Traveller's Rest
by catpixel

Comment by bil99:
A lot of noise in the sky, not sure what the subject is

My Girls.
by catpixel

Comment by PTLParsons:
Georgeous cat. What kind is it. Oh, the woman is pretty too. But, being another woman, I love the cat. Looks very much like my Maine Coon. This is a beautiful shot. Very clean focus. Maybe just a little dark. You shuld have shown a little more of the cat, or was there too much on the table? Would be an 8 in my book. PTL

4X4
by catpixel

Comment by Slimharpo:
is there really 4 u's in scrabble or did you borrow a mates. I got an ocean kayack for christas

4X4
by catpixel

Comment by anon-y-mouse:
Like the lighting and the concept :)
Perhaps another "four" would have helped, or the letters for a fourth "four" just sitting stacked on the side

4X4
by catpixel

Comment by akcoffeeguy:
Great idea with the lighting, prevented the photo from looking like a 'snapshot'. Good job.

4X4
by catpixel

Comment by John:
Classic. Kind of makes me wonder what the odds are of this really happening....not impossible.

4X4
by catpixel

Comment by PTLParsons:
x4x4. You forgot 2 of them. I really hate to comment on a photo with such good focus and thought put into it. BUT here goes. I do not like the angle of the board; the shadows are terribly distracting, especially on the upper left hand corner; the lighting could be much better; the cropping is for I don't know what. The left hand corner should have been cropped out, as well as the dark place on the left upper corner, and right lower corner. I realize you cropped at an angle to keep from having a boring straight up and down square but it just didn't work here, in my opinion. If you were going for thirds, you could have accomplished that with cropping from just one square outside the up and down fourto one square below the whole thing to the right one square outside the r to one square above the top right four. That would have worked better in my opinion. Just a thought, but I will give you a 4 for the focus. PTL

4X4
by catpixel

Comment by GinaRothfels:
I'm not too keen on the lighting.

Angel's flight
by catpixel

Comment by BigSmiles:
Critique club... slightly delayed

I see an angel statue in silhouette, a bird in silhouette, some trees in the background, some buildings in the distance, and a blue sky.

Silhouettes can be very powerful images if done correctly. What could have been done to improve this image:
1. try to find an angle that eliminates some of the distracting background elements... or at least if they can't be eliminated try to minimalize them.. make sure they're not interfering with the statue.
2. I would have tried a more dramatic angle. Maybe from a lower angle, or from a really high angle. Try not to take all your images at human level. Pretend you're a bug. Pretend you're a bird. What would they see?

Try this one time. I see you've centered the sun behind the statue to create the silhouette. Great idea! Now try having the sun peak over an edge somewhere... So you see part of it. if it's done right you'll end up with a pretty silhouette AND a star shape where the sun is visible!

Ice-flow
by catpixel

Comment by andrewm:
The Critique Club

I think this is a great shot that reminds me of Breugel and those mass village green scenes. It is very busy with a lot for the eye to follow and take in. I see a lot of people have compared it to Where̢۪s Waldo well I think it has the same fascination. A photograph on snow or ice is always tricky and I think you have reached a good compromise. Maybe if you had brightened it up a bit with levels it may have been more contrasty but if the snow had been blinding white it would have hurt your picture. I see no digital artefacts and the clarity is good.

I think people when they judged the photo wanted more evidence of movement and that is why I think Karen̢۪s comment may have worked for you. A slightly longer exposure would have given you movement on the outside skaters while leaving the still of inner skaters and characters around the edge un-blurred. Your camera was almost fully open so you could have stopped down or even turned down the ISO.Your composition is straightforward and effective for this "full of drama" shot.

Andrew