Walk, If You dare..
by Damian

Comment by electrolost:
-i like it

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by GeneralE:
I'd have to figure that this is one of the better of the 78,000 photos shot of this -- sharp lighting on the rocks contrasting with the softness of the mist works really well.

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by Brad:
Nicely timed and composed photograph, with good detail and not over-saturated. ((8))

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by Skip:
what an interesting range of colors. you've done a great job capturing this. good luck!

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by samtrundle:
This is very pretty - exposure is good, but doesn't really separate itself from any other niagra image I've seen. 6

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by rmtm333:
Great capture of the Falls at night. Much better perspective with the lights shining on it rather than the daytime standard shot. Good luck.

Waiting For Santa
by Damian

Comment by Neil:
Greetings from the critique club:

I was impressed with this photo during the challenge, and it was among my top pics. However, looking at this with a critical eye, and considering the challenge, we can perhaps see why it didn't finish as strong as it might have.

Exposure: The exposure on this photo is excellent, and the use of lighting is stunning. This is one of the photos great strengths, as well as beautiful clarity and sharpness.

Composition: Good. While the composition of this photo works pretty well, when you think about it longer, there are some minor issues. First, the photo is almost divided in half by the boys face and the background. I think it would have worked better if it were more uneven, perhaps cropping a bit more on the right. Or if there's simply more tree in the original, then I'd extend the left.

Second, the background actually competes with the boy. In the background half, we see some bright streamer decorations which compete with the lines and highlights of his face. This makes this an excellent situation to use the lens bokeh to emphasize the foreground. However, the depth of field seleced is too great, or the boy is simply too close to the tree, to use bokeh for foreground emphasis. It is this fact that held this image back in the scoring.

Third, as to the waiting theme, for some reason, this composition does not carry that for me. Perhaps because we are so "up close" with the boy. Because of that, it's harder to envision the whole scene, and instead, it seems to work more as a simple christmas portrait.

Aesthetics: Overall the photo works as a lovely portrait, with the crisp focus and wonderful light on the boy. Bokeh could have been put to better use here, but now, after the challenge, a bit more blur applied to the background would also achieve a nice effect.

I hope you find this helpful. Congratulations on a beautiful photograph.

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by SandyP:
Ahhhhhh. . . .I remember a shot kind of like this for the neon challenge. And it's just as spectacular now as it was then! Especially if I remember correctly, there was no real editing done to it. Good luck again. . . it's really gorgeous! About as perfect a night shot as you can get! 10

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by ButterflySis:
The falls look beautiful with the lighting but the black areas are too dark and heavy for me. Wish there were more city lights or details visible.

Dressed Up For New Years
by Damian

Comment by LindaLee:
I'd love to give you a nice long comment about technical stuff and all that, but I'm just giving you a 10. I love it.