First Steps
by alexjack

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

This is a brilliant photograph, I love the toning and exposure on it. Black and white was absolutely the right choice here.

You timed this photograph brilliantly. The waves, the line between sand and water, the pose of the mother and child, and the complete absence of sky all come together to make a near perfect photograph.

If this were not a Basic Editing challenge, I would suggest cloning away the dry sand in the top right corner as well as just below that on the left. Since they are lighter than the rest of the background, they do tend to disrupt the flow and pull the eye away from the center of the image.

Congratulations on a brilliant photograph, and a very well deserved top twenty finish.

~Terry

Bowl of Bubbles
by riversong

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

When I first look at this photograph, the first thing that strikes me is that I love the way the bubbles in the foreground set off against the dark blue background. I don't think I love the sea of white in the background as much, though.

I'm not quite sure where to go with that, though, as I tried playing around with different crops and such, and can't really find one I like better. I might have liked to see the bubbles in a shallower bowl, perhaps, or something that allowed us to enjoy more of the deep color and intriguing geometry that works so well in the foreground. I guess the best way to put it is that at least to me, the angles and deep blues in the foreground make a promise that the background doesn't quite deliver. That foreground shows a lot of potential, and if it would be possible to capture a full frame of that, I think you'll really have something unique and special.

~Terry

Slim Chance
by LaMas

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I like the concept here and the photograph and title made me smile. I like to offer a couple suggestions that might improve the execution.

First, it appears that you were working with a touch less light than might have been ideal. This probably forced you to have to make a couple compromises that affected the quality of the photograph.

There is just a touch of softness in the photograph. This could have come from your relatively wide aperture of f/5, or perhaps just a touch of camera shake if you were hand-holding. Use of a tripod and careful manual focusing might help there. If does look like you have sharper focus toward the center of the plane, so I think narrow DOF was your main issue there.

Also, it looks like you might have tried to compensate for the softness with heavy sharpening. You may notice a white halo effect around the pushpins. This is a common artifact of over-sharpening.

A three word sentence that a friend said to me once often sticks in my mind -- "cameras love light." This is a great example of a situation where more light would be a tremendous asset. Of course, I understand all too well that we can't necessarily always have all the equipment we'd like to have in every situation.

The use of smoke in the bubbles is a good idea as it does help to set them off. Congratulations again on a great concept. You have tremendous creativity, and that can't be bought at any price.

~Terry

Lost
by Blue Moon

Comment:
Great photo; love the grain.

Inside Out
by mrmorris

Comment:
Oh wow. Excellent.

Taking It All In
by magenmarie

Comment:
Outstanding entry; great example of street photography.

Nick was right - Kerry & Edwards were best.
by quiet_observation

Comment:
I can't place where, but I'm sure this is in Philadelphia.

Hiding behind music
by zaflabout

Comment:
Great photo, I love the composition but be careful of over-sharpening. Some sharpening halos are evident here.

Trouble
by hroi

Comment:
Great photo, but looks too posed to be believable as street photography.

Coffee Break
by becky-lee

Comment:
This would benefit tremendously from a curves adjustment to boost the contrast.