sparklers
by shutterfly

Comment:
Nice idea, I like that they are three different kinds of sparklers too. I might have cropped in a little tighter and cloned out the fine lines left from rotating the image.

Citizen Soldier
by AFChris

Comment:
Greetings from the Critque Club!

This picture is very hard for me to critique from a non-emotional level, which is good. It means that your photo is strong enough to cause a reaction in a viewer. Personally, it pulls at both my concern for the current military action in Iraq and my friend the Marine who will be beginning his second tour of duty in Iraq soon. It highlights for me that soldiers cannot be lumped up with the government as one big entity- that they are both citizens and soldiers, a strong opposite indeed sometimes.

Compositionally, I have some problems with it. I'd rather there be one photo than two, as it splits the focus, and the photo you chose to highlight is a little wonky. The arch in the picture is confusing- because the hat butts up against it the arch looks like a cuttout or frame instead of part of the picture. Instead of a second photo, some objects of home life might have worked better against the uniform. I do like the slight desaturation very much.

I hope this is helpful, please feel free to email me and questions or comments!
Amanda

untitled
by leaf

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Honestly, I find this picture very difficult to critique. It has a lot of good things going for it. Perhaps it's greatest asset, as many of your commenters said, is it's very strong, vibrant colors. It is also strong technically; good DOF, good exposure. I can't tell if I like the composition or not. Yes, the circles compete with the diamonds of the fence, but they are similar in repetition and so work together. Yes, the top of the pole is centered in the frame, and the horizon is straight, but somehow the can itself feels left of center and tilted. There's also something in the bottom of the can teasing me. I either wish I could see it, or wish it wasn't there.

But the defining difficulty about this photograph for me it is the subject matter. I always like looking at your pictures in challenges because they have a simple, crisp beauty, and I was not surprised to find out this was your picture. When I was voting, my first response was, "Well, THAT's something new!", and then.... ambivalence. In short, I feel like I should like it more than I do. But that's just one girl's opinion.

I hope this helps! Feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments,
Amanda

Piazza
by Tranquil

Comment:
The color in this looks a little funny to me- the grass is almost yellow.

Pinwheel
by mattrix

Comment:
Interesting idea! Maybe it would have been easier to see the pinwheel if you'd left in the dial in focus?

Province House
by zeke123ca

Comment:
Too dark and muddy. It's best to aim for a true black somewhere in a pic like this.

Saturday Night In The Park
by belo1

Comment:
This could be a very good pic, but it's too small to tell! Please use the maxium size you can when entering next time!

Reflections
by anatom

Comment:
This could be a very good pic, but it's too small to tell! Please use the maxium size you can when entering next time!

Forbidden Lamp Love
by mayer_chik83

Comment:
This could be a very good pic, but it's too small to tell! Please use the maxium size you can when entering next time!

Optical fiber
by belette

Comment:
That's a really cool idea! I wonder if there's anyway you could have gotten rid of the graying on the fiber bunches? A small flashlight on them maybe?