A Branch of Light
by burlap

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Very nice work... nice lightning photos are always fun :) For me, photos like this one follow the general rules of landscape photography, one of the primary being that you need strong foreground elements. The strip of ground or tree line along the bottom of this image doesn't carry a lot of compositional strength. I realize that the ground is not your subject, but since you included it, it does become part of the composition. You may want to try shots like this at a pre-determined location where you can include a strong foreground... just some food for thought :)

Peace
by msdoubletrouble

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

This photo meets the challenge, but beyond that, it really does nothing for me. I spent a few minutes looking at the image in an effort to find something beyond 'average' and 'meets the challenge' but couldn't find it. You didn't include any of your own thoughts on the image, so I can only assume that 'meeting the challenge' was the only goal here. The score this photo received also seems to reflect that.

Self
by LadeeM

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club...

Hi Tara...

I apologize for being a poor critic of portraits, but I find critique particularly difficult in this arena. I'm not much of a portrait photographer myself, and I don't know most of the finer techniques of lighting and composure. All I can offer is what I feel about the photo in general.

The pose in this photo has it's 'cuteness' and the subject (yourself) seems relaxed enough and confident with the idea. IMO, there are two problems in this portrait that have probably been discussed in any commnents you received on this photo. 1. The light is flat. It would appear that the on camera flash was used, which is a rather poor source of lighting for a portrait. Some of the best portraits you will ever see may be artificially lit, but they won't 'appear' to be in most cases. They will have a natural light feeling to them. 2. As you mentioned, the processing is a bit heavy IMO. There are two levels of 'great' post processing... the kind where you can't tell it was done and the kind where it creates the mood. This one, to me, feels forced. It appears that areas of the image suffered in order to get a problem in exposure (or something else) fixed.

Try experimenting with natural light portraiture... I'm sure you will enjoy it and the results will be excellent :)

Train Tracks To Nowhere
by Refocused

Comment:
This is an excellent high contrast image. The contrast adds to the tension and supports the 'unknown destination' theme of the image... nice work :)

A Summer Afternoon
by jenesis

Comment:
Atlanta :) Those fountains are gorgeous at night with the dancing water and lights...

Nude III challenge original shot
by DrJOnes

Comment:
I agree with you 100%. You can't always depend on the powers that be to understand why that strobe is not a major element.

Sunset on field
by letuananh

Comment:
Great photo... i hope the 'meet the challenge' mongers don't kill you... 10 from me.

Hot to the Touch
by JeB

Comment:
This photo doesn't really meet the challenge very well. The circles are implied and don't represent a key element in the composition, as described in the challenge. It's an interesting image, to some extent, but it's a bit abstract and won't extract much 'wow' from the voting public.

Big Brother is watching...
by burtct

Comment:
It's always helpful to read the rules since you checked the box that indicated that you had done so :) The idea here is good but the editing (which is illegal in this challenge) is rather poor.

Addendum: I shouldn't assume this is illegal. I did vote it as if it was legal. I just don't like the remnants of whatever editing was used. It looks too strange to me and I can't see or find purpose in those remnants.

Now THIS, Little Duck, is a Circle!
by khdoss

Comment:
Some people never get bored :)