Deceitful Passion of Captivity
by librodo

Comment:
Wow. While it looks a tad over processed, its impact is very real. Those eyes!

Destination paradise castle
by Odie

Comment:
Magical scene. Nicely done.

Sands of Time
by Telehubbie

Comment:
Outstanding shot at the best time to shoot the sand in WSNM. I'm envious. This is the type of shot that I hoped to achieve when I was there but was never able to pull it off. Bravo for seeing and capturing this wonderful scene!

Complementary Glasses
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
Shailesh, I don't know how I missed seeing this image before - I've even been to your profile several times! What a timeless beauty. I know it's been done before, but this is such a unique and refreshing take, and soooooo well done. Kudos!

Dusky Pulsating City
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
I think the colors in this shot are not doing justice to the actual view seen by the eye. Everything came out looking shades of yellow when the actual city lights are much more varied than that. Subtle, but still full of blues, reds, greens, etc. The sunset also makes me think your capture or PP is cheating you on the richness and saturation that is available. Night shots are tough to capture well and tricky to process, but the rewards are worth the effort.

Compositionally, I think this shot will not please voters as much as some other cityscapes because it lacks a natural focus point for the eye to rest on or return to. The train line and highways leading off to the upper left help, but are not enough to carry the composition by themselves. You were hemmed in by your desire to capture the sunset, and the fact that the direction of NW contained no larger lit buildings to provide a focal point.

Northern Lights
by curtiskaj

Comment:
Beautiful composition! Congrats on an excellent eye and seizing this opportunity!

C.H.I.C.A.G.O.
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
Very nice composition and post-processing. The bottom-crop is perfect - just the right balance of water reflections and dark sky. Good luck Shailesh!

Night Shot
by MayaM

Comment:
Yikes, aren't you glad you went back out?? Wonderful shot. Having the bridge in the foreground, and the distant city framed by closer buildings really makes this shot pop. The moon adds an exclamation point. Wonderful job!

Fibonacci's Serpents
by jdannels

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club
by strangeghost

The first three parts of this critique are written based purely on examination of your photo. "Final thoughts" is written after reviewing your score, photographer's comments, and voter comments.

TECHNIQUE
Bright, vibrant colors anchor this shot. The blur gives a sense of movement and motion to the whole shot and doesn't detract at all from the effect. Lighting, exposure and other technical qualities are difficult to judge in a challenge like this so I won't say much about those. The spot near the center and a few distracting elements (leaf fragments?) near the right side break up the clean feel a bit.

COMPOSITION
I really like the composition. The symmetrical swirls create an interesting series of lines that encourage my eyes to wonder around the image endlessly. The color contrast is also very interesting and attention grabbing. As with any good setup/comp, it leaves me wondering, "how'd you do this?"

EMOTIONAL IMPACT
Pretty satisfying. It's a creative image, has an unusual look about it, and grabs my attention.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Very interesting technique used to create this image. I hadn't even guessed the zoom idea but makes perfect sense now. I'm a little disappointed that it didn't do better than a 5.0. I'd imagine that some viewers/voters were turned off by the blur on the zoomed leaf row. Most of your commenters appreciated it though, and so do I!

Delicate Pollen Collectors
by gaurawa

Comment:
Beautiful macro capture. The very narrow dof is really working in your favor here. The eyes are tack sharp and the increasing oof toward the tail draws attention right where you want it to be. The colors are just eye-popping. Well done!