The barn with a view
by docjonny

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

What a great shot, I was so glad to see it on the homepage! Lovely subject with the barn dwarfed by looming mountains all around, meeting just above the barn and continuing into the islands and the background. Simple but effective composition with the barn at the lower third plane. Wonderful toning, glad to not see any bleachy clouds in a handheld shot ;-) Glad to see the deep DOF.

Also loving the relatively warm tones in the foreground, then the cooler tones of the distant landscape. So difficult to capture in-camera.

Ok no more nits to pick here! Again huge congrats on the top 5 showing and HM. Now go out and shoot some more ;-)

Susan

Spinning
by Transparant

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Wow, glad to see this came in the top ten. I've personally often wanted to get a shot like this but there just aren't enough small intact windmills..

On to this image.Great use of thirds, lighting is perfect for the shot with the low ISO, deep dof and perfect amount of timing to get that spin on the windmill. Too much either way could result in a blown-out or too-dark blurry mess. You caught it at just the right time, and more importantly at the right time for the subject, and with a tripod handy. Yay tripods! I hope people are taking notes!

The desat works perfectly as this is a shot about form, caught beautifully. In colour I would guess that this shot is relatively drab. The stillness of the grass and reeds around the water, the slender bowing and waving stalks of the taller rushes catching the wind and finally the culmination in the perfect wheel of a windmill blurred to speed. The rigidity of the supports just adds to the impact.

Overall a lovely shot and now a fave of mine too. Keep up the good work, please keep shooting and entering!

Susan

Distracted Cycling
by clickodak

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I like shots like this because I've taken more than my share of them...get it all framed up and then something unexpected happens. Here the cyclist adds interest because he's clearly looking at the barn too.

On days when you have such a flat, washy sky, remember to use as low an ISO as possible to help minimize it and to help bring out colours a little more. A deeper dof would help a lot too, esp as you shot handheld. Barnboard is usually a good mid-tone that reflects light well so you needn't worry so much about exposing for it. The cyclist being out of focus is a bit of a distraction as everyone here likes their whole scene front-to-back sharp. Still I like the way he helps add interest and provides a link between mid-ground, the barn, and foreground with the road. As the barn is broadside to the road, the cyclist adds depth and breaks up the flat planes of the shot.

Overall a different kind of shot that I think is fun to look at with its spontaneity. Just watch your settings! :-)

Susan

Sugar Hill
by Ja-9

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Lovely scene, colours are great and poppy. The church in the bg helps anchor the shot and the lightness of it helps balance the weight of the colourful flower field. White is a touch bleachy on the sun side of the steeple, but it doesn't kill the shot. The light cirrus clouds overhead help add a dreamy, almost surreal feel which is nice to look at. FWIW I either would have increased dof or shutter speed one stop to just help mute and deepen the tones a little more.

Overall a very pleasant idyllic eye candy piece. Good to see you placed well with it too!

Susan

Snow Goose in Love
by clickodak

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First off, Free Study is very difficult to do well in. I like this shot a lot, the composition is great, but I think the high ISO has cost you here a bit - the raised wing of the bird facing us looks very soft. I know Canon is lauded for its high ISO capability but even it has limits! The shot also appears to be backlit, so exposing for black in these conditions only makes things tougher.

The three *headless* geese wandering around add to the clutter, sadly. This is the kind of shot where you see a situation unfolding, and get ready to shoot bursts, cause in all likelihood by then those geese would have wandered out of the shot or at least enough that you wouldn't have to do a crazy amount of cloning.

Hope this helps

Susan

Waiting for Order
by belizar

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This is a tough one. The reactions on the faces of the cluster of children behind the penguin - who in turn is very clearly out of his/her element - are very mixed. Only one child looks truly engaged with the penguin, the rest look like they have already lost interest and looking for something more exotic to stare at for a few seconds.

Technically the shutter is very slow for a handheld shot, and the ISO is on the high side for a daytime shot where the main element is a bird with a lot of white plumage. I would have either increased the dof or shutter speed, possibly both, to increase contrast. If you must use a penguin, then make it pop - those birds have it in black and white.

And b/w may have been the best way to go. This looks like a fairly unstructured shot, and if so, too many colours just lead the eye astray; where form is more important than colour, b/w is usually the best way to go.

Hope this helps

Susan

Coming and Going
by sfalice

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

A lovely shot, Alice, nice comp and suitable spooky lighting but scratching my head over the surreal and dreamy part. The sign is a great touchpoint, has you looking for the birds. Looks like random guy is giving the birds the bird? I just see too many disparate elements here all competing for the voter's eye, and the guy is competing with the sign imnsho.

Hope this helps

Susan

Washington Crossed the Delaware Here
by WatergirlNJ

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I can understand your pride in living so close to such a historic site...but there has to be much, much more to an image for it to do well in a highly competitive environment like DPC.

Your basic composition is fine, with the plaque dominating the shot. But it's a plaque. There is no human interaction. Even just a small child standing there looking over the plaque at the opposite shore, with a look on their face reflecting their amazement at being physically at the same location some few hundred years later, would have made all the difference.

Also, be careful of the amount of hue and saturation you use in post-processing. No amount of pp will make a poor shot look good, but carefully used, will enhance a good shot.

Please keep shooting and entering, I hope this critique has helped somewhat.

Susan

The Romance of Lake Como
by docjonny

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This shot has so much potential...I love the composition and the setting, it's so romantic...that it could be absolutely stunning, but I have to side with Neat here. The light is flat and just does nothing for the gorgeous scenery around it. Going by the sharp thin shadows visible in the sides of the background mountains, I can tell it was shot in late morning or early afternoon. The sky beyond the mountains is almost bleachy. With a scene like this, it is worth getting up very early or going out a bit later just to get the light.

In terms of settings, the deepest dof won't do a very good job if the ISO is high, and for a midday shot, ISO 200 is high. I don't know how low Fuji goes, but surely it can do ISO 100, right? If absolutely necessary to get the shot at this time of day then jack up the speed to help minimize the amount of light entering your camera. Save slow shutters for when you have a tripod and a nice sunset or sunrise.

Sorry if this is a bit harsh, but I can see so clearly what this shot could be...!

Feel free to PM me

Susan

The Bridges of Madison County
by WonderDude

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I think this is one of your best entries, Daniel. Lovely tones, very sharp, great colours, you obviously took care with the subject matter choice, comp and framing and of course used a tripod so you could use absolutely bang-on settings. Love the texture in the clouds, looks like a thunderstorm coming or going and the sky lightening in its wake. And scoring 22/105 in a Free Study is pretty decent!

Keep up the good work, please keep shooting and entering.

Susan