Lost at Seaby
noranekoComment by ursula: Greetings from the Critique Club
What a joy to get this image to critique, although I'm not sure I'll be able to say much of anything helpful, it's such a beautiful image as it is. Here it goes :)
As a concept the image is great. It's a whimsical story, a little ladybug lost at sea, looking at the edge of the raft for a place to land. You could write a children's story-book about that. You pulled off the idea quite well. The title helps. Without the title, the idea would still come through clearly, but the title definitely helps.
As a composition, it's well done. Possibly the large black area in the centre is a bit too large, a bit too much dead space if you wish. It's hard to tell. I wonder if a hint of detail in all that black might work. The colour scheme is beautiful, very soothing (red/orange and green). The inline border is delicate, very appropriate to the image.
Technicals, the limitations of basic worked against you here :) However, it's possible that a bit of adjustment (either curves or S/H or maybe brightness) would do good for the image. The ladybug itself could be a bit brighter. Again, the black area could maybe have a bit of detail in it (watery detail?).
Does it meet the challenge? Yes, it does, there are bubbles in the image. It doesn't "sell" the concept of bubbles though, and that likely worked against you being top 10. It sells the story of a lost ladybug, the bubbles are somewhat incidental to that story, not main part.
I hope this helps. Any questions, complaints, whatever, feel free to contact me.
~Ursula