Top and Bottom
by leovangeest

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

I think this is an excellent photo. The patterns are dominant and the slight diagonal creates an excellent dynamic for this subject. I particularly like the long narrow crop as well. That really sets this image apart in my opinion. The only minor flaw in composition that I can possibly comment on is the proximity of the subject to the right edge of the frame in the upper portion. I don't really understand why this image didn't score better. I'm just guessing that the subject choice didn't draw much appreciation from the voters, but I really like it. Keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

Safety Texture
by dahved

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

I think I may be able to help you out on why this photo didn't score well by asking you a simple question...

What's the subject of this photo?

If the subject is the waterfall, we need to see more of it. I believe your intent was to show the texture of the railing for the purpose of this challenge though. That being the case, it should be in focus. You didn't manage to achieve that in this photo. Your focus went to the waterfall instead and the textured rail fell inside the depth of field for your camera's settings on this shot.

John Setzler

Time is Rusted
by marcellieb

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

This photo scored rather poorly and I believe the comments you received sum up the result fairly well. It's simply out of focus. Your patterns are good though. You have concentric circles that are highlighted by the threads/lines inside the wheel. I believe the composition may also be a little too tight for comfort. The edge of your primary circle is practically touching the right side of the frame. This image is also fairly noisy and unclean. I'm not sure if this may be a crop out of a much larger image or not, but that would be my guess. As far as the poor focus is concerned, it could be that you were too close to the subject for the lens you used. I'm not sure there either.

This is a good idea for a photo but I think you can execute it a lot better with a little time and effort. Get a tripod, set up your composition, shoot it at a low ISO, and see your results improve :)

John Setzler

Garlic
by laind

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

I think this is the first time I have ever drawn a last place image to critique. Here's my first impression of your photograph... You don't seem to care much about it yourself. You didn't post any of your own comments in the 'photographer's comments' box when you posted the image. This indicates to me that you either don't care much about it or that you just may possibly be addicted to the update button and had to submit something to the challenge.

You should always use the maximum number of pixels available for the challenge entry (640 on the long side). When you post smaller images like this one, you will usually get comments to that effect and lower scores. Detail is harder to see in small photos.

This photo appears to be out of focus. The subject doens't hold much interest for me. I'm assuming that you probably felt the same way about it since you chose to apply a filter to it to create the majority of the image impact. This usually doesn't do well either unless the challenge calls for it.

Better luck next time :)

John Setzler

Trypanophobia - Fear of Injections
by Rissa

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi Rissa...

The color and starkness of this photograph works well in the overall theme. I believe that the composition could create some more impact in the long run by creating some diagonal flow in the image with the placement of the needles. The parallels are more static and diagonals creating triangles within the image would create some added dynamics in the composition. Just some food for thought :)

John Setzler

Prretty in Pink
by Shelley

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi Shelley...

This image has a nice surrealistic feel to it that is created by the shallow depth of field and the interaction of the complimentary colors. The curves also create a nice flow within the image. The only thing you may want to consider is the bit of light and sharp detail in the upper left corner. It creates a bit of an eye pull away from the more interesting parts of the image and leaves the viewer's eye resting near an upper edge of the frame. Excellent work...

John Setzler

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment:
'Tact' is something that is very weak here. You simply have to consider the sources. Your photo is very well done and it's unfortunate that people can't seem to find a way to give you credit for studying and attempting to perfect a technique as part of your learning process. If you go look at the portfolios of those who have given you grief about this, you will see that it would be beneficial for most of them to follow your lead of experimenting and learning by duplicating things you like. If more people around here experimented and learned by doing so, their photography would improve.

DPC is a 'game' and it shouldn't really be considered an artistic competition. In the real world, your art isn't usually judged by your competition, and it IS judged on its own merit. When you show people this image, they are going to love it and say "wow... how cool is that?" When you show it to photographers, they are going to say "I've seen this before. Why can't you be more original?"

I think you won and lost with this photo. You learned something about a technique. There is still some room for improvement there as well. You lost because the K-Mart shoppers weren't into your blue-light special this week :)

Here are some tips so you can re-shoot this and make it something extraodrinary. This is how I set mine up:

1. I shot it outside in overcast light so it was nice and even without being too harsh.

2. I place my glass about 8 or 9" above the flag, supported by four drinking glasses.

3. Depth of field here is key so I got as close as i could with my camera and shot a couple tests, stopping down my aperture until the water drops were as sharp as they could be and the background was as out of focus as possible.

Keep on experimenting with it and you will find some variations that you like :)

Katha the little girl.jpg
by nolock

Comment:
I think this is a nice candid image. I think there are a couple ways you could 'change' this photo. Whether or not it would improve it is totally subjective.

I would have either included more of the child on the left or cut him out completely. The eye position on that child is uncomfortably close to the edge of the frame. The child is also looking at something that is outside of the image, which creates some amount of tension.

Sometimes when I see a person I want to photograph, I will just watch them through my viewfinder for a few minutes and snap an occasional shot. You can't really plan for what may happen in the scene. It's a good idea to shoot a lot of photos and then sort out what you have. These types of photos are also very difficult to critique because of their candid nature.

Going Up
by Chez

Comment:
This is really neat. I think the color and texture are really what draws me into this image.

Flag Art
by woodsey

Comment:
good luck :)