Brother's Got A Screw Loose
by okiesisi

Comment by Beautiful-Joe:
Very noisy and grainy.. Background is very distracting.

My suggestion is to convert this to black and white or desaturated sepia, and blur the background a bit. It'll give it an old/dirty look, but that can be a very good thing when you've got alot of noise and grain.

See No Evil
by okiesisi

Comment by cryingdragon:
Greets from the Critique Club

What amazingly poor and great luck I have following stdavidson to your image. It's poor luck because I can't add anything that he hasn't. He has it nailed. It's good luck because I don't have to add anything.

I'm sorry that I can't add to what he has said.

--Mike

Brother's Got A Screw Loose
by okiesisi

Comment by senor_kasper:
Focus and lighting could be better. Also, the stuff on the right is distracting, it would be better if it was behind the depth of field.

Fire and Ice
by okiesisi

Comment by littlefish:
Good idea but the ice doesn't come across as ice. Maybe have a blue reflection in ice or something to make it more obvious that ice is melting.

Rectangles of Remembrance
by okiesisi

Comment by Sheryll:
Nice tribute for memorial day. Wish it were better focus. Great idea just not that great on the execution. Better luck next time.

See No Evil
by okiesisi

Comment by Artifacts:
Positives:
Well setup and executed image. Very nicely done. Colors not overworked. Overall superb technical quality.

Technicals:
A very challenging image for desaturation. It was done much better than the majority of submissions. Tough boundaries are especially natural looking.

Though done well, you may have retained to much color in the composition in to many areas.

Lighting and contrast are decent though there is nothing in the lighting that specifically draws a lot of viewer interest.

The Challenge:
You got nailed by the lack of a "Wow" factor, not technical quality. Not saying that is right, just saying it is something DPC voters are perpetually searching for. Counted cross stitch just doesn't get voter juices flowing. LOL!!!

It is possible that so much color remained that it harmed it in voting. Voters generally expect just the main subject colored in selective desaturation. The use of color in several different areas might have been confusing.

Suggestions:
You might consider removing all color from the image except the 'see no evil' stitched frog and the needle and thread next to it. The bundled thread and other frog on the package could be left black and white. Color in those areas might be overdoing it.

Rectangles of Remembrance
by okiesisi

Comment by quiche:
Very interesting composition that tells a good story. Needs sharper focus, and would like to see a little more detail in the sky.

Fire and Ice
by okiesisi

Comment by h2:
no clear focus, overexposed. crop at left is too tight

Fire and Ice
by okiesisi

Comment by jblaylockrayner:
Nice light but a tad boring.

Fire and Ice
by okiesisi

Comment by yonderman:
too unclear for me