"Death of an Angel" by Carol Anne O'Marie
by kiwiness

Comment:
Amazing photo!!! Easily one of my favorites ever taken.. I love the detail on her face.. it's so subtle, so it's easy to overlook, but the lighting on it is just gorgeous. It looks so much like a painting, I'm just amazed. If this were a print I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Two questions: Her right arm looks somewhat awkward.. almost like it's double jointed.. At first glance it looks like her arm is bulging out, but obviously this girl is not fat so I don't know how that could be. Also, there seems to be a weird discoloration on her hip right above the cloth. Is that a trick of the light, or is that a result of cloning, or what?

Regardless, an incredible image. It will always be one of my favorites.

Slices
by bullethead

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First of all, what a cool photo! I always always without a doubt love photos of translucent objects placed on a light source, especially with such cool colors, as in this photo.

Let's start with composition. Several commenters suggested that you either crop tighter or crop less, which I fully agree with. The fact that this shot is cropped so close at the bottom but so loose at top really throws it off balance and creates an uneasy feeling that just doesn't work well in this particular shot. Outside of the context of this challenge, I would probably have cropped in a lot tighter on the left rock, which would have made for a really interesting macro shot.

Color is great in this shot. I'm glad that you stuck with a color scheme of yellows and browns instead of throwing in a pink or purple rock in addition.

Lighting is okay, but I don't think you used it as much to your advantage as you could have. The coolest thing about these rocks is that they're not opaque, which is why they work so well on the slide viewer. Why not layer the rocks on top of each other, allowing multiple levels of opacity within the photo? Also, there seems to be some darkening going on in the bottom left corner which is really distracting. There also seems to be a loss of sharpness around that edge, and I'm not sure if that's a result of your lens or the aperture. Either way, it should be fixed or cropped out.

That brings me to my last point. Two items does not a collection make. On its own, the photo has a ton of potential, but in this challenge it just doesn't fit.

I hope these comments have been helpful. Good luck!

Standing Out in the Crowd
by LadyLuna22

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Congratulations on your first entry and welcome to DPC! Be careful, it can become addicting!

I really like the composition of this shot. I love that you placed the central pony on top of the others, making it stand out even more. There's a lot of talk about rule of thirds, but I think putting something in the dead center of a photo can often be just as interesting, and this photo proves that point.

As you heard from many other commenters, this photo is just way too small. I feel that whenever someone has a small photo, they're usually trying to hide something, such as poor focus or dust on the lens. The larger a photo is, the more confidence it seems to have, so don't be afraid to really utilize the maximum size allowed.

I love the colors in this photo, they make the whole frame very interesting to look at. Unfortunately, there seems to be a yellowish color cast caused from the tungsten lighting in your living room. Most cameras have a feature that can get rid of this, and Photoshop can also fix it. This, along with a slight increase in saturation and contrast, would have really made the colors jump out of the photo more.

I also really like the dark spots between the dolls. I'm not sure if this is a result of lighting or if they're sitting on a dark surface, but I think the deep shadows really make the photo more interesting and give it depth.

I hope these comments were helpful. Good luck!

My Golden Handcuffs
by livitup

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Let's start with composition and focus. I agree with you that landscape is definitely more fitting for this image than a tradition image size would be. I really like the placement of the cufflinks. The semicircle is effective in hiding the back ends of the cufflinks, so much so that it took me several seconds to figure out what these were! I also like that they are slightly off center, with the colorful one appearing to be the center focus-wise. However, I don't like the order that they're placed in. Putting the two silver ones on the edge allows them to get blown out, fading into the white of the background. I would have preferred either seeing them moved towards the center or at least given an interesting reflection.

In terms of color, the colorful cufflink seems really out of place along with three metallic ones, especially since it is the largest and the one most in focus. That old song "One of these things is not like the other..." pops into my head viewing this photo. I personally would have minimized the emphasis on that one cufflink, or replaced it entirely with another metallic one.

