Icescapes
by CodeShark

Comment by ciaeagle:
Greetings from the Critique Club!
I second Cyrilda's comment ... this definitely makes me feel the cold. Brr! I love the wonderful muted colors in the sky and the terrific exposure that allows me to see the detail of the ice. In some ways the flow of the ice almost looks like the bodies of many dolphins as they swim along. My struggle with the ice though is that the lines don't lead me to a focal point. While definitely beautiful, there's a lot going on in the details. Of course, that can be the fun of a picture too! :)

Icescapes
by CodeShark

Comment by Cyrilda:
Beautiful but it makes me shiver.

Patagonian Reflections
by CodeShark

Comment by snaffles:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Congrats on a very well-deserved finish, and I am going to disagree with those saying that the hiker shouldn't be there. Brett helps make the shot by adding a human dimension. OK, maybe he is a little dark, and perhaps shooting him from a bit farher back so he would be dwarfed (even more) by the mountains would have helped, but still this is an excellent shot. The chunks of ice make me shiver! The scenery is fantastic, and the peak of his hat is echoed in the mountains behind.

Please keep shooting and entering challenges here, you have an eye and I think you could kick some butt here :-)

Susan

Patagonian Reflections
by CodeShark

Comment by grahamgator:
Wonderful scene, so majestic. The person seems a bit dark for the scene, but it does not take away.

Patagonian Reflections
by CodeShark

Comment by jim29028:
beautiful scene, would prefer this without the hiker, just enjoying the scenery

Cards, Beer, and Motorbikes
by CodeShark

Comment by clickodak:
Creative setup I give 7

Cards, Beer, and Motorbikes
by CodeShark

Comment by tanguera:
That can right in the middle just wrecks it for me.

Daybreak
by CodeShark

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A noble attempt that I assume meets the challenge.

You have attempted to inject some additional interest in your image by having your model pose in a yogic posture silhouetted against the sunset which works to an extent, except that in forcing the sillhouette you have completely overblown the sky as you have already questioned in your comments. There are large areas of sky where all detail has been completely lost which is something that is an absolute no no, its something that as photographers we should always try to reduce to an absolute minimum. It is inevitable that in this type of shot there would be a little overexposure at the sun itself but, like I say, this should be minimal.

A much better approach to make your model a silhouette would have been to select your subject and simply reduce the exposure for her, leaving the background image and exposure intact, this would have produced a much more pleasing result. I firmly believe that you should get as near to perfect in the camera as you can and any subsequent post processing should be handled with care and alterations made should be very subtle aiming to get the very best quality out of the original.

Thank you for your submission, good luck with your future entries, Sid.

Ocypode quadrata
by CodeShark

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A cute subject that meets the challenge well.

What a lovely little crab, you've captured it nicely with a shallow DOF isolating him from the sand background, I disagree with one of your commenters, the eye looks in good sharp focus, exactly how it should be, the problem is that the detail on the shoe canvas competes. It's a shame his eye is obscured by sand it makes it feel rather painful!

What I don't like is that the shoe dominates the crab and the image as a whole, I feel there is a strong argument for a judicial crop close to the crab's leg, a square would probably work well, there is just too much shoe and too much distracting detail in it. I like that the crab forms a diagonal within the image it strengthens the composition.

Thanks for submitting, Sid

Cascading Lines
by CodeShark

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

First impressions are of a good image that meets the challenge but lacks quality.

You have selected an appealing location with a lovely waterfall and attempted to make it more dynamic by using a slow shutter speed to emphasise the movement in the water. In terms of the challenge you have included your model so we have a good focal point that the leading lines of the water leads us to, she also tells us something about the size of this waterfall, she gives it scale. I like your composition it works well.

The biggest thing that mars this image is the general softness throughout. You have obviously used a tripod but either there has been some camera movement during the long exposure or f22 is the smallest aperture your lens has. If it is the latter, which I think it is, we have a reduction in image quality due to diffraction by using the smallest aperture its a shame because you have a potentially good image here. I always try and avoid using the smallest aperture for this very reason.

There is also some overexposure in the brightest parts of the water, you have lost detail as a result which, the water being such an important part of the image, also lowers its impact.

I hope my thoughts help a little, keep at it… Sid