The Flower
by TheStick

Comment by rex:
I like this flower shot. The drops add to it and it is framed nicely.

P1154035A.jpg
by TheStick

Comment by JeniY:
I'm in agreement with the others - it will not score very high because of clarity and the selective desaturation isn't obvious enough. Your off to a good start - keep shooting!!!

P1154035A.jpg
by TheStick

Comment by Mr_Pants:
I've got to echo Goc's comment on the clarity of this. Actually I find this picture quite interesting and appealing, although I feel that it would get hammered in voting. The other thing, I feel, is that the background, although it may have been desaturated, looks as though it could have been plain grey anyway. Perhaps for a selective desat to really work, it has to serve to make the subject stand out from what could otherwise have been an overly-busy composition.

P1154035A.jpg
by TheStick

Comment by goc:
hi, well yea ... keep shooting. this one is okay in some way but for higher scoring the fish needs to be clear, for example focus should be on the head preferably on eyes, so if the focus is on eyes and eyes are clear and sharp the rest can be blurred as movement effect or DOF effect ...
... the orange frame is very distracting

thats it from me for now, reporting from europe ... :-)

So Blue
by TheStick

Comment by goc:
i kinda like it :-)

MotorCycle
by TheStick

Comment by atupdate:
Hello from the Critique Club,

I didn't vote in this challenge so this is the first look I've had at your image. My first impression is that I like the balance of the three images, as the center image of the gages really help tie the top and bottom images together. However, the three images aren't really that sharp and the top one looks distorted somehow. Reading through the comments you received, many of the voters agreed.

Reading through your process steps I noticed that you intentionally added blur to this image. Was this part of a post processing style you were trying to emulate or an attempt to soften the sharpening artifacts on the engine image?

When I first upgraded my photo editing software to Paint Shop Pro I spent a whole month reprocessing my old images to learn the program. It was the best 30 days away from my camera ever spent. I think you have three very nice images for practicing your post processing skills. I love the composition of these three and hope you will take some time working on them.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique.

Tim

MotorCycle
by TheStick

Comment by andrea22_als:
just a little sharper and this would be great

The Cheese Man Can!
by TheStick

Comment by MattO:
Greetings from the critique club. First off lets start with the basics. Did you meet the challenge? Well yeah you did you have kitchenware in the photo. Now lets get into the technicals of what I see right and wrong with your entry. Things that maybe make it better the next time.

First thing I see with this photo is harsh lighting, notice the shadow behind the subject? Change your distance from the subject to the background, or use a diffuser and bounce the flash to help with that.

Focus issues, while I'm not 100% sure I'd say when you started this shot it was in focus, but due to the long shutter speed based on your focal length and the crop factor on your camera thats way to low unless your tripod mounted and using a shutter release. Since the angle and the flash tell me it wasnt you need to bump up your ISO and get your shutter speed up to help with "camera shake" caused by handholding at too low a shutter speed. Shutter speed should be equal or faster then your focal length X your crop factor. On your camera 2X crop factor at 14mm you will need 1/30th or faster shutter speed, at 45mm you will need 1/90th or faster. Since I dont know your exact focal length thats a guide to use for future entries.

I actually like the angle you shot at, and you already know by the photog nots I read that its not a wow shot. But with the fixing of some of the things I mentioned its above 5, then you just need some creativeness to keep going up the ladder. I looked at your portfolio and you have some good stuff and some talent keep up the good work and best of luck in future challenges.

MattO

MotorCycle
by TheStick

Comment by jsc9306:
not too clear.

MotorCycle
by TheStick

Comment by bob_bobski:
Nice idea but IMO the PP is a little strange