Fly away
by Abra

Comment by hernan43:
Great snap.

Fly away
by Abra

Comment by Neat:
Vivid.

Not from this planet
by Abra

Comment by Alicia:
4.7??? I love this! Gave you a 7. What a shame it didn't score higher.

Not from this planet
by Abra

Comment by posthumous:
Good gritty darkness.

Not from this planet
by Abra

Comment by bmartuch:
I like this. Nice stark contrast.

Not from this planet
by Abra

Comment by mariuca:
Very zoomorphic. Great background shroud. Powerful ants with state of the arts antennas. 8

Rumination
by Abra

Comment by bvy:
Very creative, magical, beautiful. I only wish for the slightest hint of eyelash.

Rumination
by Abra

Comment by PennyStreet:
sillhouette and bokeh - what a lovely chance for rumination.

Not from this planet
by Abra

Comment by NiallOTuama:
Black and white processing, in my opinion (and it's not an educated one, it is just one that I have formed based on how I react to images), has the potential to bring a very moody feeling, more so than colour processing I think, and this is what you have achieved in this.
I love the background textures. It's excellent that you got the out-of-focus blobs on centre-left, but then with some hatched texture of the fabric too. And I like how when swept from left to right this detail becomes less and less pronounced. Perfect for drawing the eye to the main subject while having an interesting background.
As for the main subject (a thorn bush of some kind?) it is an interesting subject. I think it was probably your intention and I think it works for moodiness (but probably not for scoring) but it is basically only black and white with no greys. This makes it stand out from the background quite well, but what it does not do is show you details on the bud (is that what it is?). It looks like a spikey black ball with white streaks in it. Again, I personally think this works but I think the more common DPC voter appreciates detail and mid-tones more than cut-out blacks and moodiness.
I do like the stalk thing more to the right of the thing I call the bud. That is nice and textured, but what I really like about it is that it's only when you look at it that you discover the textures. Almost like a reward for your time :-)
I gave this a 7. Reasons for not more are that I am not that an uncommon DPC voter and really like details, the blob to the very right distracts me, and because I really wish there were more details.

Time to leave
by Abra

Comment by Alicia:
Hello from the Critique Club! You requested an in-depth critique and here it is:

You have captured a great urban grittiness. I think the high ISO worked in your favor here. The contrast between the ornate building elements on the left and the raw wall and rebar on the right is wonderful. But of course it's about the birds, and as such, the image is very cohesive, bringing the eye directly to the subject, which is suitably light and sharp (you know... besides the motion blur). The perspective - slightly from above - really gives the photo a lot of depth.

Normally I'm a frame hater, but in this case, the frame adds a finishing element, making the image more artistic than journalistic.

I love the tones of the image as well - and the light/dark contrasting areas.

What could be improved? Compositionally, the image is somewhat long, placing the birds in the center. I see where you wanted to include certain elements, so changing the layout would have sacrificed parts of the building ornaments. After holding my hand here and there to see how that would have worked, I wonder if a tighter crop wouldn't have been beneficial.

Hope this is of some value to you.

Alicia