cut glass kaleidoscope
by kenbo

Comment by Denise Catania:
thats very pretty, good idea

shooting down swirling rapids
by kenbo

Comment by frisca:
What a bird's eye view! You've included too much background in this shot, (IMO) and the little boat gets lost as our eyes are draw to the mountains and the line where the water meets the shore. A tighter crop that placed your subject somewhere that conformed with the rule of thirds might have yielded a more effective photograph for you! :) (just my two cents, I claim no special knowledge!)

village of anemone
by kenbo

Comment by indigo997:
Well. Considering that lots of ppl didn't even think that these were animals (and probably didn't look close enough to see the crab), that's a pretty decent score.
Nice color. Lighting seems a bit harsh. The sand is really hard to expose for, and the detail is a bit burned out in places. I also think it would've helped to exclude the white anemone b/c they are just too bright and overexposed. Someone already mentioned the glare on the glass. I think you could adjust levels a tad so that the background area is a true black and maybe add a bit more contrast.
Overall it doesn't seem like there was a lot of thought in the composition. It's sort of busy. Maybe you could focus on one area more and not cropped out part of the crab.

gateway to enlightenment, Hagurosan Shrine
by kenbo

Comment by nathaliedoo:
a bit too contrasty but a nice composition

gateway to enlightenment, Hagurosan Shrine
by kenbo

Comment by Wes:
Interesting angle for this shot. It seems a little too dark to me, even being in the shadows of the trees. It doesn\'t have too much of a postcard feel to it either. a frame and text might have helped.

retired, but still attracting people
by kenbo

Comment by wingy:
The bottom two shots come across as cluttered.

retired, but still attracting people
by kenbo

Comment by jmsetzler:
interesting images... the background color is not creating great separation.... the flow from top to bottom is a bit awkward as well...

cherry blossoms illuminated at the time of festival
by kenbo

Comment by sylandrix:
Greetings from the Critique Club!....

COMPOSITION... Placement of subject, angle chosen, are all fine choices I think. Your horizon goes right through the center of the image though, making the composition a little static, but the diagonal line of the river gives something for your eye to follow. I don't know how I feel about having the top of the building crop off...I keep wanting to back away from the shot so I can see the whole scene. The reflections of the water add interest to the already beautiful trees.... Apart from the technical problems, night scenes are great to look at because they're a stark departure from the "usualness" of daylight scenes. Objects take on a whole new look when illuminated by artificial light.

TECHNIQUE... What I like about the exposure is how the foreground and background is well lit. But some parts of the trees are a little TOO lit...highlights are blown out too much on the trees. And the noise introduced from the long exposure does detract from the shot a little. 2 seconds isn't really that long, but still too much noise, perhaps the image was blown up as well? In a non-dpclegal world...you could take two exposure of the same scene: one that evenly lights the background, and one shot perfectly exposed for the trees. In photoshop, the images are combined, masking out the unwanted sections of each photo. Its really too bad noise on a digital camera is not equal to high grain in film shots.

OVERALL... While night scenes are great subject matter, digital cameras have a bit to go before they can produce good results. You took a good shot given the limitation of your equipment and rules of the challenge....

shooting down swirling rapids
by kenbo

Comment by river:
Rapids?!? The river is the highway.

retired, but still attracting people
by kenbo

Comment by tomzinho:
fun photo(s). i think if you had not cropped in so closely on the bottom one that one would have come out a little stronger as the wheels seem almost too tight, but cool idea overall.