Underwater Fun
by escapetooz

Comment by CNovack:
I love the background and how well it plays into the theme of your ducky. The 'waves' really strengthen the composition of water play and the dress of this snorkeling ducky. All the elements are there but there are some things that need improvement for this composition to move out of the average shot and into the above average. First lighting, lighting seems to be a little flat and uneven. The front half of the ducky is illuminated such that a gleam appears on his wetsuit while the back side half of the ducky falls too much in shadow. Two lights one situated off to the right & back abit and the other one situated off to the left & in front might help with creating more even lighting. You might also try some outdoor lighting to see which would give better results - but not during the harsh hours of the day (generally 12 noon to 3 p.m.) when the light is too strong that the color tones tend to get washed out. Better lighting would also improve the visibility of the bubbles as well. Lastly, cropping/close composition can sometimes go a long way in making an image visually appealing and eye-popping. I think that the visual appeal would greatly improve if you cropped closer such that there is more focus on the duck. The rubber ducky is your main subject and should be the focus of the main attention. I think that there is a tad too much background up at the top. Cropping the top 1/3 off would help keep focus tightly on the duck AND you would still have that wonderful background & the bubbles to project the imagery of water play.

Jazz
by escapetooz

Comment by Jaded_Housewife:
beautiful. This has a really great feel to it. You've even captured the wind of the moment, great subtle movement in thier hair. nice job.

Jazz
by escapetooz

Comment by Jutilda:
I love the hint of color on the bells of the horns. Awesome! I'm such a huge jazz fan too, so this is particularly pleasing to me.

Childhood Thoughts
by escapetooz

Comment by dallasdux:
The shadow behind the boy is a little distracting but overall it is a nice shot.

Childhood Thoughts
by escapetooz

Comment by goc:
excellent , really cool photo !

Childhood Thoughts
by escapetooz

Comment by rinac:
Lovely. You've managed to capture that golden afternoon glow. Great dof, well done. 8.

Rush
by escapetooz

Comment by e301:
High Contrast often works for action shots, making as it does the form of the situation stand above the simple emotion. I wonder, however, if the curve of thrown-up water isn't more important to this image than the actual figure - and it's that curve that you've chosen to discard in favour of a fairly ordinary body-shape. Good stop action, but perhaps not the most visually arresting moment.

Summer Breezes
by escapetooz

Comment by Jutilda:
What a cutie. I like the perspective - the shades rock!

Summer Breezes
by escapetooz

Comment by Madmanden:
Cool shot, I like it.

Bands of Color
by escapetooz

Comment by ambaker:
Critique Club Review:

Interesting play on color. Color, saturation and hue are good. Brightness and contrast are good as well.

Focus is good, but depth of field is a bit too shallow. I see you were already at f-11. I don't know what your lens was capable of. You may have needed to shift the center of focus a little further back.

The charm is well lit, but at the same time, it the lighting appears to have been pretty equal, and comes across as a bit flat.

One question that comes to mind, is whether or not the charm is supposed to be polished silver, or antiqued? In the photo, at this close range, it comes across tarnished and dirty.