: The crop on the left is pretty tight to the cards; I'd've allowed more room for the cards on the left and cropped in on the right. A more diagonal angle, perhaps from a left corner to the opposing right one, would have made a stronger image. Lighting OK for this kind of shot. The red smudge (meant to be part of a chip?) by itself just below the cards, to the left, is a bit distracting. Your pp is fine and not overdone, it enhances the idea nicely without taking away from it.

Overall: A very good attempt, and score, especially as a first entry here! You're on the right track, just keep shooting and entering.

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

Red Berries
by Drake

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Nice shot but I feel it is unbalanced, find my eye drawn to the glare on the berry.

Artistic: Very pretty and definitely a shallow dof, but maybe almost too shallow?

Technical: I think more of a crop on the right and less crop at the bottom would have given you a stronger image. A faster shutter or smaller aperture may help reduce the sheen on the berries. They feel a little too jammed into the left side and then have too much negative space on the right.

Overall: This was a very punishing challenge in terms of votes, so don't feel too bad about the score. If you are able to reshoot then go out and mess around a bit, see what you come up with.

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

Candy Cane
by kimberlyMai

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: Gave this a 7 during voting and glad I did so.

Artistic: I like the bright poppy colours and the use of pattern in the bg to reflect the stripes on the candy cane. For such a close macro it worked very well! However I do agree with the open-mouth comments, it's difficult to make an open-mouth shot look good. Something fine but very white like rice powder might have worked to take down the skin tones a little and ad to the red/white effect.

Technical: Lighting good, composition quite good, though you might have wanted to fade out that little bit of glare on the cane, I feel it looks a little flat with it there. You can get away with a lot in Advanced. Even just a few passes with the burning tool may have helped, or a diffuser over your light source.

Overall: Hey, a top 15 finish! I think that speaks for itself, and you got a fave too. Keep up the good work!

Feel free to PM me,

Susan

Departed Hopes
by gyaban

Comment:
Great shot Christophe, esp as it's so far out of your usual zone. Never would have guessed it as one of yours!

I Feel - Small
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
Wow a 2nd blue on the homepage! You must be thrilled! Huge congrats - and hope I don't have to write a critique for this one too ;-)