Family Business
by madison461

Comment:
I don't personally care for the soft focus, but it works alright here; the fact that the bag is fairly sharp makes it look like the blur wasn't intentional, which does detract from the shot. I'd have voted this higher if the girl's frontal lobe hadn't been sheared off by the edge of the frame.

Enjoying summer days at the pool....
by tolovemoon

Comment:
This image doesn't have a clear point of interest.

Family Games at the Cabin
by dwterry

Comment:

Something about the way that this was processed makes it look artificial; too much sharpening perhaps? The background is distracting, and the foreground seems to be dedicated to a well focused view of someone's back. My favorite part of the image is the figure in the left edge of the frame who's looking down at the table. A shot taken of this person from a lower angle and looking up slightly at them would have been much a stronger submission. As it stands there's not a clear point of interest.

Patriarch with Sons
by rjkstesch

Comment:
I like the verticality of this shot; shooting from a lower angle might improve the composition. The placement of the "patriarch" in the frame seems a little odd; I'd have rather seen it dead center or closer to one of the edges.

One thing that would have pushed this from a good photo to a ribbon contender is if you had made a triptych out of it. For example, imagine that you're tethered to the smokestack and you're walking around it taking pictures from the 1 o'clock position, then the 2 o'clock position, etc. Pick your favorite three of these photographs and create a tryptich from the results. Doing this wouldn't make your submission meet the challenge any better, but I imagine that it'd still have enough of a kick to boost it's score significantly.

Just The Three Of Us
by Mr_Pants

Comment:
I don't find your subject matter particularly engaging, but I applaud the creative take on the challenge topic. Rendering this in B&W made this a much stronger photo. The stuff in the background is a little distracting, but the only thing that really needs to go is the corner of the blinds. Good use of DOF.

best man and best dad
by tomzinho

Comment:
The shutter speed was way too slow to freeze the action in this picture. Next time increase the aperture size (smaller f number) or use a tripod.

Family Hike
by ward

Comment:
The aspect ratio seems off in this picture; you appear to have compressed everyone horizontally. In general, pictures of people are much stronger if you can see their eyes. I can't clearly make out the eyes of anyone in this photo. This is partially because of the angle of the light from above; using a fill flash might have provided enough light to bring out their eyes.

Picnic with a View
by nick800

Comment:
The family in the foreground seem to be out of focus. Also, the horizon doesn't look level; see this page for information on how to correct this.

Don't get too far... kid
by Apee

Comment:
The low angle is a nice touch. How did you pull this off without getting your camera wet?

beetlemania
by messerschmitt

Comment:
I like the composition, but it's relation to the challenge is too much of a stretch for my liking.