The Pasta maker
by docjonny

Comment by sidpixel:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that contributes to the challenge well

A skilled image of a skilled lady concentrating on the task in hand, your candid shot has captured the moment well. The exposure is good with plenty of detail throughout and the composition is also good with a clear focal point of whats going on taken in such a position that we get to see the essential elements of her working environment. I suppose the only minor improvement I would make is to angle the camera slightly lower to include less of the ceiling and more of the lower half but it still works ok. Well done for your high score and placing Jonathon.

The Pasta maker
by docjonny

Comment by Neat:
Hey, congrats on your HM!

Paddling the boards
by docjonny

Comment by bmartuch:
I love the pastel colors.

The Pasta maker
by docjonny

Comment by Teafran:
Interesting imagery here - lots of white but not terribly over done.

Natures medicine
by docjonny

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

So we meet again, Jonny...hehehehe....:-)

I like the bright poppiness of the colours here, and your choice of a natural setting. I also appreciate that you chose to stay away from the pills/tablets that dominated the entries in this challenge. And it was encouraging to see a more homeopathic entry took 2nd place. I like shots taken in situ, but there still needs to be a sense of context. I knew I was looking at a passionfruit, but the presentation is just a bit on the messy side.

A neatly sliced wedge of fruit, with more of the intact fruit visible in the background, would have helped drive the message home. Also, beware of portrait orientation - many voters dislike it as it means they have to scroll up and down in order to see the whole image.

As it stands, though, personally I would have used less ISO and more dof or some adjustments to take down the glariness of the pith (the thick white rind surrounding the fruit). If there had been a way to position the fruit without using the hand, so much the better.

Hope this helps!

Susan

Penne All' Arrabbiata
by docjonny

Comment by ciaeagle:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Challenge: Definitely a fit for a recipe challenge. (Thanks for the recipe!) But where are the salami chunks in the picture?:(

Composition: it's a bit of an abstract as there really isn't a focal point to draw the eye. It makes a nice pattern and the pasta definitely looks moist. But the highlights of the liquid are a little blown out. I like the bits of basil that give some green pop/balance to the tomato/orange. Adding a piece or garlic toast or a clump of the salami might have created a balance to the pattern.

I agree with the comment provided previously though ... It does look tasty! Food pictures are hard so definitely kudos deserved for making us hungry.

One moment before the storm
by docjonny

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Lovely scenery, the light playing over the shot in the valleys is great and gives a nice leading line to follow.

Uh-oh I think you know what I'm going to say...those big ligfht coloured clouds with blown-out whites topping them (in the right half of the image) just don't help this image at all in convincing us that there is a storm in the offing. Over here, the clouds build and build, the sky turns the colour of lead, and the clouds are (or look) so low like you could reach up and touch them. Here, although I do see menacing dark clouds, some rain shadow from rain actually falling or, if you're really lucky, a fortuitous lightning strike would really wake the photo up!

Anyway, a very good attempt and keep in mind that weather and wildlife are by far the most difficult to give direction to, cause they just never listen, do they? :-)

Please keep shooting and entering!

Susan

Whats on the other side?
by docjonny

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

So we meet once again, docjonny...hehehe...;-)

This is an intriguing shot with the frozen water droplets and trying to capture the spray. This kind of shot is very difficult to get, so kudos for trying! However, the dam(?) over which the water is flowing is huge and dark and has dramatic shadows and is in focus so it immediately dominates the composition; when I see the tiny little white villa in the background, it is only because the brightness draws my eye there...then it returns to the dam.

The thing to do here is to move a bit so the spray from the water obscures the villa, but to get the villa in focus as much as possible. Either that or try different subject matter, some photogs would simply position a nude or bikin-clad girl behind the main fall of water and use that:-)

Again, a good effort at meeting the challenge, but this seems to be a case of biting off a little more than you can easily chew.

Hope this helps, please keep entering!

Susan

Summer in the hills
by docjonny

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Wow, love the way that the trees look almost like clouds! Wonderful alternating layers of light and dark, smooth fields and bumpy forests. Fantastic level of toning with no bleachy white expanses, though I do see true white in the foreground and areas of true black scattered throughout. Meets the challenge perfectly.

The one problem with this image is that there is just too much of it. There are too many houses, all competing for attention and all roughly the same scale, so there is no true focal point. However, if you crop the image so area where the two big swatches of field are broken up with light, you can see that they lead to that tiny little house all on its own on the far right. The treeline behind it leads to that same house as does the delicate fenceline. BINGO! There's your shot! You could even leave in some of the froth of trees up and above that house, as the squareness of the house breaks up all the flowing lines leading to it.

So take this pic, crop it as per above, and look at the difference.

Hope this helps!

Susan

Greek Island Travel
by docjonny

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I really liked this shot, I gave it a 7 in voting :-) Very simple layout, the white sans-serif font works well, the message is quite simple and there. The photo of Mykonos is straightforward tourist-destination fodder, but it does the job and the blue water of the pool plays of well against the ocean and the sky.

The one thing I don't like are the utility poles about halfway up the image. They and the wires hanging off of them are dark and thus stand out in contrast to the nice lines, white houses and blues in the picture.

To be really nitpicky, I would suggest using the Rulers tool to help align the type a bit better...there is a gutter of blank space on the title, but the crossbar on the 't' of the word 'travel' is flush left against the side of the image. You need to leave a gutter of room there too.

Otherwise, your settings make perfect sense as you shot handheld and when the light was quite high in the sky. Not too much saturation or colour hit, just enough to make everything pop nicely.

Hope this helps!

Susan