Flight 4
by Melethia

Comment by Wildcard:
Wow, Deb this is stunning.

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by SaraR:
I gave you a 5, and so was one of the voters who brought down your score. there were a number of things that I liked and I number of things that i didn;t about this photo:
Overall Composition - I liked the basic composition, and in particular the inclusion of the man's feet; the way one of them is casually lifted adds an additional casual dimension (and I mean that as a positive). I would prefer if you had taken a slightly llower pwerspective and framed the photo without the elements in the background, which I find somewhat distracting. If I cover the area I see that for me cropping the current photo nearly works, but not quite. A strong plus is that the eye of the viewer is led fully around the photo.
Mono Conversion - A good range of tones from white through to black; the only area here that i would question is the contrast between the dog's coat, particularly at its neck, and the background.
Focus - seems slightly soft; I would have preferred the dog's coat to be somewhat sharper (perhaps by use of selective USM? I'm not good with PS so may be talking rubbish....)
Overall Feel/Emotional Response - the basis of a very interesting and sound photo, but just not quite there for me. It is interesting that you refer to the dog as a puppy - I see a large rather intimidating animal. I wonder if the fact that whilst I am not scared of dogs, I am aprehensive of them has clouded by view.

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by Hipychik:
I gave you an 8 on this. It has a story to it. (at least in my mind it does). I like the feet. I like the soft looking texture of the dog.

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by BAMartin:
I gave this photo a 7. I can see why you loved it, its a cute puppy and a beautiful moment. I think maybe the voters see this as being a snapshot, but the very reasons most of them voted it low are the exact things I like the most. (ie. the rustic bowl, the mans feet).

Actually in the overall scheme of things, this did not do too bad. I am happy to see where it placed.

Morning conversations
by Melethia

Comment by h2:
Never really noticed this had a 7+ score without even finishing top 10. Dang!

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by BrianR:
And of course being an animal lover had nothing to do with your wanting to enter this photo, good catch.

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by timfythetoo:
I remember thinking pretty much this in voting - "Cute shot, wish the dog was really in focus... it's the feet, the feet are cool, stepping up just a bit, thats just cool."

Now had it been a cat instead of a dog with those feet in the background - 10!

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by Rgarcia:
It's a nice simple image, perhaps too simple for DPC standards. I think a more agressive post processing would have had a better impact to DPC crowd, thus raising the score.

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by colorcarnival:
I liked the moment captured and I am a sucker for dogs in pics anyway. I like photos like these because they imply that there's more to the story. Good choice of color tone too.

Man and Dog
by Melethia

Comment by magenmarie:
Absolutely amazing. I love it. Looks like more than a snapshot to me. It definitely tells a story. Beautiful work, as always.