Tying it Together
by alienhelix

Comment by sherpet:
Strong shallow DOF, B/W image.......

Hot!!!!
by alienhelix

Comment by strangeghost:
Greetings from the Critique Club
by strangeghost

COMPOSITION
Great compositions start with great concepts. Kudos to you for thinking of this idea and then pursuing it to execution. I think having the fork and melt as centered weakens the presentation. Even better (though probably gnarly hard to do) would have been to have the fork contacting the peppers and seemingly melting on contact, with liquid metal dripping down over the pepper and pooling on the plate. Having worked with solder, I know how difficult it is to handle. Rounded pools might have worked better than the pointed ones you got. I think of using mercury instead (but probably difficult to acquire and definitely dangerous to work with). Anyway, High points here on concept and execution!

TECHNIQUE
Illumination is OK, but I wonder if you tried different lighting schemes to create more contrast or interest? Fork and pool of metal nice and sharp. It might have been nice to have one of the peppers in sharp focus too, with the extreme sharpness of the pepper speaking to the "hotness" that you were going for in concept. There's a bit too much melted metal to be accounted for by a single fork tyne, but that's really quibbling.

OVERALL IMPACT
Definitely a photo that makes me stop and look. Even before I began to think what I was going to say about this shot, I found myself nodding and smiling at the concept and execution. It might have been stronger, but as it, an excellent shot and one you should be proud to have created. Your final score of 5.8 is above the average and shows that voters appreciated your efforts too.

Xmas Card
by alienhelix

Comment by Jutilda:
ROFL That would actually make a hilarious card.

Landing
by alienhelix

Comment by missinseattle:
Great shot!
I really don't think the background is that distracting either. The bird is focused so well and so close that you don't really even see the background- or it doesn't jump out at you rather. You could try adjusting the curves to the bird stands out more and the background is darker.

Landing
by alienhelix

Comment by saiphfire:
Hi. IMO the background is okay as is, but I do see your point about it being distracting. My suggestion would be to tone down the brightness of the background to make the white bird pop out more. I'm not great with photoshop, so there may be a better way to do it, but I would select the bird and either burn the background or decrease the contrast of the background.

Landing
by alienhelix

Comment by ragamuffingirl:
A Gaussian blur maybe?

Landing
by alienhelix

Comment by philup:
IMO...I think the background is fine..not much you can do about a bird shot! You can't tell a bird to fly over here or there...lol...great shot!

Hot!!!!
by alienhelix

Comment by kenskid:
very good idea...could have been done a little better...but...take a look at my stuff...I shouldn't talk!

Hot!!!!
by alienhelix

Comment by buspilot:
I love the idea. Very clever.

Hot!!!!
by alienhelix

Comment by sunrise001:
may be u have very good experience eating hot hot food