2000: The Year of the Dragon
by Rooster

Comment by Koriyama:
I like the wb, tinting the clouds with the red of the fire breath. A nice touch. I wonder, though, if a deep dof wouldn't have helped, as I feel that the clouds needed to be a touch more in focus, less bokeh. 6

The City that Never Sleeps
by Rooster

Comment by dr rick:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

The message
This is a nice view of a large city after dark. The shapes of the buildings show well here, and the thousands of lights create interesting textures throughout the image.

Creative choices
The panaroma format is a good choice for photos of this genre, and mostly works well here. The wide angle is perhaps too extreme for the small pixel dimensions allowed for DPChallenge entries (and especially the even smaller ones used here); it makes the image a bit muddy. The composition is a bit unbalanced, a lot brighter on the left, which makes the perfectly straight photo seem to slant slightly. The blacks are probably recorded accurately, but they aren't very black. Using levels to make them a bit darker would improve the image.

Technical aspects
The major technical problem is that a high jpeg compression created lots of artifacts that reduce the detail. The wind didn't help the sharpness either, although there wasn't much you could do about that.

2000: The Year of the Dragon
by Rooster

Comment by Shannon:
Very nice composition and colors...nicely done. 9

2000: The Year of the Dragon
by Rooster

Comment by puya:
I think a nice cropping would've made this photo so much nicer.

2000: The Year of the Dragon
by Rooster

Comment by HRoxas:
Good composition. The clouds have a magenta tint which is probably intentional. The foreground subject looks hazy on my monitor.

Happy Birthday MLK!
by Rooster

Comment by MrAkamai:
Interesting angle used in this photograph. Is the sign lettering really that darker gray? I ask because it looks a bit underexposed. Good overall image.

Higher Perspective
by Rooster

Comment by Rooster:
thanks everyone for your comments!

Happy Birthday MLK!
by Rooster

Comment by jmritz:
HAHA Funny pic. Nicely composed.

Happy Birthday MLK!
by Rooster

Comment by adine:
Hear! Hear! Happy b-day MLK! I like your creative angle - almost like the sign is reaching down to touch us. The lighting could be better - hard to get it right with the bright sky behind - a flash might reflect off the sign nicely?

Happy Birthday MLK!
by Rooster

Comment by admart01:
Hey, great catch - extra credit for matching the date to the theme to the shot! Very minor nit - the torn flag thing lower center detracts from the rest of the composition.