Frozen bubblesby
korpenComment by ursula: Greetings from the Critique Club
Frozen bubbles, image seemingly made from above, at a slight angle. At first impression this is an intriguing image, I wonder where you made this, I'm thinking probably outside. I'm also thinking, it must be cold in Sweden to have ice like this in mid April. It's also intriguing because at first glance it looks like a black and white, but at closer inspection, it isn't.
Does it meet the challenge? Yes, no problem. It definitely is bubbles.
From a technical point of view, F4 was a lens too open for this image, in my opinion. I'm not sure if you can control aperture with the PowerShot A710, but for a macro such as this one, where you likely want all of it in focus, you need a higher F-stop number than 4. If you can set it, F8 to F11 at a slower shutter speed would likely have given you better clarity.
Your processing looks fine. If anything, I would have tried desaturating (or converting to B/W in some way), because that might have helped take away attention from the green leaf in the middle.
The composition is beautiful. The square crop suits the image, the feel of slight diagonal is charming. I very much like the little frozen airholes that look like little sticks and form the background. I love the shine in the bubbles at the top half. The bubbles seem to be trying to move, to break free from the ice. Your score of almost 6 is quite good, and it seems that people liked the image.
Negatives are the green leaf, it commands too much attention, especially because it is right in the middle of the frame, and the drop in sharpness and shine in the bubbles towards the bottom. For the challenge, the other negative is that even though it is a beautiful image, it doesn't have a huge visual impact.
Overall, a beautiful macro, very textural, and a good example of how squares and circles work well together.
I hope this helps. If you have questions, comments, complaints, please feel free to PM me.
~Ursula
Photographer found comment helpful.
