Stillness
by Rankles

Comment by spencelg:
Very nice!

Stillness
by Rankles

Comment by roz:
i feel if i breath to deeply and exhale i'll disturb the tranquility . !! ..
this is stunning .. :)

Christmas Shoot - Hops & Barley
by Rankles

Comment by JulietNN:
This is just me, but I think this is a little too dark, and I love dark and moody. A very dull, grey looking Christmas, a bit more lighting and brightness and contrast will make these feel a bit more cheerful and festive and set off your product. Adore the card sets though! So welcome back and here is your 1st critique! ((ekkk))

Endless Forest
by Rankles

Comment by Ben:
I think this is a great shot.
What i'd have done differently however is to try and dodge some highlights to a) brighten the image slightly and b) by selective dodging, i'd have tried to lead the viewer down the path more. As it is it's a little dark.
I think the trees about 1/3 of the way down (the brighter ones) are perfect, but then after those they go pitch black which stops the eye from going any further i think.

I might be talking complete rubbish, but seems to make sense in my head, haha.

Input Output
by Rankles

Comment by TooCool:
Feels awkward...
TC

Approaching Middle Age
by Rankles

Comment by dewdodesign:
Greetings from the Critique Club :o)

I've spent a lot of time looking at this one trying to work out both the good and bad points and wow, you have certainly managed to capture a lot of detail is this shot.

Composition
I absolutely love the angle this has been taken from, it really puts a lot of focus on the expression and features on this tom cats face and helps to draw my attention to his eyes which, in my opinion, happen to be the most powerful part of this shot.

Colour
I've been looking at some of your comments regarding whether or not this shot is classed as B&W, and in my opinion the de-saturation of colour, whether intentional or otherwise, has really added a whole heap of character to this shot and going back to the eyes, they boast the most about of colour in the whole image and rightly so.
The background remains neutral and does not distract but carries enough detail so the viewer can make out what it is. Great DOF to achieve this.

Lighting
In my opinion this is the only real weakness in the shot with the area around the right hand side whiskers and eye over-exposed. I'm guessing this is caused by the sun shining on this side of his face and would have been hard to control without underexposing other parts of the shot. Perhaps the only real fix for this would have been to move to a different location where the lighting was more neutral but I know this sometimes not always possible and you've done a great job with the conditions available.

Conclusion
A pin sharp image with plenty of detail to keep the viewers attention. You have shown strong technical ability to produce an interesting image out of an otherwise ordinary subject.

Great Job!

Approaching Middle Age
by Rankles

Comment by Efergoh:
Two people have called this a B&W photo. I think some of y'all need to adjust your monitors...or I do. There is plenty of color here. It is a desaturated shot, but the color hasn't been totally removed.

Input Output
by Rankles

Comment by stanm2:
too busy

Input Output
by Rankles

Comment by jsc9306:
nice

Approaching Middle Age
by Rankles

Comment by daisypaige:
I love cats and I love the focus. I think the black and white with the tont also looks great. I think this a great shot.10