The Old Man Of The Fence
by Nuzzer

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Sooo close to a 6. I really like this one. The smile didn't hit me over the head and if you hadn't told me you arranged things I wouldn't have known.

I wonder how this would look if you included a bit more background. (just a curiosity thing more than anything) The background as you've presented is nicely blurred out and is definitely not a distraction. The background is also contrasted enough with your subject despite the similarity of colors.

Good sharpness and great exposure. Not sure what else you could do to get this any better really. (well nothing obvious anyways)

Good job!

The great escape
by gadion

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club!

Great shot for the challenge since it did indeed make me laugh when I saw it.

As mentioned previously the color balance is a little strange. You could correct it but it would have been easier just to eliminate one of the off colored light sources and adjust your white balance based on that. I see that you had a shutter speed of 3.2 seconds. I think if you just went with the flash and used a reflector to fill that may also have helped with the white balance issue. (Or..just used the available light and no flash).

I'd be curious to see what this would look like with the flash from the left side. The keyboard would create less of a shadow and it might help look the like the key was moving out of the scene. (Of course that's just what I "see" in my mind). It would also be nice if the green filled right up to the corner.

In terms of processing it does a look a little over sharpened but that might be just personal preference. (I am wondering what processing steps you took as well by the way).

Exposure is pretty well handled and focus is pretty much right on the money. Congrats on your top 10 result!

Rising triplets (under the rules)
by duartix

Comment:
Wow...very nicely done. Great idea. I kinda figured you covered up the lens but I was looking forward to seeing how you did this. I am of mixed opinion on the title. On the one hand, you let the voter know that you did this under the rules. On the other hand it could almost seem like a challenge. Its also supposed to be assumed that your submission is under the rules.

All in all this is a great image. Congrats on your new Personal Best and first top 10 image!

...crawling out from under the heel of love
by Kelli

Comment:
The shot tells a story quite well. I think the problem (in my opinion anyways) is the processing. I think that the topaz was a little too heavy. In my opinion (and that's all it is) processing should be subtle. (In fact, I noticed that you took out the topaz detail except for the guy and that's where I notice it the most. The rest of the scene looks to have the "right" level of processing.

That aside, I think that if you just showed his head and the foot it might have been more effective.

But all nit-picking aside, I enjoy this image and it certainly made me laugh. :)

There was a time...
by wphunt10

Comment:
ow ow ow. the processing has been pushed waaaaaay too much.

Misty Morning Moon
by Len Scap

Comment:
yup...definitely needs to be faved.

Chickadee-dee-dee
by stargazer05766

Comment:
Jeepers you got great detail in this shot. Did you do any dodging and burning on this one? I mean it is sooooo perfectly exposed.

Message edited by author 2010-01-04 02:42:25.

Pure Bliss
by Rompy

Comment:
I could see this making it onto Kodak's POTD which would ironically be shown in this very spot. (or there abouts) Great shot!

Whirlpool Galaxy
by IreneM

Comment:
heh...should have known this was an Irene shot :) This was my favorite in the challenge. Congrats on the Honorable Mention

Chickadee and berries
by snaffles

Comment:
I'd really like to see this in color especially since the bird in question is already rather monochrome the contrast with the berries would be nice