Little Red Rooster
by Seanachai

Comment:
Beautiful eye -, and beautiful retention of colour. It is a shame that the white feathers just to the right and above the eye have over-exposed and a slight circle of under-exposire around the outside. In the abscence of a proper diffused light - tissue paper can sometimes fix a problem like this but as you have clearly got very close, even this may not have worked. Therefore I think you have made the best of a difficult situation.
David

Reflections Of 2002
by rickhd13

Comment:
I like this type of picture. Large eyed animals with almost a second picture in the eye intrigue me. They always make me think of what the animal actually sees.
I think the votes could be along 2 extremes on this one and I will tell you why.
I have 3 monitor screens 2 standard CRT's and one LCD.
One of them is calibrated to what you would call "true colours". The second - what you would call average man off the street settings and the LCD standard out of the box.
One the Calibrated monitor - your picture looks great - On the out of the box it's OK
On the out of the box LCD it looks rubbish.
THAT IS NOT YOUR FAULT!
On the LCD it is almost completly washed out but as the eye still looks very good it appears that this is how it was meant to be (I checked it on a laptop tft and it looks equally bad.)
So I think what will happen is it will be considered overexposed by many. This is always a problem with lcd's
On my calibrated screen though it looks fine.
David

Cancer, The Zodiac Sign
by HRoxas

Comment:
I love the translucency of the legs and the density of the shell. Can't remember seeing a crab looking so delicate.
Great

Moon/Venus balance (Libra)
by garlic

Comment:
An excellent idea - Brilliant idea in fact but I think it has not quite come to fruition.
Unfortunatly this is one of those pictures that would need considerable setting up (not faking - just preparation).
I think the trees detract from the central image but at the same time the central image could be the planet, the moon, or the scales.
If the bacground could have been less cluttered - the scales in silhouette and the moon and stars where they are now in relation to the scales it would have been brilliant.
David

Taurus
by Whiskey

Comment:
Good, very funny, simple but well thought out. I can picture it being used in a magazine along with an article on mens "bullishness"
Her expression is great - The hands look just right.
One thing stands out though as "shouldn't be there" - the wristwatch/bracelet.
Exposure-wise something had to give. Such beautifully dark hair - beatiful coloured skin and a white top. One of them had to be under or over exposed. Something had to go wrong. Fortunately it was the top/vest, I think to get rid of the distraction - some of the white could be cropped off and it leaves "a great picture"
David

El Alacrán (scorpio)
by Evil_Munky

Comment:
I think this would have benefitted from a tighter crop - or possibly getting nearer and lower. If you crop out the tree on the left I think you will probably see what I mean.

The Water Pourer
by Coley

Comment:
Nice, simple picture. Good dark background retained. Nicely graduated ahadow. The only thing that bothers me is the catchlight on the rim of the jug. It seems to unbalance the picture. put the end of your finger over it and see how the whole picture flows from right to left - or left to right, without disruption

Fire Sign
by Rgarcia

Comment:
Imaginative use of the lighting and the figure in the middle has illuminated beautifully - very clear what it is with just a shape.
One odd effect (but good) is how the red light seems to be pouring into the light rather than the light coming up. - My assumption is that that bit was an accident but that makes no difference.
Ny only crit is that the bright light is slightly off-centre of the stream going into it. Now it is possible that the effect could not be created any other way. I would be interested if you cold PM me totell me what spot editing you would have done had the rules allowed it. That way I would know if you were thinking along the same lines as me.
David

Water Bearer
by sher

Comment:
I like this - even though it has been often done. It is a shame the water turned out quite so flat. There is just a little too much of the fleshy part of the left and right hand and I think they have dominated the picture. Raising the camera and pointing down would have fixed this as well as trying to get a few more splashes.

Aquarius
by solarys

Comment:
I like the interpretation and the fact that it is so clearly water without having to show it's water. I like the way it relies on the knowledge of the viewer to know that cut flowers will be in water.
My only crit is that the lighting is a little flat. I think harder light would have accentuated the straight lines of the stalks. The top right corner of white is a little distracting. It is good that it shows the edge of the glass but I dragged it into photoshop and recreated an off-white background and it took away some of the glare of white. It also had the benefit of making the whole picture "appear" more contrasty