Fly on Aeonium Petals
by carlacryptic

Comment by greenfuse:
I'm not seeing much purple here...but it's an interesting photo

Garden Jewels
by carlacryptic

Comment by wwwavenger:
Very cool subject. But the focus leaves something to be desired. Crank that DOF!

Fly on Aeonium Petals
by carlacryptic

Comment by Bran-O-Rama:
Looks like a full res crop. Image appears grainy and out of focus. A bit lacking in the post processing department. Would've cropped a tad off the bottom but not much. Feels like a rushed attempt or unfinished snapshot of a work in progress.

Self-portrait With Flowers
by carlacryptic

Comment by carlacryptic:
Thanks for all the comments - I learn from them all. I think this image worked pretty well because it illicited a lot of thoughtful comments and some responses along the lines of what I was trying to accomplish (even some of the criticisms fit in that category since they validate that my goals were met albeit in a backhanded kind of way). One thing I realized reading the comments here was that I sometimes do things for effect which don't work. In this case, it was the glitter in the left eye. I left that in on purpose because, at a larger size, you can see a reflection of my back garden through the window and that intrigued me. At this size, however, it is just distracting. I appreciate it when people take the time to comment and these have all been thoughtful. Thanks to everyone who left comments and thanks to whoever gave me those 9's and 10's! :)

Self-portrait With Flowers
by carlacryptic

Comment by David.C:
Lighting: The lighting is good, but there seems to be a bright spot on the side of your left eye.
Pose: You seem to be having fun.
Background: works very well. The flowers are a bit distracting, but not overly so.

Self-portrait With Flowers
by carlacryptic

Comment by C_Steve_G:
This shot has good emotional impact (I love a happy face).

Self-portrait With Flowers
by carlacryptic

Comment by TooCool:
Love the portrait part of this shot, but IMHO the flowers make it a little busy and detract from the lovely subject! Oh and this would have been a nice shot for the purple challenge also!
TC

Pipes of Pan
by carlacryptic

Comment by abreul:
The colors are nice but the composition on this shoot is really out of angle.

Self-portrait With Flowers
by carlacryptic

Comment by GeneralE:
Great colors/exposure, "busy" background works in this case. Since this was an Advanced rules challenge, I'd have re-touched the iris of the left eye to cover the bright area.

Garden Jewels
by carlacryptic

Comment by pcody:
The color that is in the picture is nice. The choice of dof created some nice blurring on the futher leaves while allowing good detail on the front leaves and water. I like how the light penetrates the leaves causing the tranlucient color on the left center leaf. Unfortunately, I think because of the strong light, this looks overexposed. IMO, it would have been outstanding if there was a little more than a hint of green in the composition.