Palm study
by dr rick

Comment by sfalice:
Great subject. But (In my opinion of course) I think the main interest in your nice shot is in the left hand 2/3rds with that sweeping line and color of the palm leaf. There is that little distraction on the right hand edge too... If you have the pixels, a closeup of that central stalk surrounded by the yellow graduating to the greens could be stunning.

Palm study
by dr rick

Comment by neenee1999:
Beautiful shot, wonderfuly tropical.

Hot Tamale
by dr rick

Comment by djscarrd:
Wow nice photo. Good job. I like the colors also. Although I don't see anything extraordinary abou this photo.

Vus'musi with Mom Ndula and Aunt Umgani
by dr rick

Comment by photom:
Hi Rick and * Greetings from the Critique Club *

Before I dig a bit into this image - I must tell you that I love your March Free Study and Magic entries! As a fellow Californian, I appeciate how fortunate you were to get the lighting you did on "Between Winter and Spring."

Your threes submission has a great feel to it - a very nice family scene. It's very well done - not much to suggest on the technical side as composition (for threes), exposure and focus are spot on.

Having said that - perhaps my most dominate critique item is the composition for "threes." Due to the separation of the animals, you really have two images here - the two left elephants and the trailing elephant. I hope you tried one focusing on the front two.

A second thing that pops out is the very flat lighting. It would be much stronger if there were some shadows to give it more depth. (Not high noon - but perhaps late in the day.) That would also add some nice warm light to bring out the brown of the mom's skin.

Here's something I toyed with - I know it's cropped way to close in - but perhaps demonstrates the points I made.

//images.dpchallenge.com/images_portfolio/19608/orig/83287.jpg

Have you ever been to the "Roar and Snore" - and if so, do you recommend it?

Good shooting,

-Tom-

Vus'musi with Mom Ndula and Aunt Umgani
by dr rick

Comment by bpickard:
I think the background takes away from the great subjects...maybe tighter cropping is required

Vus'musi with Mom Ndula and Aunt Umgani
by dr rick

Comment by pkac:
hmmm

Vus'musi with Mom Ndula and Aunt Umgani
by dr rick

Comment by nicoledb:
You did a good job of letting the grey of the elephants stand out against the grey of the background. Pity the little one seems a bit fuzzy. I also would have liked to see them a bit more close up, if possible.

Toccata no. 3 in Purple
by dr rick

Comment by Neuferland:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

From your shower stall? Wow, I thought it was a tree knot! I really shoudn't be the one doing a critique on an abstract shot. It's not one of my better areas of photography and I honestly never really understood a lot of it. But here goes, so knowing what you do about my strength in this area, this isn't a bad shot to me overall but the whole shot seems to lack that POP, that WOW that really makes it jump out of the screen at me.

I like the composition and the cropping but the colors, while nice, seem a bit dull overall to me. Maybe if you played with it a bit in the colors or hue and saturation to make the colors really pop out? Also if focus was just a tad sharper to really bring out the lines and edges?

I really like some of your other shots, the hippo one was great and the Magic one is also great. Keep up the good work!

Good Luck In Future Challenges!

Deannda
DNeufer@stny.rr.com if you have any questions or want to discuss this further!

Toccata no. 3 in Purple
by dr rick

Comment by neenee1999:
Stunning colors combinations.

Toccata no. 3 in Purple
by dr rick

Comment by f-32:
Almost looks like you had TWO rust shots.... assuming you entered the other... Well done nonetheless!