Sunset on the Anthriscus sylvestris
by clickodak

Comment by skewsme:
pretty, would be tempted to do a little shadow/highlight on this...

Pine Needles
by clickodak

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

An image with impact that meets the challenge

Your choice of a wide aperture has enabled you to blur the background into soft focus thus meeting the challenge. The aperture has also enhanced the image by creating some quite interesting bokeh into the highlights. The ice crystals have a jewel like appearance in the bright sunlight which gives your image more impact.

I know the challenge is blur and you may have deliberately created some foreground blur but it doesn't really work for me, I think it would have been more effective to get the front sharp and as a result introduce even more blur into the background. Composition wise I like the implied diagonal of the ice and again I think you could have improved it by bringing it further to the lower right, I don't think cropping some of the front pine leaves would have hurt.

I would have preferred it if the chromatic aberrations had been given some attention during the processing, the colours are a little distracting. The two lumps of brown are a bit discordant to the image overall.

Its a shame you didn't get any comments I hope this helps, Sid

Watering Flowers
by clickodak

Comment by Barroness:
water with a bling!

Watering Flowers
by clickodak

Comment by SeanPresher:
Focus on the droplets is good.

Water Therapy
by clickodak

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

First impressions, full marks for an original approach that meets the challenge well.

I'm all for originality and I fully respect your attempt to produce an original image with impact but I have to say that it doesn't work for me, the image leaves me feeling a little uneasy. I think that simply having the profile of an isolated head completely disembodied like this is so unnatural that it just feels really awkward and difficult to come to terms with.

This composition just doesn't work, I need to see at least some of the persons body too, if its going to have any chance to work at all I think the head should be in the right third. A better composition would have been to take the image from the head so that we could easily see the closed eyes but with part or all of the rest of her body in soft focus in the rest of the frame.

Has it achieved your objective of peace and calm? Well I suppose it has but it is unfortunately dominated by the awkwardness of the concept and composition as detailed above.

If the lighting had been able to make the face stand out more from the water that might have helped. If the hair was wet with drops on her face perhaps that too may have helped a little but your original concept remains flawed for me anyway, sorry. Sid

Do you remember...5,4,3,2,1...Thunderbird are Go !!!!
by clickodak

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

A generally well constructed shot that meets the challenge well.

I'm afraid I can only vaguely recall the show, I like the viewpoint you have used and from memory I think you have used a commonly seen composition for your shot, you certainly seem to have convinced your two commenters, so well done for that. The lighting and exposure are good too.

Initially I thought it was a plain blue background but I see there are some subtle clouds there, unfortunately there is also a vapour trail to the lower left which once observed becomes a slight distraction. You have generally done a good job with your editing apart from the red nose cone which has a halo around it and again, once seen becomes more obvious.

I think you've done a good job of it, to be honest there's not a lot more I can add so 5,4,3,2,1â€Â¦ Sid

Water Therapy
by clickodak

Comment by pamb:
Interesting idea, however it feels awkward to me. Perhaps it is the placement/composition, perhaps I would like to see more of the body rather than simply a floating head.

Water Therapy
by clickodak

Comment by quiche:
Water looks good. Consider dodging/lightening her face to draw attention to it.

Music Break
by clickodak

Comment by Nordlys:
Nightmare Before Christmas! Nice bw image with an effective vignette.

Yellow Hornet
by clickodak

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from the Critique Club*

First impressions, great close up that has impact.

Isn't it wonderful when mother nature puts stuff in your way just when you want it, it doesn't happen very often but you've seized the opportunity well and used it to good advantage here. Your focus is spot on, sharp on the eye which is so important with any study be it portrait, statue or as here, insect.

Technically, I think there was plenty of scope to use a smaller aperture to sharpen up the wings and thorax but perhaps this was not your desire. At f8 you would only have needed ISO 400, and f11 would still only have been ISO 800 which is easily handled by your camera. As the background is in such soft focus I think this would have given you the DOF needed to get all of the insect sharp without the background becoming too obtrusive, but as I said before, this may not have been what you wanted.

With regard to the challenge you have placed it nicely on the most obvious hotspot which works really well. I also like that you have placed the branching stem in the lower right corner which gives a solid base to the additional flower heads.

The only minor criticism is the OOF dark centre to the soft focus flower below the one on which the insect is, it looks like another insect. Once spotted it is conspicuous enough to detract from the main subject, I think it would improve the image if it was dealt with by cloning or dodging to subdue it.

Overall it is a very competent shot that meets the challenge well and deserving of the respectable score it received.