The Mothership
by Ja-9

Comment by Robski:
very nice :-) 9 from me

The Mothership
by Ja-9

Comment by Pangurban:
Beautiful; love the softness, colours and crispness.

In The Florida Sun.....
by Ja-9

Comment by Dennisheckman:
Congrats on TT Janine!

Fisherman's Paradise
by Ja-9

Comment by JakeKurdsjuk:
Critique Club Comment:

A really nice image that obviously did rather well. The elements all work really well, balancing the idea of "abandoned" with a beautiful setting that makes you wonder why. All of it worked for a nice top 10 image, but I have to be honest and say that somethings didn't work for me (I was originally one of your 5's), so let me go into them - and feel free to ignore me as an obvious outlier. :)

I would have to see the starting image SOOC to try and understand why you went with the squat crop, but I don't really like the long and flat look here. Compositionally there a sense of unbalance for me. I'm not speaking specifically of adherence to the rule of thirds, or golden triangles or golden ratios, but more of just something that feels off, and for me it has to do with the crop ratio. Not that I'd want to crop anything out, but at nearly 2:1 it makes me want to see the tops of those palms on the left instead of seeing those two branches pop in from nowhere.

There's also some spot issues. First, that single dot in the top center that I might have masked out - once I notice it my eye keeps going back to it. After that, there seem to be dust spots between the clouds and horizon to the right that probably were absolutely invisible until the Nik tools pulled them out (happens to me all the time).

I've had this in my critique queue for a week now, and it's taken me a few runs through to try and wrap my thoughts around why it didn't fully work for me when it obviously worked for others. I do like it, just not as much as most folks did. The spots are likely what kept me from being one of your 6's instead since these things to me always give the impression of being a little sloppy/lazy in post, and if there is one overriding thing in the photo that I'd want "fixed" it's that. Otherwise, well done on a to 10.

In The Florida Sun.....
by Ja-9

Comment by Garry:
Such beautiful pastel colors --- one of the best best sky/clouds shots I've seen in a long time. Beautiful!

In The Florida Sun.....
by Ja-9

Comment by Dennisheckman:
Even though this has very lovely colors, I prefer a little more detail in the clouds. Still a high score from me.

Winds of Innovation
by Ja-9

Comment by cowboy221977:
Hello from the critique club:

Very difficult challenge to enter. I do not agree with the comment below about not seeing "wind". It is an implied wind with the windmill. Nicely done in my opinion.

Being that this appears to be a fairly old windmill, the antique look of this pic really works together. Infact, my only negative comment (and it's not really negative) I probably would have liked to see less grain.

Happy shooting

In The Florida Sun.....
by Ja-9

Comment by wbanning:
Wow. Absolutely gorgeous! One of my top scoring picks.

Route 420
by Ja-9

Comment by wbanning:
Critique Club Comment

Hi Janine,

I like this shot for lots of reasons. It makes a strong first impression and immediately connects to the theme; the color toning is really attractive as well. The diagonal perspective leads attention through the image well and takes you right to the 420 sign. The detail is good without being over sharpened. The only wish I have is for a bit more detail in the shadows. I want to know more about what's inside. Nicely done.

Edited typo in first line - changed shop to shot

Message edited by author 2014-09-07 16:28:40.

Where Dreams Come True....
by Ja-9

Comment by wbanning:
Critique Club Review

A wonderful subject for the challenge, well composed and definitely suitable to the square crop. The composition is really well balanced with spires to the left and right and the castle providing the perfect backdrop. Lines from the tracks and the background tableau lead nicely to the foreground subject. The tonal values are good (a bit dark in the shadows and a bit over-saturated for my taste).

What really stops this from being more appealing for me is the overall busyness of the midline background. I know there's no way to avoid people at Disney World, but in this case the background directly behind the car and its passengers keeps the main subject from really standing out. I keep looking at the headlights and the tires, because they are more isolated from the background. It seems from your notes that you know your way around some good post-processing tools - you might consider looking at some selective exposure control to help make the main subject pop out of the background. A Camera Raw radial filter on the car or a overall exposure reduction with a Viveza control point to brighten the car might be an interesting option.

All that said, I like the image a lot. My suggestions are based only on that one minor issue I see - a wish to isolate the subject from the busy background at mid-frame. Excellent work overall - especially in the context of the challenge.