buster paw
by thebetterhalf

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

GENERAL: I think this is almost an 'abstract' image. I takes a person a while to realize what they are looking at. I'm not familiar with the animal that the name buster refers too. I was however after looking at the picture for a good while able to guess that it was a cat.

FOCUS: I think the DoF in this image may be to short. Only a very small section on the front of the paw seems to be in focus. The portion of the paw that is in focus however is very crisp and has a lot of wonderfull detail.

BACKGROUND: I think another improvement on this shot would be in the use of smoother background. I like the denim like material, and feel you chose and captured it well, however I think that the long dark wrinkles draw you away from the paw. Perhaps if it was laid smooth it would help instead of distract.

LIGHTING: I personally would Like to have seen this lit from the other side. I feel a soft light from the right pointing towards the bottom of the paw would have given this a softer feel. As is the highlights are overwhelming and burn out all of the great colors. It also would have allowed the viewer to see more of the details on the bottom of the paw.

OVERALL: This is a shot with alot of possibility. With diferent lighting, and a better DoF I feel this could have easily made another couple of full points in the challenge.I am not a cat fan myself, but I found the details you were trying to show in this photo to very interesting. This could have been a good candidate for a feline heath magazine. While I'm not overly awed by this shot, I do feel it has potential. I't is very creative and looks at thinks in a POV that most have never considered.

Keep up the interesting work

Tristalisk

I Hope He Shows Up
by letenele

Comment:
great shot. The soft lighting on such a pretty face is wonderfull. I'm not sure if the choice to use "what i'm assuming is" a birch tree was intentional or not. I feel that it works astoundingly well adding its own contrast to the B&W. The eyes are also very bright and well defined drawing me directly to the subject. One of my top picks of the challenge keep up the wonderfull work.

there
by klement

Comment:
this photo is way out of focus. I'm not sure if this was bone on purpose or not. I just dont like it. I think you were going for a poltergiest theme with this but I have been wrong befor. I think that this could have gone from a poor shot to a ribbon winner IMO with better focus and lighting.

adnaP anihC
by vlambo

Comment:
The photo is too over exposed. It definately could have used more lines, if you were going for an artistic pen and ink type look I think you were looking for. As is I cant see enough details to tell me what it is I'm looking at. Its a bear holding somthing is about all I can tell.

Innocence
by stephpax

Comment:
while not an outright breathtaking photo. This is still a very good photo. This is a very crisp shot. It hs decent lighting with the esception of the light that runs along the edge of the face. The child in the photo is smiling and having fun wich is always a plus. Definately above average in quality. Just not excitng IMO.Keep Up the good work.

Pregnant Women
by mbojang

Comment:
great lighting and shadows. This image is very crisp and clean. You are able to see alot of fine details in the skin, especialy on the hands. The only complaint I have on this paticular photo is the fabric. While very well defined, I feel that perhaps a more natural positioning of the cloth would have looked better. However this is definately a good shot and a great example of focus and lighting. This should score well in this challenge.

Keep up the great work

A world already in Black and White
by orvaratli

Comment:
Im just not impressed with this photo. Perhaps if my monitor was properly calibrated I might see somthing that I missed. I have to agree with one aspect of the photo however. Its is definatly B&W in a modern world. One of the few examples naturaly occuring. Perhaps if the stars were brighter and showed a crisp image of a constalation I was familiar with. This shot would do a lttle better. But as is it's just not exciting to me.

Slices
by Moreira

Comment:
This one is just way to simple. Not much to look at. At first at least. I however after a few seconds started to like this one. Stronge lines, Great Dof, Very sharp. Extremly good light and shadow work. While the subject is not overely exciting the almost flawless lighting makes up for it. Great job.

Can´t wait...
by LalliSig

Comment:
hmm good lighting I like the shadows around the neck and shouldes. Good DoF and subject. The pose dosn't quite work for me. I suppose however that getting a pregnate woman to pose fo hours, until you find just the right one would be close to suicidal. The phot oalso looks a little soft but I thing I like it considering the subject.

January-Washington DC Union Station
by blemt

Comment:
Critique Club Comment :o)

Composition:

The first thing that strikes me about this shot is that it's very commanding lines. There is alot of intricate pattern work in the ceiling to keep me interested. Every thing is well centered and balanced. I must however agree with giega's comment. Some more detail on the statues would have been nice. I imagine from the out lines that they are probably quite impressive to look at.
I must say that the colours in this shot are good, with the blue & whites really contrast well. However it does seem to be a litle dark.(Not that it would be easy or even possible to modify the lighting at grand central station.

Camera Work:

Focus and DoF are very good in this shot, considering it was done most likely in a crowd. As for the lighting it is probably about as good as you can get. Though a bit of soft light on the statues would have been wonderfull.

Post-Processing:

I am always forced to have respect for those of you that comes up with good shots like this with little or no post-processing. I myself Have come to rely to heavily on the powers oof photoshop. I think that with the dark foreground however you might have been able to go a little brighter white on the walls.

One other thing I'd suggest is that you consider using a border of some sort, as this can really help an image - there are many examples of photos with borders in these challenges if you want some ideas :o)

My Opinion:

Personally, I feel that this shot had a good idea behind it, but didn't sell it to it's full potential, which is a shame. The objects and focus are great, but the lighting just isn't rich enough, for me anyway, so I'd rate this as a slightly above average shot. With some soft lighting on the statues, and a little more white in the walls this could easily be a contender for a ribbon.

Meeting the Challenge:

This photo just dosn't meet the challenge for me (or at least my interpretation of it). While it may make a good calander shot. I felt that the object of the challenge was to have a shot that represented a month. I will however acknowledge that it was a pretty vague challenge. As a voter it probably would note have effected my rating much.

If you've got any questions about this critique, please feel free to contact me via the PM system.