I also have two small, nitpicky suggestions. First of all, the gold cufflink looks like it needs to be polished. The streaks take away from the professionalism of the photo, and I think a smoother link would have given the entire photo a much more polished feel. Second, the threads of the cloth you're using as your background are evident underneath some of the cufflinks, especially the colorful one, and that's really distracting. When you're using a macro lens, sometiems that can bring out detail in things you would rather not see, so be careful in that respect.

In regards to the challenge, I just don't think four of anything qualifies as a collection. In this particular challenge, I think it's quantity over quality, to an extent. If there were 20 cufflinks in this photo, it might have been more competitive, but I think that no matter how perfect this shot was, including only four things is going to keep it from really having the "wow" factor that wins challenges.

Smoke Stack Haze
by aaronwave

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

What a great find! I love reading the Photographer's comments to each photo, especially this one. Nowadays I refuse to drive whenever I'm going out of town, because I'm always staring out the window looking for potential photos!

The first thing that comes to mind in this photo is composition. In all honesty, the sky here is not very interesting. Much of it is blown out to a bright white, and the clouds aren't all that special, either. Given that, the fact that the sky takes up nearly 2/3 of the photos really hurts it, in my opinion. The most interesting parts of the photo are the steam coming from the smokestacks and the factory itself. If you could have zoomed in more on those (which may or may not have been possible, depending on your camera and lens), I think it would have been a much more interesting photo.

Also, the image seems slightly tilted. The sliver of ground (or water?) in the bottom left corner is a little distracting. If you had included more of the ground, whatever it is, I think it would have added more to the context and perspective of the photo. I personally would have composed the frame with the top edge just above the smoke coming from the tallest smokestack, and the bottom right edge maybe a quart to a half of an inch below the edge of the factory.

I really like your use of black and white in this shot. Considering the conditions, I can't imagine the original color was all that interesting, and I think the grayscale really brings out the steam coming from the smokestacks. I think some selective dodging and burning could have brought out even more of the detail in the shot.

I hope these comments have been helpful. Good luck!

soundtrack to my life
by Steveo77z

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club!

First of all, I want to applaud you on your interesting use of angles for this shot. I love that the lines of the wood panels bring your eye right to the CD cases, and those even create a line drawing your eye along their edges. This photo really keeps the eye active, really allowing it to keep exploring the shot deeper.

I really like that you got eye level with the cases and explored the use of depth of focus. Unfortunately, when you compare the amount of space the wood takes up to the amount of space the CD cases take up, it's overwhelming, and that feeling comes across in the photo. The CD cases are just an afterthought in this photo, instead of the dominant item.

I also think that increased color and contrast would have added a lot to this photo. The whole thing seems very washed out, which can be effective if used the right way, but unfortunately in this shot it is not. In a shot this pale, the eye is going to be drawn to the point of the greatest contrast, which is the black edge of the front CD case against the white wall in the background, and that's probably the last place you want the eye to linger because it's just not that interesting in relation to everything else in the frame. If you had chosen a darker or more colorful front album, I think this would have been mitigated a bit. Upping the contrast would also have emphasized the lines in the wood more.

Finally, I just do not like the way the CD cases are laid out. In my personal opinion, I think they should be spaced out more, allowing more of the edges of each case to be seen. I also agree with whichever commenter suggested that you make this photo more horizontal, as that would have placed more emphasis on the real subject of the photo.

I hope these comments have helped. Good luck in the future!

Tacky Focus Test
by Sammie

Comment:
nice use of DOF

Refracted Tacks
by Nordlys

Comment:
WHITE BALANCE!!! Would have made this photo so much cooler..

Spike a Drink
by Tranquil

Comment:
LOVE IT!!! I predict a ribbon.. ps, just out curiousity, why a red tack?

A Pack of Black Tacks
by Tallbloke

Comment:
hooray for mirrors! nice use of DOF