Floating Time
by illini75

Comment:
Very surreal IMHO. I enjoyed the symmetry of the four clock faces and I really like the color of those faces against a darker brown background.

Finger Salsa Preferred by 9 out of 10 Zombies in Taste Tests
by littlemav

Comment:
This really grossed me out. Every time my eyes made contact with the image I cringed a little. I like the creepy model and the soft lighting. Very well done IMHO.

Delivered
by Enlightened

Comment:
So creative. I love the image of the old typewriter, and the addition of the screen is genius. I'm not sure I loved the outdoors as background - although perhaps that's part of the Surreal aspect since modern day laptops, but not typewriters, would be used laying around outside.

The Extinguished
by Samantha_T

Comment:
Great story, and to me this is a perfect image telling that story. I like the desolate looking ground and trees, and the placement of the light bulbs I think is great. 10 from me.

Sinking
by gyaban

Comment:
Lots of interesting things to see in this shot, and the sinking and invisibility of the two in the street look so believable. Well done. I'm not sure the bubbles added much for me, but this was still one of my favorites of the challenge.

Eye of the Beholder
by Alex_Petrini

Comment:
I like the shadows in this shot, adds a feel of reality to the shot to me. The sky seems perhaps a bit dark to produce those shadows, but that adds to the Surreal feeling I think. The eyes in the hands was really well done and this was one of my favorites of the challenge.

Taste The Rainbow - Rock candy on a stick
by PhotoDave

Comment:
So glad I ran into this image. I love it. Great, bold colors and nice pattern.

Open for Pollination
by Deve

Comment:
Critique Club Critique:

Congratulations on your first entry. What a great find, with several wonderful shades of purple in your image.

Compositionally, I like the fill-the-frame idea for your shot. Your subject is shown off in all its glory, and yet there is enough of that beautiful, smooth background for me to enjoy that as well. The bee really did not do much for me in this shot. The flower is such a stunner, that I did not even notice the bee for the first few minutes looking at the image. The bit of yellow in the flower kind of drowned out your sweet, but more muted, bee.

Technically the shot is good I think. Your purples are very realistic, and the shallow depth of field left you with a wonderfully smooth background. However, that shallow depth of field also left you with some softness in parts of your subject. There is a spot on the left petal that is quite hazy. Also, on the bottom petal there is a spot that looks black, it almost looks void of all detail and I wonder if the shot was underexposed just a bit.

Overall this is a lovely photo and I enjoyed spending time on it. It definitely met the challenge, and it shows with the great score and placement in the challenge.

I look forward to more of your entries. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Julee

Shadows on the wall
by gmink

Comment:
Hi. I am happy to provide this critique as part of the critique club.

It appears from looking at the scores that your image was rather divisive - there were a lot of high scores and a number of lower scores. I suspect this stems from some comparing your image to what might be a classical description of B&W Still Life - a black and white image taken of an object (likely on a table or platform) taken using light to obtain a nice dynamic range and soft/pleasing shades of gray. Since the challenge description did not limit images to photos of an object, your image, at least in my opinion, does meet the challenge description. But your image is certainly unusual and non-traditional, and in challenges with lots of classical examples available for comparison, the non-traditional isn't always universally appreciated.

As I spend time considering you image, I certainly find it interesting and very artistic - almost abstract. There is a wonderful diagonal pattern of light, and there is some nice texture on the surface being photographed. The spots (damage?) also add interest to the image. What the image is lacking for me is a solid subject, or framed composition where I can focus my attention. My eyes kind of wandered around and enjoyed what they saw, but I felt myself looking for purpose. The uneven white areas were spread out enough that they just didn't strike me as a focal point for a still life photo.

Your image was black and white, however the transitions were somewhat harsh. It appears that the highest scoring images in this challenge had very smooth transitions from blacks to grays to white. That is not to say that your image is not good, indeed I enjoyed it very much, and I appreciate the creativity and artistic vision of this image. Hopefully you were pleased with the two 10's that you received.

Thank you for your entry. I hope to see more of your work.

Montana Wildflowers.
by ScottOsterday

Comment:
I am happy to provide this critique as part of the critique club.

First let me say that I enjoyed your image and felt it was a good submission for the challenge. The delicate purple flower and green leaves definitely met the challenge.

I liked the placement of your flower in that left third of the image, but the large amount of negative space on the right side distracted me a bit, especially those two diagonal branches that extended to the upper right corner. The branches were prominent enough to call attention to themselves and I felt my eye kind of pulled into that dark part of your image. I wondered if a square crop might have eliminated those branches and given you a stronger composition.

Your colors look good. The green is very realistic and I think the purple is just beautiful. While part of your image is quite dark, I really like the light you captured right on the flower. The flower petals are in sharp focus, which I found pleasing. Overall I enjoyed your image, and felt it was an above average entry. (It was the nice light on the flower that gave me the most enjoyment.)

Congratulations on your first entry. I look forward to seeing more work from you.