Seasons Greetingsby
trainComment by strangeghost: Greetings from the Critique Club
by strangeghost
COMPOSITION
I'm having a hard time deciding what I really think of this composition. The white background is lovely, though changing in brightness from bottom to top, which gives it a bit of a dirty feel. I think white backgrounds are very unforgiving. If they're not clean and clear, they tend to look muddy or messy. The angel figurines certainly do communicate a holiday feel, but it also feels somewhat empty and isolated. It's possible that a splash of color somewhere would have made it more balanced and given it a more "full" feeling. A sprig of holly, or a red ribbon, something. I think the centeredness of the composition is appropriate, though with a more varied and colorful use of subjects, that might have changed.
TECHNIQUE
Appears to be lit primarily from the front, which with glass subjects, is rarely the strongest lighting scheme. Did you mess around with side or back lighting? I think some very nice effects and atmospheric feels might have been possible with subjects like this. This raises another compositional tweak, red and green background, brightly lit and allowing the colors to shine and refract through the glass. Might have been interesting?
OVERALL IMPACT
A tough image to critique in depth because of the lack of any indication of what you were aiming for. Please consider including even brief photographer's comments in the future. Any hints about what you were trying to achieve helps the critic. As a greeting card, I could see it working, but as a photo, I can see many other possibilities that might have improved it and made it a stronger challenge image.
I imagine you were a bit disappointed at the performance of this image. A 5.1 isn't too bad but was below the 50th%ile for the challenge and far below what you've achieved in past challenges. I think its plain feel didn't wow the voters and got you many "5 and move on" votes. Again, a bit of color or a more interesting spin on the comp might have bumped it up a bit. 
Photographer found comment helpful.
