Last Flame Standing
by gbautista87

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

An interesting shot and description, on DPC you learn something new every day!

There is something about this shot, that feels odd. I believe for me it is the burnt out matches. The burnt out matches are brilliant, but it almost seems as though they where very over sharpened and you have halos around them. They are almost disconnected from picture. I am not sure if this was caused by the sharpening or if it is the white background.

Talking of white backgrounds, you flame is almost lost within the background, but in saying that if you chose a black one then the burnt out ones would not show.

I think that this is and was a very hard subject to photograph and I think you did amazingly well with it.

Swell
by Pipe_Dream

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

Lovely shot and the rule of thirds is bang on.

I think what is hurting this shot is the colour cast that you used. The sea probably is that colour from all the sand being churned up from the hurricane, but most people expect to see a lovely blue colour, I am loving the sepia tone of the water, reminds me of England.

So I think that having some blue would have helped here, so leaving the sky blue or going completely different and having this as a black and white would have helped.

Maybe a touch of contrast would have helped as well, you have very dramtic white horses (swell) going on and playing around with the selective colors would have brought out depth in them.

Great shot

Looming storm
by Boogie1

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

I love storms and the dark clouds, so dramatic. You read the challenge description and you are using light in a way to make a dramatic photo.

Unfortunetly, the focus is off. Try as fast shutter speed. I like the blown out piece of the shy i think it gives it definition. in post processing, try using shadows and highlights , exposure, to bring the contrast into proper contention.

Spunky in the Gardens
by Viper_VT

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have a comment from a member of the Critique Club.

Your shot is interesting. Not really sure what you where going for within the rule of thirds or with the blurry face motion.

you have a lovely background which is in focus, sharp and full of interesting details. As for the girl, not the most flattering pose.

There is nothing in ps that I can see that would improve your photo.

Betrayed by the Clapper
by posthumous

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

Interesting shot, I am not too sure what you are going for here , I am getting mixed messages with the things in your shot.

There is almost an Edgar Allen Poe thing going on with your bird and books and light. Those are excellent, you have done very well to get such clean focus. I like the brightness of the light, it is over powering and in your face and I am getting a slight headache from looking at it all the time. I am not sure what message you are trying to convey with your model. There is just a blank look on his face but he has clenched fists. Is he supposed to be intimidating? If he is , he needs a facial expression and some depth into his eyes as they are just black black holes right now. Maybe a scowl would have helped mesh this whole shot.

This is definitely one of the more dramatic shots in this competition and the more you look the more you think and see.

Excellent , well done, I am off for some asprin

Message edited by author 2009-09-07 10:46:23.

Phsycopath
by otto22

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

You have got drama going on in here. You didn't do to badly with your score here, most people don't think statues are very hard to work with versus a live scene. But you picked a very dramatic statue.

The focal point is on the base of the statue when it needed to be higher up on the face. A different angle, maybe getting yourself a little higher we could have seen more details of what is pulling the mans eyelids. The black triangles are distracting in this shot and pull away from the main focal point.

Your post processing is solid though.

Happy/ Sad
by martinsphotobox

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

Well you certainly go the drama bit. Remember to read the description and look at the treads in the community to get an idea as to what the challenge is. For this particular challenge it was more about the lighting to make a dramatic shot, versus a drama shot.

I am curious as to why you had this shot up to 2 minutes of exposure time. You lighting is fairly flat on the red and disappears in the black somewhat. The choice of materials could be different as the red one is really showing up the lines in the fabric and is a little distracting.

Your sharpness is very good on this and I like the lighting on the rings.

You looking at me?
by Delta_6

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

Excellent shot!!!!!!!!!!!

There is not a lot to say about this shot as it is really good. A little more focus on the eyes ,,maybe, a tiny bit more saturation to bring out those oranges. Bar that excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would love to see what you could do with this shot in advanced editing!

Well done on a great shot and an excellent placement

Three for the thirds
by radutheodor

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

Very nice shot!!!!

There is not a lot here that can be improved on, it really is a lovely shot. Reading your notes I see that you ran out of time. That is a shame as I would love to see what you could have done with this shot with more time. Allow more time!!!!!!!!

I would also love to see this show without the girls in it, that would have been a dramatic shot as well. Even though you didn't do any post processing, it does look good.

It just goes to show you that you don't need to post process to have an amazing shot. well done

Parasite Light Fight
by BeefnCheez

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club,

You asked for your shot to have an in depth comment from a member of the Critique Club.

Definitely a fun shot here, you scored fairly well for a last minute entry!

I think that if you had put a little time into this this would have been on the front page. here are the reasons why. Your top lamp is very bright, either use a very low wattage bulb or have it turned off completely. You can achieve a light painting by sticking the light source straight into the lamp and leaving it there for several seconds. This would have illuminated the bulb and given you the outline of it as well. It would also not blow it out and make it such a focal point in your shot.

using your plain white light source, you could illuminate the desk top and all the outlines of the lamps. As you can see in this shot on your lamp posts they are all jagged where they have caught the light. This almost looks like over sharpening and JPEG compression, where in fact it is just the light being caught in the grooves. Using yoru white light source, illuminating that cord and the plug would have made it stand out more and the plug would not be so bright as to blend away in the shot. Moving the plug also to your left would have given it distinction.

So after doing all this with you white source, then go crazy with your blue!!!!

I do not think that there is a lot in post processing that you could have done with this shot, it is pretty good.

Like I said, very good entry for last minute!