Broadway of the twisted city
by mitalapo

Comment:
Great color and use of fisheye. It could just use a closer human figure to further exagerate the perspective.
9* (equal hoighest vote)

Gloucester Road
by Anthony_D_Archer

Comment:
Wonderful contrast! Fantastic use of B&W. Beautiful lighting and use of filters. Spectacular oulines, I really love this one. This is really a great example of a UWA lens put to work.
Would have been a 10* if it wasn't for a very small tilt.
9* (equal highest vote)

Nau Bahar Road
by L o S T

Comment:
Fantastic photo. Refreshning view.
Would have been a 10* had you cropped 10 pixels on the left as those small bits of the hidden tree are just a little distraction.
9* (equal highest vote).

Rain drops
by tinkie2010

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club ;)

Artistic Merit
Pros:
* Natural whites and blacks work very well. They are the strongest source of contrast that you can access. Like soft and sharp.
* This composition is an inverted triangle which is more adequate to dinamic photos where there is more visual energy flowing. Here it's a bit unstable and uneasy.
Cons:
* Failure to satisfactorily isolate the subject from the leaves in the background demands a different framing. Like kellyo mentioned, a much closer crop would have solved a lot of the issues with this photo. Loosing the saturation would also work almost completely in hiding them also. Remember that presented with an almost B&W scene, our eyes will scan for color.

Technical Merit
Pros:
* Lighting on the subject is well controlled and very even.
Cons:
* There isn't enough DOF to cover the whole subject. What little is focused is almost on the edge of the frame where the eyes don't rest easily.
* A bit more constrast to darken some visible elements in background might have given the photo more POP!

Emotional Merit
Pros:
* Fresh subject. Definitely delicate and inline with the challenge.

Result
As you might already know, the lack of DOF is a serious issue with this picture as there is no place for the viewer's look to rest. Adding to that the fact that the greens in the background will atract more than the few sharp but cornered drops, this isn't a picture to look at for long.
Your result does seem fair, but I'm sure you will keep doing better and better.

All the best
Duarte Bruno

Message edited by author 2010-02-02 11:20:45.

Fragile - Handle with Care
by duartix

Comment:

Originally posted by sfalice: I bury my head in my hands. HOW could this score below a five. Lovely child, lovingly photographed. It's a keeper. Yes, I know the child is, so is the photograph. :-))

Thank you for the kind words Alice.
(Mother)/Fatherhood does change our views (and votes) on children portraits especially when the subject is a baby. And if you consider that other people's babies (especially newborns) are almost always ugly while our own babies are the most beautiful in the world, that might be the logic behind the voting.
I did however expected to score much higher but I'll have plenty of opportunities for that. I can always ignore all votes except from tnhe people who commented (and that is a 6.5) ;)

Message edited by author 2010-01-30 13:19:33.

RUN DOWN
by drphotos-dm

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club ;)

Artistic Merit
Pros:
* The framing is balanced.
* The lines converge to a point of interest.
Cons:
* There isn't a real compeling feature in the photo, something to catch the viewer's interest for too long.

Technical Merit
Pros:
* The photo is well exposed.
* Lighting on the subject is well controlled, with no reflexes or unlit areas.
Cons:
* There isn't enough DOF to cover the whole subject. A smaller aperture would have worked better.
* WB looks a bit on the bluish side.
* There are some distracting dust specks.
* There is some harsh lighting on the base of the photo and it is distracting.

Emotional Merit
Pros:
* This isn't something you see everyday...
Cons:
* ...but the element is too dettached from it's environment for us to connect the subject to the story from the title.

Result
I guess this picture was let down mostly by the technical aspects and the limited interest raised by the subject. This was a tough challenge with strong competition so your placement in the bottom half of the pack looks adequate.

Keep them coming!

Message edited by author 2010-01-30 03:51:37.

Phillip Island Road - Cowes
by bcenu

Comment:
Sorry but the tonemapping doesn't suit my fancy.

Main Street
by hesperia

Comment:
I just can't decide but I just can't shake the feeling that the horizon got a bit tilted .

He will be a bright skater one day...
by sarampo

Comment:
Cheers Sarampo!
There is no stopping you, man! This is another contender!!! :-O
I'm just giving you 9* because the author survived it's light piece.

I can't believe no one is scouting you for their team!

Mort and Drone
by organic

Comment:
What can I say? This is the only 10* I gave in this challenge. The low saturation but high vibrancy are really beautiful.
I love the warm tones, the layers, the texture, the subject, the composition. This is in a league of it's own like The Goose Lady

I really really really hope you win because if you don't, I'll have to create a personal award!
Best of luck!