Christmas Time Is Here
by jenarom

Comment:
This is an excellent shot :) I love the composition here... the only minor issue that catches my eye here is the pine twig that is out of focus in near the ball.. maybe a little more depth of field would fix that up. Since the marjority of this image is in focus, I believe it would work better with all of it nice and sharp... good work :) - setzler

Christmas Apple
by DougPaz

Comment:
beautiful photo and excellent lighting as well... very nice job with the background.. I love the soft gradient... = 10 - setzler

Fleur Azure
by BigSmiles

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

Big, I think this is an excellent flower shot. The detail in the flower petals with the light and shadows is also very interesting. The depth of field on this shot may be just a tad shallow overall. The upper portion of the petals are a little softer than those closer to the viewer. Maybe one more stop down would have sharpened that up a little bit :) Compositionally, I believe this shot is great... I would not have composed it any differently myself. As many flower shots as I view at my local camera club every month, I may be able to suggest a few things that would improve this shot overall...

1 - use a black backdrop behind your flower to remove the contrasts in the background that could be considered distracting by some.

2 - I would have also possibly tried to diffuse the direct sunlight a little more on this shot. A piece of tracing paper often works well for this.. just a little extra diffusion here could be nice :)

There are a lot of people in my camera club who specialize in flower shots. They are quite incredible sometimes :)

Keep up the good work...

John Setzler

Hanging On
by welcher

Comment:
This is a beautiful photo.. the detail in the ice is phenomenal. This is a good strong 10... - setzler

At Dusk
by victorf

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

I particularly enjoyed this image... I really like the silhouetted image against the sky. The blue color gradient in the sky really does an excellent job of accenting your subject in this photo. I believe that the very thin strip of land at the bottom that is softly focused works very will in this shot also. It seems to enhance the negative space provided by the sky. I can't really suggest any improvement for this image, because I like it just the way it is.

Your 'tree' or 'plant' in this image creates a nice 'pattern' for the viewer. I enjoy sharply contrasting shapes :)

Keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Blue Shadow
by Kavey

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

Hi Kavey :)

I think this shot has quite a bit of visual impact. The 'blue' here is definitely strong and significant in the shot. As I commented in my original comment on this photo, I really like the curved shadow. I think that's a nice touch for sure :) Did you try a straight shadow with some different light angles as well? I believe that the impact would have been equally high in that interpretation as well.

I read through your comments on this shot... I disagree with a lot of them... I don't believe that shooting only the shadow would have had much impact at all. The only impact i think that would have produced would have been comments asking to see where the shadow came from :) Your directional lighting is working very well in this shot. I don't see any issues with that at all. I would have experimented with several background scenarios on this shot as well. i would have tried some cloth with some smooth wrinkles and curves in it as well... white cloth :)

Great shot and keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

jot this down
by miss parker

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

I think you did a nice job with the composition on this photo. Strong diagonals always, IMO, seem to help a photo. Your subject orientation here emphasises that very nicely.

The photo itself doesn't seem to 'inspire' me for the challenge topic. I do completely understand how this photo does meet the challenge though. I'm still looking for that something special in this image. The visual impact provided by this photo is not strong enough to really demand high scores from the voters.

I can't really make any suggestions on how to improve this particular image. The sharpness could possibly be increased a little, but other than that, I don't see anything else that would be an improvment.

Did you shoot some other ideas for this challenge? Maybe a different subject would have had some higher impact this week...

Keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

INK
by marbo

Comment:
marbo, congrats on 3rd :) This is an interesting shot.. I was just curious if the 'star' effect is natural or if you used a star filter on this shot... great work :)

Blueberry Splash
by Jacko

Comment:
Jacko, congrats on first with an excellent shot :)

Corne
by muckpond

Comment:
My favorite in this challenge... excellent work and kudos on choosing black and white :) = 10 - setzler