Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by ellamay:
Greetings from the CC
I think that the idea of using the magnifying glass was quite clever. I think it helped to add some interest to the photo also. I am not so sure about the fork in that I am not sure if it adds to the subject or distracts from it. (you scored very well so I suspect most felt it added something) I really like the color and the zest of the green that you have pulled out of the kiwi.
The primary 2 criticisms I would have if I were being picky is that I would of dodged the top of the fork more so that it was not so overexposed, or fixed the exposure some in the camera, perhaps via spot metering?
And I may have made a bit more on the top making it a more vertical image helping to make the composition a little more dramatic. Just some ideas. Congrats on your very high score.
Happy shooting!

2.75 Bubbles
by aimeethetoo

Comment by jdannels:
------------****Greetings from the critique club****------------
I think this was a really creative idea for the negative image challenge and you executed your idea very well. As with many images in this challenge with very strong colors after inversion they could be hard to look at and your image is very easy on the eyes and the bubbles make me want to see closer into the them to see the details.

As far as composition goes I think it is really well done. I may have cropped slightly differently by having the bubbles abit higher up and the wand slightly to the right to make use of the rule of thirds. This woud have placed the wand in one of the places the eye is most drawn to and from there it would follow the bubbles. Also I can faintly see some blueish tint in the background underneath the bubbles which can be a small distraction. (Although I didn't notice them at first.)

I think the post processing would have helped your score abit, although I know it is difficult when working with a negative image. I noticed that you used invert to make you image negative. I would suggest using curves instead as it allows you to have more tonal control over the image, you simply change the curves low point to the high point and vice versa or from this / to this \. I hope that makes sense. Your bubbles seems abit overblown and it is hard to distinguish where the bubble ends and the background begins in some parts. Although I am not sure if this was intentional or not I could see voters taking a point away for that. The other thing that really strikes mee is that you are very blue and there is no change in the blue from your hair, shirt and skin tone and I am not sure how that is and perhaps voters who didn't comment may have thought this also and took a point down also. So maybe where shirt that was different than your skin or even some with lots of different colors to see how that would have looked.

Overall I think this image was really well done and as I critiqued it I liked it more. The border I think worked for your image too. The inside of the bubbles are great and it was a creative and well thought out idea. I hope this is helpful to you. If you have any more questions feel free to send me a PM.

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by Melethia:
I'd say this is a darn bit better than the brown. Very creative and indeed very humorous. Well done and congrats on the high placement!

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by philup:
I really like this picture! Great job on your top 20 finish!

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by Marc923:
Way to be creative. Good job.

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by LN13:
That's clever. I should probably use this method until I can afford an actual macro lens.

And why IS kiwi so photogenic, anyway?

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by BakerBug:
LOL! I love this!

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by hotpasta:
great idea and nice title

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by briantammy:
looks like something I would do.

Macro on a Budget
by aimeethetoo

Comment by climbin2thetop:
clever