Double Hauling
by Pangurban

Comment by Luciemac:
Wish you'd caught him mid-cast.....

Double Hauling
by Pangurban

Comment by DaylightMagic:
Good lines and spacing within the frame

Canalside
by Pangurban

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Very nice setting, great time of day to shoot, and as noted, very dfreamy. Problem is, there is nothing happening. There is no true focal point. I looked everywhere for that one thing to rivet my attention and didn't find it. Pathway, river, trees, setting sun...that's it. It's like looking at a set before the extras and talent are called on. Even just a pedestrian or dogwalker on the path would have broken the vista and given us something to look at. If you had a tripod with you, you could set it up, put on the timer and use yourself as a model.

Otherwise, I see it's a kit lens that caught this image. I think you could have slowed the shutter speed down quite a lot (leaning against a tree to stabilize yourself, you should be able to get a fairly sharp image at 1/40) and thus bought yourself some more dof.

Hope this has been of help, feel free to PM me with any questions.

Susan

Canalside
by Pangurban

Comment by Revecca:
dreamy.

Autumn-Berry
by Pangurban

Comment by Revecca:
Nice colors. I feel like a tighter crop would be more efficient with this though.

Preening
by Pangurban

Comment by bmartuch:
Very well framed.

Hydrangea Reflection
by Pangurban

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the critique club*

An appealing image that does not meet the challenge.

I find your image attractive but in terms of the challenge the subject and your title is so obvious that there is no element of surprise that should be associated with something obscure. We should be made to explore your image to find the hidden subject that is obscured in some way. I do like the reflection and the ripples and the shadows its all very appealing. As you say, it is very bright sunlight but I think you have controlled the exposure well, there is good detail throughout.

I'm sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge I hope this makes up for it, Sid

Simplicity
by Pangurban

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

An appealing image that does meet the challenge.

I'm not sure what your lighting and shadows problem was but I think the end result is most acceptable, in fact a very nice high key effect whose shadows are very subtle and blend in well with the end result. Your exposure is very nice you have got some lovely whites without blowing the highlights. A smaller aperture would have got you a better DOF encompassing the petals in the foreground in a sharper way but I think the nature of this high key image allows you to have some softness in those petals in a way that adds to the end result in a pleasing sort of way.

Whilst I prefer an off centre composition there is sometimes a need for a more symmetrical approach such as you have here. Given the size of your subject, a miniature rose being smaller an off-centre composition filling the frame might not have been possible for you being beyond the closest limits of your lens perhaps? If not then I think this would have improved the image substantially.

Sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge, I hope this helps. Thanks for your submission, Sid

Folly
by Pangurban

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique club*

An appealing image that meets the challenge

As you say, a beautiful location. The lighting is very harsh and difficult to control but I think -1EC would have given you a better result it would have saturated the colours more and lessened the effect you have identified of the blown sky. You have done the right thing to reduce the amount of sky in your composition but I think you could have gone further and eliminated it completely in favour of the water. I do like the one calm patch of water that reflects perfectly the folly this really adds impact to the end result. Personally, I would have preferred to see some human interaction here, it would also given it a sense of scale.

Sorry you didn't get any comments during the challenge, I hope this makes up for it. Thanks for your submission, Sid

Lunchtime
by Pangurban

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

An appealing image that contributes to the open challenge.

From your comments it sounds as though you were shooting in manual mode? I would strongly recommend trying aperture priority which would enable you to concentrate on DOF and know that the camera will at worst get a usable exposure for you. As I'm sure you appreciate the better you can get it in camera then the minimal processing needed will ultimately give you a better end result.

I like your composition with the bee in the lower half of the frame and his lovely iridescent wings against the black background. The colours throughout are quite appealing, I like the soft focus flower background but the buds in the front are not working quite so well but they are not a major issue. I think the heavy processing needed to correct the exposure has given a degree of noise and softness to the detail that lets it down a little which probably explains its low score.

Thanks for your submission, Sid