taxi!
by tomzinho

Comment:
I like the panning effect. You did a good job with that. I know how difficult it is to get the subject sharp. -stephan

Steps of the faithful
by Antart101

Comment:
Hmm... a very different take on the challenge. Creative! The photo could be a bit better technically. E.g. I would have cropped out the upper part and maybe shot from a more direct angle. The lighting is a bit weak also but I think you couldn't setup an array of lamps in the middle of the street. ;-) But I think you fulfilled the challenge perfectly. -stephan

Adrenalin
by oriontrail

Comment:
The title fits perfectly. This is one of my favourite photos this week. Conveys motion perfectly. -stephan

Blue Streak
by inspzil

Comment:
I like your photo. Maybe some people will complain that there is nothing in focus but actually that what I like ;-) There is enough detail to see that it's a kid running around and just like kids are everything is a bit wild and chaotic. I think this works good here. It was probably coincidence but I like that the child was right before the black part of the background when you shot the photo. This gives a good contrast between subject and background. The photo wouldn't look so good otherwise because then the child would have merged with the background. -stephan

Shooting Stars!
by Gordon

Comment:
Yeah, this photo really has a wow factor. And because I love lighting effects you score pretty high on my scale ;-) I'm interested in the details how you did this. Did you move your camera during the exposure? Is your camera able to zoom in while the shutter is open? Please make sure to include some information on your photo. I'll get back onyour photo after the challenge. -stephan

Still/Spinning
by Marklane

Comment:
I like your concept. The contrast between the woman standing still and the carousel in motion is nice. Unfortunately the carousel itself is not so nice. In my opinion the motion blur is a tad too much. A slightly faster shutter would be better. It looks very wild because almost everything is in motion. I would like some parts being still and giving the eye some rest. -stephan

acceleration
by magnetic9999

Comment:
I like the colours and that you can look inside the train. I also like that can make out some detailt there and that it's not everything blurred. The backgorund and the platform could be a it sharper but I guess the camera was handheld. I submitted a similar photo this week and I know how difficult it is. I like your composition because it gives a nice sense of depth. -stephan

Snow, Sleet & Freezing Rain
by Diana

Comment:
Great motion photo! I wanted to do a similar shot for the challenge (panning the camera) but none of my tries were as good as yours. The subject could still could be a bit sharper but I know how difficult that is. I like that the white colour of the car matches colour of the snow in the background. -stephan

Blue Genes
by DougPaz

Comment:
Hello Douglas, don't wonder why you get another critique. Your your photo was assigned to me in context of the Critique Club. So here it goes:

Composition: I agree with John, that a portrait orientation would look better. I would have cropped out the left arm (left as seen from the viewer). It looks a bit strange because you can see the arm belonging to the left hand but then the right hand looks like it is "glued" to her hip. I think you should either show both arms or none.
I also agree that the background is distracting. Maybe if you tried to let your wife stand a bit further away from the background, that would have helped.

Lighting/Colours: You didn't tell it in your photo details but some other people said in their comments that you used black light. I'm not sure about that because when I adjust the hue in my photo editing program by about +160 it looks pretty normal to me (normal skin colour, black jeans, blue shirt). But I never used black light and maybe that is the effect of that type of lighting.
Anyway, while I like the effect in in general, the blue is a bit too much blue for my taste. It looks too unnatural and like you played too much with your image editor. I would like it better if it would be a more faint colour tone.
The drop shadow of your wife is distracting. I thik the suggestion above, to let your wife stand futher away from the backgound, would have helped with that, too.

Focus: As far as I can see everything of your wife is in focus. That's good.

Art: I got the wordplay "blue genes"/"blue jeans" a bit late ;-) I guess that's because the jeans seem to be play a totally unimportant role in this photo. The effect of the blue skin dominates.
Anyway, it's a creative effect and I really like the concept. Also you fulfilled the challenge perfectly but personally I would have liked a less smurf coloured version ;-).

I have a different version (different crop, colour hue and saturation) of your photo. I can send it to you if you want.

Stephan

Feelin' Blue...
by mliborio

Comment:
Hello Melissa, don't wonder why you get another critique. Your your photo was assigned to me in context of the Critique Club. So here it goes:

Composition: As Marsha said, the walls dominate the photo. This is somehow a nice idea, because it could be used to convey loneliness to support the "feeling blue" mood of the photo. But unfortunately it doesn't work here. The right wall has this bar which is nice because it could be used as a compositional line pointing to the subject, but unfortunately this bar is missing on the left wall. This looks a very uncomplete and unbalanced. So I also think a vertical crop would be better here.
Also tomzinho made a good suggestion to take the photo a bit further away. I think this would have helped to convey the loneliness and sad mood.
The background is not very interesting. Unfortunately I don't know why you chose this location. Please make sure to write one or two sentences in the "Details" field when submitting the photo. This helps the viewers to understand your photo better.
The photo is a bit tilted clock wise, which to me makes it look a bit unordered/chaotic and thus uneasy. This doesn't fit to the mood of the photo.

Lighting/Colours: It looks like you used a flash. I experienced that this kind of lighting looks not so good most of the times and it's really difficult to use a flash properly. I think a different lighting (or only using the existing lighting) would have improved this photo a lot. The flash makes it look like a snapshot. Especially the glare on the metallic door frame and the shadow of her head on the wall in the background don't look good.
The colour of the sweater is nice but a bit too light. I also think this photo would be a good candidate for the selective colour effect, in this case everything desaturated and the blue sweater being the only colour. See the "How'd They Do That?" tutorial for the photo Rest to see what I mean.

Focus: As far as I can see it, her face is in focus and this is important. Maybe a wider aperture could have helped with a more shallow DOF to blur the background a bit more. But I don't know of your camera supports that or if F/2.8 is the widest you can have.

Art: It's very difficult to convey an emotion in a photo. The blue sweater is nice parallel to the mood you wanted to convey. Good idea! But there are some technical problems which make the photo not very appealing and look like a snapshot. Maybe it is really a snapshot but snapshots don't have to look like snapshots ;-).
I have a modified version of your photo (different crop and selective colour) which I can send you if you want.