..and where did you come from?
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by whitewolf:
Love the photo and bokeh!

..and where did you come from?
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by pedrobop:
Beautiful use of light! Great object and nice bokeh.

..and where did you come from?
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by angkokweng:
This is a really nice shot! Unlike so many other photos which have the "orb" thing as bokeh, this photo brought a big surprise! Also, it's a tortoise and not a frog (thank goodness for a change!). I love the composition. It shows the distance the tortoise has walked and the trail it is leaving behind. Great shot and great colour! 10!

Backdrop for a wine farm
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by salmiakki:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I think the sunset must have been amazing - would love to have seen it myself.

As far as the composition goes, I think this would have been much better in a horizontal orientation. The mountain to the right is cropped right through the middle and my eye is drawn immediately to that. You've done a great job with Photomatix as you have managed not to increase the noise levels too much (always hard with low contrast scenes) and have avoided the "cartoon" look. The reds are amazing - not sure how pumped they were in editing, but either way I feel like I can imagine the sunset.

A couple of other reasons you may have scored a bit lower than perhaps you would have hoped: in a sunset/sunrise challenge some people may actually be looking to see the sun itself in the frame. Also, in a challenge with such strong competition I think this probably lacks the WOW factor, but largely, I think the main reason is the orientation of the photo.

Hope some of this was helpful.

Sarah

..and where did you come from?
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by mikeee:
Like the leading line.

How did you get such a good focus on such a fast-moving subject???

..and where did you come from?
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by saj255:
Cool!

..and where did you come from?
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by jbushy:
well designed.

..and where did you come from?
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by MaryO:
And how long did it take?!

Enter the lair
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by CarlvanHeerden:

Originally posted by ghosh_pankaj: too much of clutter and exposure ..

The clutter is part of the lair. This is a dark entity entering a dark place. Did you expect me to clean up the lair first to make a tidier photo.

I do not know what you mean by too much exposure.

Enter the lair
by CarlvanHeerden

Comment by posthumous:
I gave this a 10. Sorry I forgot to give ribbons for this challenge.