... to seek out new (country) life ...
by cykhansen

Comment by CLarson557:
ADORABLE!! Wish you could have gotten the front of him doing his jumping around. The lighting is nice. The tree frames this little guy well without putting shadow on him. Could use a little constrast to help the colors pop out better. 8 Good luck in the challenge.

Formal living-room
by cykhansen

Comment by skief:
Elegant

Formal living-room
by cykhansen

Comment by deichkorn:
Simple, but plain

Formal living-room
by cykhansen

Comment by eloise:
5. Fits the theme well enough, and there are no blatant 'you suck!' flaws to it, but neither does it really grab me for any reason at all. For reasons of composition, cropping, or subject choice, it's just a photo, and doesn't do especially much for me, aesthetically. It's, uhm, kind of boring. It does look a little like it'd fit right in in a corner of an article in Better Homes and Gardens, or some other interior design magazine, though.

The color and lighting are nice, and I also like hwo the vase is set at the point where the tabletop's lines converge, but there's really no central thing-to-look-at. The vase might have been central, but it's been arranged far down in a corner, with glare that distracts from its own very busy pattern. The sofas might be, but the lighting makes them fade into the background, largely. The lamp and picture are both off-center enough and unlit enough to not quite be focal points either.

Formal living-room
by cykhansen

Comment by clues56:
Very pretty. I would have cropped a little more of the table up to where the vase is.

Formal living-room
by cykhansen

Comment by shadow:
a better lighting condition will improve this photo overall. the use of flash makes this comfortable setting lesser.

Purple
by cykhansen

Comment by cykhansen:
I thought about cropping to keep only the right side tulip & the leaf with droplets - I know that that would be a better composition. But there was something about the tulip on the left that I liked so much that I didn't want to remove it from the picture.
Some say "nice & sharp"; others would have preferred a macro with blurred background. This was taken between showers and I wanted to show all the water droplets on the petals and leaves. Just my own preference on this occasion.

Purple
by cykhansen

Comment by HBunch:
*Critique Club*
I'm sitting here trying to think of somethings to say. I'm staring at the picture, I've read the comments, and I'm still at a loss of words really.
I read that the focus is really great, and look at the shot, and it is great in some places, most places for that matter, but when I look at the water drops, I wish that they were ALL as clear as the ones on the leaf. I'm thinking though that this maybe due to the texture and pattern on the flowers showing through the drops, making them look busy, when there isn't anything really showing through the ones on the big leaf to the right making them nice and clear and sharp?
I do think that it feels a little unballanced. I wonder if you had focused on just the right flower and the leaf, if this could have helped some. I'm just throwing that out as something to try. Probably something i'd have to SEE in order to say if it really works or not.
The colors are really nice. Purple and Green definately fit into the challenge.
The lighting seems to have been working with you this day. I think that the light shining in the drops is really nice.
This shot doesn't really appeal to me, however, it doesn't NOT appeal to me either. I'm rather indifferent about it. Well done, just nothing that makes me jump out of my seat with excitement.
~Heather~

Fear of Flowers
by cykhansen

Comment by Amiee:
Nice image. I like the effects of the glass that you used. Good job.

Fear of Flowers
by cykhansen

Comment by Martin:
what is the point more like, is sooooo dark, what was you intention???