Gerber Daisy
by Ja-9

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

First Impression: Clearly this meets the challenge description well, although there were rather a lot of Gerbera in this challenge, so not perhaps terribly original. (Probably would have done a Gerbera myself too if I had entered, as they can be fun to photograph!)

Composition: I do like how the image fills the frame, but do find the dark shadows on the right side to be a little distracting.

Technical: Before I even looked at your camera, I figured you were a Nikon user. One of my pet peeves with Nikon is the way the reds come out. You may not agree, but I typically find the reds to be a little bit unreal and I can't help feeling this image is suffering from that to a small extent. I'm not sure how to explain it properly, so sorry for that, but I usually find the detail can be missing with red objects. I feel this is what is happening a bit on the left side of the frame. I usually desaturate reds a little bit to stop the blown out look.

I also find the focus to be just a little bit soft. I was looking at your camera settings and wondered what F0 meant, or if that was just a typo?

Overall thoughts: Gosh, reading back what I have written you would think this was an awful image. Of course, it's not! It's quite a good strong image, I was just trying to figure out why it score 5.6 not 6.6.

I hope this helps? feel free to get back to me if you have any questions.

by nixter

Comment:
Not just Deb! This is a really good one.

Flowers II outtake
by hajeka

Comment:
I think you made the right choice, but boy this is a lovely one too.

White flowers
by hajeka

Comment:
My top pick for the challenge actually. Love it.

Green Explosion
by in2truth

Comment:
I'm not sure any "critique" I give you is going to tell you more than the comments you have already received, but I'll give it a go since you commented in the critique club thread that you would like some feedback.

First of all, congratulations on an excellent score for your first challenge! Look forward to seeing more of your work.

Turning to the image itself. This was a great choice for the challenge. The angle you have chosen to shoot at really gives the feeling of coming from the ground. However, as one commenter said already, it is a bit of a pity you cut off the top of the branches & leaves.

Next, turning to the border. DPC voters have a love/hate relationship with borders. However, typically if the border is a subtle white/black border then it's ok or even the latest trend of movie syle borders, but anything outside of this type may hurt the score. In the case of this image, I think the grey border makes the sky, which is blue look very greyish. It definitely detracts from the image itself as you eye is drawn to it.

I honestly believe if you had skipped the border altogether, you may well have pushed your score into the 6 range. As it stands, 5.89 is an excellent score.

The meaning of dreams
by secolibar

Comment:
Definitely one of my top picks and a worthy ribbon.

taking a rest
by Lutchenko

Comment:
even though you almost ribboned Will, I think this one is a much better street image.

Message edited by author 2009-07-22 02:49:52.

Belly
by snaffles

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

Susan, me again!

Well done on a good score in a tough challenge.

Great composition, good choice of subject and I like the white background. The lighting is also rather good and accentuates the colour of the flower well.

I think you could have tipped over to a 6 if the background was a little whiter. The top right quadrant is a little grey and I think this probably cost you a point or two. Also, the flower seems a little bit soft to me. I have that lens too and find at the longer focal lengths it is really quite soft.

All in all though this is a nice one.

Exigency
by Zigomar

Comment:
What, no Lensbaby? One of my highest scoring :) Sorry about the low score.

Canal Street
by Doubledizzle

Comment:
One of my highest scoring images. Surprised it didn't score higher.