Clay Flowers at Dawn
by DougPaz

Comment by sylandrix:
Greetings from the Critique Club!...

COMPOSITION... Composition here is mostly good - I am slightly distracted from some of the background elements that are not part of the flowers - a piece of glass, etc... but fortunately the surrounding environment is dark and so the flowers stand out more.. I don't know how moveable these flowers were, but I imagine the probably could have been arranged so that the glass object is hidden, and maybe cropped a little tighter on the upper right to remove the distractions there.

TECHNIQUE... The lighting is sort of a catch-22... As it stands, it feels too uneven, with highlights in the photo blown out. But increasing exposure would have shown more of the background, which may have also hurt the picture. I'm just not sure here... If this is natural light (and I'm making the assumption it is), there is not much else to do other than trying to shift the placement of the object to photograph so it is in less direct light, or diffusing the light itself by hanging any translucent material (drapes?) over the windows to soften the light. Lots of shadows here too. Can make a dramatic photo, I like them in there anyway, but if thats not your intent, then setting up reflectors to throw some of the light back might be a good idea as well. (or if not to reduce the amount of shadows, it may also help in evening out the applied light).

Four Corner Standoff
by DougPaz

Comment by pinback:
Nice arrangement

Stained Glass Sunset
by DougPaz

Comment by jmsetzler:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

Hi Doug...

I like the color and concept on this photo quite a bit. It's compositionally strong and I do see the callenge interpretation here quite easily.

Simply put, I believe the focus should have been on the window itself. it appears that your camera focused on the outside environment rather than the window, and that lack of front focus seems to fail this photograph. I believe that most of the comments you received on this issue are on target. I'm not sure if your camera will do manual focus, but that can be helpful in a situation like this sometimes :)

Keep up the great work :)

John Setzler

Four Corner Standoff
by DougPaz

Comment by Fiver:
Nice crisp lines. The seams of the balls distract. More interesting Highlights might be someting to try.

Four Corner Standoff
by DougPaz

Comment by Maverick:
Nice idea, just to be picky, I think the image would look a little better without the shadows, but I like the shot as a whole, nice job

Checking the Radius
by DougPaz

Comment by dsidwell:
The contrast between the roundness of the ball and the squares does indeed suggest pi to me, though the title seems to not match the image. I love the tones and lighting of this shot, too. Nice work.

Four Corner Standoff
by DougPaz

Comment by ChrisW123:
This would have been great for the Symmetry challenge, but is great here also.

Checking the Radius
by DougPaz

Comment by justine:
Beautifully shot, love the tones, light. :) nice one.

Four Corner Standoff
by DougPaz

Comment by Bitz:
Such a simple idea and brought together beautifully. Top 3 for me! Outstanding compostion and focus.

Four Corner Standoff
by DougPaz

Comment by justine:
Fantastic ..