Winter Contrasts
by Drake

Comment by sidpixel:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that contributes to the challenge

Your title says it all, it is a lovely contrast between the snowy foreground and the darker background of the sea. Your exposure is perfect with a lovely white glow in the snow against the equally lovely tones of the background sea and sky. What is not working quite so well for me are the snowflakes themselves, they are so small they are not convincing, indeed I find them so distracting they detract more than they add, I think this would have been better without them either through timing or even cloning. If they had been larger and more of them they would have contributed significantly to the scene.

Badger Entering Ludington Harbor
by Drake

Comment by sidpixel:
Hello from the critique club

An interesting image that contributes well to the challenge

Your foreground wave bokeh has transformed this from a straight forward record shot of a boat at sea to one with special interest and very unique, well done Drake. Your timing and viewpoint have made great use of this situation to show us something that just wouldn’t be seen with the naked eye, I like it. Composition-wise whilst we do have an interesting sky I think I would prefer to see less of it in favour of this wonderful unique foreground, indeed it could almost be floating on an erupting effervescent sea.

Sunny with Clouds
by Drake

Comment by Cyrilda:
Beautiful composition and contrasting color. 10

Badger Entering Ludington Harbor
by Drake

Comment by PenelopeK:
Love the drama captured here. Excellent exposure to get the bokeh, and perfect timing on the wave height.

Papa Cardinal In The Snow
by Drake

Comment by booboo_goon:
What a bird!

Winter Squall
by Drake

Comment by grahamgator:
I agree, I really like female cardinal colors. Nice job.

Sunny with Clouds
by Drake

Comment by giantmike:
A bit heavy handed on the clarity and the shadows here, giving this a very unnatural look.

Winter Squall
by Drake

Comment by sidpixel:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that contributes well to the challenge

Cor blimey Drake, you produce a lovely image like this, a 6+ score and 7th place and NO comments? You really have got your wildlife images well nailed, this gorgeous splash of detailed colour against the near mono background of the driving snow, it almost looks like a post-processing desat but I don’t believe it is. The composition is good, I like the diagonal of the twig and that there is a little more space to the right for the bird to look into. What I like most is the snow that is slowly building up around the beak, as you say, the snow was really coming down. Anyway, well done, a lovely image justly rewarded, I hope this critique makes up for the lack of comments.

Papa Cardinal In The Snow
by Drake

Comment by kiwinick:
great capture and its a magnificent specimen as well

Papa Cardinal In The Snow
by Drake

Comment by bmartuch:
Wow, that is a great catch.