Death Watches
by Phocal

Comment by Abra:
I quite like the ominous black surrounding him.

Death Watches
by Phocal

Comment by Les_Feck:
I do like how you abstracted the subject. Teetering on surrealism.

The Frog
by Phocal

Comment by sidpixel:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image assumed to meet the challenge.

Thank you Ronnie for another of your trademark images, quality frogs abound! Your sad poem in your comments help to understand the image in relation to the challenge brief and what wonderful contributions from posthumous and particularly skewsme, most entertaining! There's not really anything to fault in your lovely image the detail is excellent from the the pieces of duckweed to the folds, textures, patterns and colours of the skin its all truly wonderful, thanks Ronnie.

The Frog
by Phocal

Comment by tvsometime:
the serious he-frog went a-courtin
but frivolous she-frog was for sportin

The Frog
by Phocal

Comment by posthumous:
The buggery of bug is never buggy:
When all the bugs are buggy with the buggy bug,
And bug in bugging bugs, a bug will bug
From bug to bug about the new-bugged bug;
That is the Grasshopper’s—he bugs the bug
In buggy buggery,—he has never bugged
With his bugs; for when bugged out with bug
He bugs at bugginess beneath some buggy bug.
The buggery of bug is bugging never:
On a buggy buggy bug, when the bug
Has bugged a bug, from the bug there bugs
The Cricket̢۪s bug, in bugginess bugging ever,
And bugs to one in bugginess half bugged,
The Grasshopper̢۪s among some buggy bugs.

Hello
by Phocal

Comment by sidpixel:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that contributes well to the open challenge.

Another excellent wildlife image Ronnie, well done. Superbly sharp where it matters and a great composition with all the soft focus vegetation framing him in a way that enhances the end result. Two things I really like about it are the way he is slithering in from the corner with his lovely soft focus body and the leaves parasol. It is all so believable natural as opposed to a zoo or studio shot. I know what you mean about a tongue shot but this is still an excellent shot that works really well. Thank you for your patient efforts that serve to reward us all, we are indebted to you.

The Frog
by Phocal

Comment by pixelpig:
& a pretty good disguise

Hello
by Phocal

Comment by tvsometime:
Technically a good shot but the right half needs to be cropped out to strengthen the impact. 6

Alien Abduction
by Phocal

Comment by sidpixel:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that meets the challenge.

A familiar landmark that has featured recently in another challenge, whilst this has its merits I have to say, of the two, I much prefer the other one. This is a great viewpoint that fits the challenge brief perfectly, so well done on that score. How on earth you have managed to hand hold a shot pointing upwards for 25 seconds and still get such sharp results is way beyond my understanding. I regularly take hand held long exposures by means of string attached to the bottom of the camera but there is no way I could go beyond a couple of seconds and get these sort of results. Unfortunately for me, the shot is badly let down by the OOF spots on the front of the lens and all the blown highlights especially the one in the centre that dominates everything to the detriment of the well exposed parts of the frame. A great idea Ronnie, with a little more care in execution it could be even better

Alien Abduction
by Phocal

Comment by jomari:
Spectacular design! Top 3.