Prickly Pear
by goodtempo

Comment by lisae:
Fairly nice composition, but the contrast is a bit too low. The photo seems washed out, with very harsh sunlight. Obviously, in the kinds of climates you find prickly pears growing, you will have strong sunlight to deal with, but photographing the subject in the dawn or dusk light would help this a bit. The shadows make this look like late afternoon or mid morning, times when the light will still be harsh.

Commuting
by goodtempo

Comment by kendall:
very very cool shot. but are you a commuter or a fireman, or a commuting fireman? anyways..goood score for this one

Prickly Pear
by goodtempo

Comment by Gracious:
Nice macro, showing texture and form.

Prickly Pear
by goodtempo

Comment by jenarom:
Great color! Your composition is very nice. Lighting and shadows are great! The frame is a nice touch. Good luck!

Prickly Pear
by goodtempo

Comment by jkiolbasa:
Great composition and detail.

Commuting
by goodtempo

Comment by paynekj:
You have done a nice job with this picture, but I find myself distracted by the border, which it realy doesn't need.

Stairway to Heaven
by goodtempo

Comment by DougPaz:
Hi Richard, Greetings from the Critique Club };-)

Initial thoughts
Very interesting composition, I feel as if I should have known it was yours as you are developing a style here which is a bit unusual on this site in my mind. I must also say that I admire that style and your work. That said, I think this shot could have had a couple of minor improvements to have been one of your best.

Composition/ Content
The biggest problem I have with the shot is the way it feels like it is leaning to the right. It is centered at the bottom and the top of the stairs is right-center. I think it would have worked better dead-on center. I like the almost dizzying feel of the climb up the ladder.

Background
The texture on the tower or building is excellent. I also like the way the top of the shot seems to go on almost forever.

Camera Work - Technical
The DOF is really excellent as it seems that this ladder is really tall.

Digital Processing - Technical
Other than the lean to the right, I feel that the other thing that could have really made this shot was the color. The blacks seem to have a blue cast and the sky could have been even more blue. I took this shot and adjusted the white balance a bit warmer and then saturated the blue and I feel it made for a better shot. You may want to play around with that a bit.

Fits The Challenge
Definitely fits the challenge well.

My Opinion On The Photo I like the shot alot and after Critiquing it I like it even more. I think that it meets the challenge well but could have been improved a little to finish even higher than it did. Great job, and keep up the good work. I look forward to more of your shots in the future.


I would be happy to talk further about this shot if you would like to contact me.
DougPaz

Prickly Pear
by goodtempo

Comment by alanfreed:
An interesting choice of toning... I'm not 100% sure whether I like it or not in all honesty. What the heck, it's Christmas, let's just say I do like it :) It's nice & sharp, and doesn't look like something I'd want to touch.

Commuting
by goodtempo

Comment by Harz_Joerg:
I of course understand why you submitted this picture to DPC: this is a scene one (hopefully) does not see very often.And the way you captured with the bright flame, the black cloud in front of the dark blue sky is great. This would have been something for the photojournalism challenge.
And the title you choosed was the best you could do for this submission.
However, this great title (not used by anyone else) calls for a long row of cars and the backlight. That would have been great.

Prickly Pear
by goodtempo

Comment by DougPaz:
Nice macro, I love the sepia. Really nice job. DPz