L I F E S T A T I O N • 4 1 1
by Ja-9

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from the Critique Club*

The first thing that hits me here is the beautiful sky and the beach reflections.

That sky has such an impact it truly dominates the image, I love the blues, the whites and all the hues in between and the tremendous cloud shapes its all gorgeous. I'm very pleased to see the horizon is level! I like the additional splashes of colour given by the red of the lifestation and his flag and brolly. I am not so keen on the yellow ball and the yellow bin in particular, I find it a little distracting and would probably have cloned them out.

The large DOF gives a feel for the vast open space of the beach

What bothers me most is the composition, you've obviously made a conscious decision to include the foreground family which also draws in some quite ugly buildings in the background, neither of which, in my opinion, add to the image. To me they detract and would be better cropped out, this would then leave me with the lifestation dominating the foreground, as it should, with rest of the people being dominated by him. I think it would also have improved the end result if you had timed the shot with him looking more towards the subjects in the sea.

Overall, a fine shot which generally works well

t e m p t a t i o n
by Ja-9

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from the Critique Club*

Your image has an immediate and strong visual impact. The dark background helps the flower stand out giving it punch.

I like your choice of aperture for a sufficiently deep DOF to enable some detail in the heart of the flower and yet soften the edges of the petals in the foreground. Like your commenters, the image feels somewhat under-appreciated in terms of votes but perhaps this may be because of that very DOF. It could be argued that a sharper edge to the foreground petals would have added to its impact against the dark background. Using the same aperture and bringing the focus point nearer the front would also have softened the dark centre of the flower where there is little detail anyway. It is an alternative approach that may or may not appeal to you but I hope it may help you to understand that there may have been those who do prefer that approach and consequently marked it down as a result, though the 1s, 2s and 3s do seem severe and unjustified.

I like the soft focus areas of the stalk and leaves and their diagonal, the composition does of course make full use of the RoT and the most beneficial one of the hotspots. The only real criticism I can constructively offer is the bright highlight where the stalk and leaves meet, I feel this would benefit from being toned down and made less obvious. Also the colour saturation whilst it makes it very vivid also feels just a touch on the heavy side leaving it somewhat lacking in subtlety.

All in all, I think it is a very competent attempt that meets the challenge well.

t e m p t a t i o n
by Ja-9

Comment by Denise:
wow, I'm with anita, not sure why this didn't score higher

L I F E S T A T I O N • 4 1 1
by Ja-9

Comment by Neat:
I truly adore the clouds in this image so beautiful I love clouds can't get enough of them!

t e m p t a t i o n
by Ja-9

Comment by Neat:
Hi Janine sorry this is down here I thought it was much better than that :-)

t e m p t a t i o n
by Ja-9

Comment by Neat:
My favourite colour frangipani, you did an awesome job with this one beautiful high contrast in vivid colours.

L I F E S T A T I O N • 4 1 1
by Ja-9

Comment by Lydia:
7 from me.

L I F E S T A T I O N • 4 1 1
by Ja-9

Comment by Pretzel:
The only thing that bothers me, and not photographically (so not a critique) is that it looks like the lifeguard is looking at you instead of his water!!!

Great shot, makes me miss the beach!

Mystic Pulse
by Ja-9

Comment by cowboy221977:
Hello from the critique club...

Nice capture. I like the multiple colors that you were able to capture here. I also like the texture of the rock. The only thing I see that I would have wanted different is the dark area towards the bottom of the shot. I know it is just how the light was hitting it but it almost begs to have some color in that area. Happy shooting

Mystic Pulse
by Ja-9

Comment by wbanning:
One of my top picks for this challenge. Looks like it might be some metallic exteriors of insulation panels.. but that wouldn't be macro.. so, I haven't got a clue. Love the color variations and diagonals.