Pile Up
by pamb

Comment:
I like this one better for the caterpillar shot as well...

Falling Apart
by markwiley

Comment:
You go Mark!!! Excellent job and placement!!!

Times Gone By
by coronamv

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

Composition:

I would like to see just a bit of the right side and bottom (to the edge of the light shadow - lower right corner) of the picture cropped off...to me it neither adds nor distracts to composition of the photo therefore I feel that it isn't need. It would place the building just a bit more to the right side of the photo and gets rid of the odd light/shadow in the lower right corner, giving it more balance IMO and pulling it closer together. One other thing - it feels slightly tilted to the back and right of the photo. It could just be the lens that you used, I'm not sure. But it feels a little "off" to me.

Background:

I like the dark background, but around the light I see quite a bit of noise. A pass of a good noise filter would "pull" this together IMO.

Camera Work:

Shooting this at an ISO of 200 is pretty hard. I'm wondering why you didn't up the ISO to say 1000 or higher (I don't know your camera's capability). It appears that you did use a tripod (or set your camera on something stable) so you don't have any motion blur going on.

Post Processing:

As I said earlier I think that a good pass with a noise filter could really pull this together. Not sure if you have ever used a High Pass Filter but it sure goes a long way to bring detail back without distracting halo's.

My Opinion:

Overall you have a pleasing picture but for me because of the noise I would have given you a 6 for this (I did not vote on this challenge). I hope that I've been able to give you some insight into your picture without being offensive. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

Janine

13 Flowers
by pamb

Comment:
This would be my 2nd choice.

Serpent - A day in the life of...
by ShutterRev

Comment:
Critique Club Comment :o)

Greetings from the Critique Club...

Composition:

I like how the branch is angled through the picture it draws my eye from left to upper right nicely. But I'm not as fond of the centered position of the snake. Either a little left or a little right IMO would add a bit more appeal to this photo.

Background:

Your BG has a huge amount of noise, which for me is very distracting. My eye is wandering all over the picture looking at that noise and that is what I'm mainly focusing on. A good noise filter would go a long way on this image. Your ISO is set quite high on this (1100) and your shutter speed (1/80) is quite slow/low. I realize it was shot indoors, but I think that a higher shutter speed and higher ISO could reduce the amount of noise in this. Your using an excellent camera (same as mine).

Focus:

You used F/1.8 a very narrow field of focus. I like that the head of the snake has great detail, but I would really like to see more body detail...not the whole thing just the area around the head. So that there is a better proportion of the photo with sharper focus vs a very small portion of the photo being in focus thus giving it more balance IMO.

Lighting:

To me seems a bit harsh, especially on the left hand side of the picture. I'm not really fond of the blown out area on the branch (lower left) and upper left corner. So I would say that it is a little over exposed. Not sure if you shoot in RAW or not - but that is something that could be easily fixed in RAW conversion.

Overall Opinion:

I like the focus on the snakes head, just wish it was a bit more. The noise is very, very distracting. I would have given this a 5 had I voted on this challenge. More for the noise and lighting.

I hope my comments are helpful, they are not intended to insult you.

If you've got any questions about this critique, please feel free to contact me via the PM system.

Falling Apart
by grahamgator

Comment:
Good choice...really like this alot

Bubble
by markwiley

Comment:
Front Page ... yea!!! Go Mark!!

White Rice
by IAmEliKatz

Comment:
yea!!! good for you Eli!!! Way to go!!! Congrats on the ribbon!!!

Serenity
by pamb

Comment:
Good for you!!!! Beautiful picture Pam ... Congrats!!!

Bailing
by pamb

Comment:
Really like this one alot...colors are great...possibly a little less sky??? THIRD CHOICE

Message edited by author 2013-02-28 09:32:03.