Snap -- crackle -- POP !
by RianBotes

Comment:
Wow, you weren't kidding. Great shot, Rian!

Bread, Butter, Knife. Do you see how this works?
by raish

Comment:
The image as a whole is very yellow. I would expect the butter container to be white. Perhaps it's not?

Touch The Sky
by hotpasta

Comment:
I really liked the bottom half of this, but if I were voting I would have voted it quite a bit lower than I would want to due to the sky being so blown out. I figured it would place decent, but never would have guessed a blue ribbon. Voters were very forgiving on this. Very, very forgiving...

Peek-a-Boo Robin
by MaryO

Comment:
That's awesome! lol

Specimen #83: Pulvis Lunaris, or, The Coagulation of Wood
by rooum

Comment:
This looks like a long flowing dress. I like the processing also.

Foggy
by kawesttex

Comment:
What a great scene! This has a lot of potential, and I couldn't help myself; I had to try.



Photoshop
Straightened the horizon
Cloned out a couple spots
Boosted the brightness
Cloned out the foreground trees, and ran Topaz Denoise on the whole image
Adjusted levels
Sharpened the foreground trees
Dodged the water in the center and under the trees a bit
Curves - set the whites based on the white stripe going through the center

Surf Patrol
by Nuzzer

Comment:
Well, hello fellow Critique Club member! This is my first official critique as a member, so I hope you truly find it helpful in some way.

Okay, here goes. Ahem...

Composition
I'm a big fan of this type of corner composition. I like that you have the ocean coming in from the lower left and the bright spot of grass in the upper right. They combined give a good balance.

I remembered this image instantly from the challenge when it was selected for me to critique. I remember hitting next pretty quickly, but then coming straight back to it to check out the tilt shift. Nothing stopped me from cruising past it initially though. I can't help wanting something larger in the photo, something more demanding of my attention other than the center flag.

Settings
Nothing jumps out at me as an incorrect setting. In a single exposure you pretty much have to expose for your whites or your blacks. Clearly you wanted to keep your tide from blowing out and your people from becoming little white glowy balls with no detail. Everything seems well exposed and sharp to me.

Processing
I love the shift tilt style, and you had a great vantage point for it.

The colors are great. There's a lot of sandy tan, but the blue tide coming in and all the bright spots of clothing give your eye something to hop around on. I might have lightened up some of the sand to give the appearance of more sun. It looks pretty cloudy especially towards the top.

Summary
Clearly your commenters loved it. Look at that 7.4! I think overall just nothing jumped out to the average voter.

Little Gardener sees Garden Orb on Garden Shed
by Abra

Comment:
I can't say I'm terribly surprised this photo didn't do well here, but there's something about it that I love. The composition is oddly inspiring.

Keep submitting! Ta heck with voters.

Let's Make Pancakes!
by Insomniac

Comment:
Creative action shot and well executed.

Humayan's Tomb
by dougi555

Comment:
I really like your processing. The effect on the sky gives the whole image a tapestry feel.