Halley
by vtruan

Comment by dagaleaa:
soft muted colors.....nice looking bird

A Silent Stare
by vtruan

Comment by zeuszen:
A good photo should surprise us at any time. :-)

To the Lord & for those who have/do fought for our Freedoms.
by vtruan

Comment by jonpink:
Sorry, but this will get panned I think. All you have done is take a picture of someone elses work.

The title is also bad "do fought " doesn't make sense.

The composition leaves a lot to be desired too, why include the pole on the right? I see you tried to get the flag in which is very nice, but the top pole is very distracting and ruins the image.

On the plus side, the color is quite nice if a little over staurated. Nice as a photo, but not in a challenge.

Halley
by vtruan

Comment by neenee1999:
This is precious, good shot, a little more contrast would have taken out the hazy cast, other than that a very good shot I like it

A Silent Stare
by vtruan

Comment by Neil:
Greetings from the critique club:

I think this shot is very good compositionally, and most of the technical elements within your control are well done. The neck has some overexposed areas, but this works for me as part of the aesthetics of the shot.

Aesthetically, overall, I rate this photo very good.

I suspect this is a small portion of a larger frame, and this implicitly lower resolution, and perhaps your overall camera resolution, are lowering the subjective quality of the capture. (Consider the deer's fur on it's side and hind and you'll see some of the quality issue I am talking about.)

I understand how this might be a surprise to both of you, but personally I think this image would have been hurt topically in the surprise challenge because many won't see this as surprise.

Overall, this is a beautiful photo.

A Silent Stare
by vtruan

Comment by smellyfish1002:
Who was surprised, you or the deer??? Great shot, and BW really looks great. One of the best wild deer shots I've seen! Congrats on a great capture!
JD

A Silent Stare
by vtruan

Comment by zeuszen:
While many viewers of this entry can be expected to have come across staples of wild-life shots, most will not be able to match the magic power and essence of this one.

While, at first sight, the image strikes me as overexposed, on second viewing, one more considerate of the artistic essence of this photo, the overexposure introduces a radiating quality I can easily apply to both the subject and her environment. The b and w mode accomodates this perception perfectly.

The transitory essence and integrity of this shot leaves little room for extraneous considerations, really. I would amend the title, perhaps, and substitute 'stare' with 'gaze' or choose an entirely different title, but one as poignant as the image...

A remarkable photograph of a magic moment.

A Silent Stare
by vtruan

Comment by connie:
I would have liked to see this in color... nice shot.

Nothing Like a Rose
by vtruan

Comment by FatWillie:
Beautiful

To the Lord & for those who have/do fought for our Freedoms.
by vtruan

Comment by jmritz:
Nice color. I find the flag hard to see, it is to secondary to the image as a whole. Great idea for the Challenge.