Shadows/Highlights
by salmiakki

Comment:
Really good camera control here - and a thoroughly interesting photo.

"Saturation"
by mgsmith53

Comment:
Beautiful, thoroughly delightful!

Double the Wonder
by Denielle

Comment:
A delightful photo, and I remain thinking of you all.

Dave
by MikeO

Comment:
That's really cute. I had to despatch a pigeon that one of the neighbourhood cats had incapacitated (I think it tried to decapitate it, but failed). In the end I used a brick, and it hit it so hard I sort of pulverised the poor thing - I was scared I wouldn't be firm enough and not kill it with one blow....

Red Kite
by MikeO

Comment:
We get Re Kites up here, but I have yet to get a photo - not strictly true, I do have one, but only I know the small dot in the sky is a red kite... this is a super photo with really good textural detail; I see that the tail isn't in the usual inverted V.

Dave
by MikeO

Comment:
I wonder if Dave is still with us? From your notes I rather fear that he didn't see 2010 out! Good photo, lovely story...

IMG_5185_a
by MikeO

Comment:
What a quirky photo - really captures the character of the blackbird! Really good.

Stretching towards the sun
by dogsandtrees

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club.

This is a bright and bold entry that certainly meets the challenge. Your entry scored a near perfect DPC average, and finished in the middle of the pack, and in the middle of your DPC entries to date.

Pros: Conforms to voters expectations of the challenge topic; bright and cheerful; good control of your background which appears even, and crucially doesn't have shadows - good use of your flash; focus is crisp.

Cons: A tighter framing of the daffodils might give more impact; 'cleaner' more perfect specimens would, I am sure, have helped your score more, as would better lighting on the stems, which appear rather dark and lacking the vibrancy of the rest of the image; I wonder if a more perfectly symmetrical image - either all three bolt up-right or else a sort of fan shape would help?

All in all a decent entry that, with minor tweaks, would probably have scored a half point higher and in to the top third of the entries.

Feel free to PM me if you want any clarification on any points I have raised - oh, and welcome to DPC!

Gold Rush
by Neil

Comment:
Stunningly beautiful.

Erhu Show
by mwwback

Comment:
A fascinating scene, but for this viewer, at any rate, spoiled by the choice of post-processing which has removed so much of the textural detail.