Driftwood
by Gracious

Comment:
This is a great shot... It reminds me of some Edward Weston shots I have seen in the past... = 10 - setzler

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
by RiderGal

Comment:
This is a particularly nice photo... I really enjoy the contrasting theme of the summertime canoe fun and the snow covered background. When warm weather comes back to your part of the world, maybe these boats will be back in service again :) I also love the color combination here... great shot :) - setzler

Feeling Blue
by dimitrii

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

This is a beautiful pet portrait. I love the implied 'blue' expression in the dog's eyes. Capturing an emotion in an animal is a challenging task and you have done very well with it here :)

I really like the opposing diagonal created between the line connecting the eyes and the color on the dog's nose... That's a nice bit of 'eye candy' in this image...

As I look at your camera settings, i can see that the ISO 800 is the cause of the grain in this image as well. In my opinion, that grain is not well suited to this particular image. If you had converted to black and white, that grain would look more appropriate possibly.

Very interesting photo... keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

I think I shall wear blue today
by Gracechild7

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

I do see the beginnings of a nice still life in this photo. There are a few things, IMO, that would have made this shot quite a bit stronger, and some of those things have been covered in the comments you have received so far, but some haven't.

First of all, since the theme of the challenge was blue, I think you need to find a way to make your blue stand out more in this shot. It doesn't contrast very well against your choice of background. The way the lighting is broken up over the background in this photo is also somewhat distracting from your image. You could reduce the effect of this by not having your subject so close to the background and by more evenly lighting the background.

I believe that this shot could be quite a bit stronger compositionally by using your subjects to create some diagonals. If you rotate the 'jar' about 90 degrees clockwise to let the brushes create a diagonal to the right, it could be more pleasing to the eye.

The theme of your photo is quite nice...

Keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

Ice Cold
by spiller

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

This is a really neat photo. I like the 'abstract' nature of it. I also think you chose a very nice composition on this shot. Tying the ice into the theme of 'blue' was a bold attempt with black and white. The visible detail in this shot is quite nice, but, IMO, it is a tad on the dark side. I personally would have liked to seen this shot a tiny bit brighter for this challenge.

I think this photo is a bit underrated as far as the score is concerned. Reading through the comments you received, there are two items that stand out. 1) It's not blue. 2) What is it? Unfortunately, I believe that the majority of the voters probably rated your photo lower because it did not contain any blue. I know what the challenge description said, but I don't believe voters give much latitude on a bold attempt such as this one. Those who could not tell what this is probalby have a sever monitor calibration issue, or they just didn't give it more than 2 seconds of view time.

I think you can improve this image quite a bit more with some minor level adjustments and maybe a quick pass of the sharpen filter. Ice is a challenging subject to expose nicely...

Cheers and keep up the good work :)

John Setzler

Two Tone Tonic
by jmsetzler

Comment:
Thanks for all the comments... I have prepared a 'how'd they do that' and given it to the admins... It should be posted next time they update that portion of the site :)

Freedom
by Brenna Kimi

Comment:
too small... i can't really see what i'm supposed to see here maybe... - setzler

Fast Water
by Morgan

Comment:
this is a nicely composed shot, but the exposure is a little 'hot' for me.. the detail of the water is lost in the long exposure... - setzler

Blue Sphere
by LanSnake

Comment:
Excellent shot... i love the lighting choice you have chosen here... I also like the texture and patterns on the surface... great shot :) - setzler

Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Blue Shadow
by Kavey

Comment:
excellent photo... I really think the 'bent' blue shadow adds a nice effect to his shot... great work :)