Docile
by dr rick

Comment by rscorp:
Really impressed with this one once the full sized image loaded. The picture is extremely sharp with all the detail in the fur you could hope for. Some small elements in the background are just a bit distracting but not much and what could have been a boring photo really turned out great.

Docile
by dr rick

Comment by Sammie:
Your picture is nice and clear. However, it isn't really the sort of picture that is better in black and white than in color.

Docile
by dr rick

Comment by dipaulk:
Lovely! :)

Mandarin
by dr rick

Comment by dr rick:
Lighting here was from behind. I adjusted the gamma using Levels to show off the subtle boundaries of the juice sacs, which were barely visible in the original.

I guess to get a top score I should have squeezed the fruit and photographed a drop of juice coming off it. :) But seriously, I can't complain about a top 75 finish in a contest with so many entries!

Thanks to all who took time to vote and especially those who commented.

Rick

Docile
by dr rick

Comment by Pug-H:
the lump of stuff on the ground is a bit distracting, mainly because of the blown out parts of it.

Mandarin
by dr rick

Comment by Pascal:
Strange lighting and a very good photo, well done!

Fall Mulberry
by dr rick

Comment by Kavey:
Critique Club

Composition/ Content
The leaves themselves are pretty, particularly the detail of the veins. However this is offset for me by the lack of any balanced composition and by the post processing.
There is no flow to the arrangement of leaves and no real focal point ΓΆ€“ instead my eye returns to the bright white circle at the top left. You might consider cropping to a landscape orientation by losing about a quarter of the height from the top and losing a little at the bottom (up to, but not touching, the red tip of the largest leaf). To my eye this strengthens composition considerably and allows you to lose that distracting white circle. It also strengthens the diagonal provided by the central vein of that largest leaf as it now comes from the bottom right corner and leads the eye into the centre and towards the other leaves.

Background
Not of huge interest. I'd be interested to see a version where shallower depth of field throws the background out of focus.

Camera Work - Technical
Lighting seems harsh as it has created some glaring reflections from the leaf surface, which I'm not keen on.

Digital Processing - Technical
Whilst I like vibrant colours this image strikes me as rather over saturated and over sharpened, though perhaps that's actually an effect of the harsh lighting?

Fits The Challenge
N/A

My Opinion On The Photo
Whilst the subject matter holds a little interest this composition and treatment doesn't really display that very strongly for me.

As always, this represents a personal opinion and other CC members may feel very differently about the image.

Mandarin
by dr rick

Comment by aerogurl:
excellent image. only critique i have is the color. a touch of saturation might have made it look even more orange. 8

Mandarin
by dr rick

Comment by tristalisk:
A very good almost textbook example of macro photography. Great shadows, perfect focus, good color, Its just not exciting to me.

Mandarin
by dr rick

Comment by Kathryn8:
Okay, now that is a wonderful photograph....I gave it a really high score. It is wonderful in its simplicity.