Curious Rattie
by stphq

Comment by jim29028:
Nice shot and focus, assume it's a pet rat, if it's not don't know if I'd be able to get the picture with a feral rat coming to check me out. Nice balance of tones.

Curious Rattie
by stphq

Comment by MaryO:
Hiya', cutie! They are such interesting creatures :-) Love all those whiskers; perfect DOF.

Curious Rattie
by stphq

Comment by Tiny:
Give us a kiss.

Model News
by stphq

Comment by SaraR:
I don't get the concept here - I want to find some link between the newspaper pages and the model, perhaps pages detailing abductions, or crimes against women of some such; nor do I understand the title - maybe i am looking for more than there was in your idea, but as I am able to understand the photo, I am unable to find anything of substance.

Colourful Arachnid
by stphq

Comment by bvy:
Kaleidoscopic!

Colourful Arachnid
by stphq

Comment by MaryO:
Rather delicately pretty, though I'm betting her prey wouldn't appreciate that. Would like just a smidge more DOF to get the tops of the legs in focus.

Exploring Soap Island
by stphq

Comment by LanndonKane:
i do not like earwigs

Nobody Plays On Cold Wet Days
by stphq

Comment by BrennanOB:
I would have liked it better if you had flipped the images, the heavy ropes of the climbing structure seem to be supported by the chains of the swing, and that creates an odd little jolt. The swing wants to be up top.

Nobody Plays On Cold Wet Days
by stphq

Comment by bassbone:
First off, i like this type of diptych where the mundane is captured and presented as a collage to provide a story or a recurring theme.

The individual images themselves are carefully photographed using very good choice of DOF to bring out the subject and provide context in the background. The lighting is also soft and rich allonwing good details throughout.

I almost wish this was a triptych as it seems a third image of another scene would boost this 'scene' even more. With only two images, i wonder if focusing on one playset (swings or jungle gym) would have been better, using differing angles.

Regarding the title, I think it may have hurt you a bit, but in general I just think it doesn't have a lot of 'wow' to really pull in the high scores.

One thing I did notice was a bit of oversharpening under the swing - you can see a line of white that gives the image an 'overpushed' feel.

Nobody Plays On Cold Wet Days
by stphq

Comment by cryan:
I really like this a lot as it does feel cold and dreary. I would have liked to see tome water on the swing and drops coming off the rope and knots. But I still really like this.