Winter Wonderland
by agwright

Comment:
An interesting meld of colors in the blurred motion. Use of a great technique with slow shutter and active panning to catch your subject in action and unaware. The child approaching the side adds an extra bit of interest to the shot.

Cropped vertically, eliminating just at the edge of the rear child and giving a bit of space to skate into would have boosted this shot a couple of points for me as it would have put even more emphasis on the chosen subject and simplified the action between the child and man who appears to be trying to steady her.

The border neither adds or detracts from the whole. Bumping from a 4 holder to a 5.

Regretfully, He'll Never Be Seven Again
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
Too many competing subjects in this one. The title leads me to the child and the curiosity in the miniature town and the leading lines of the rail show that you worked to find something that added to the family.

Unfortunately, the children and mother are somewhat out of focus and the other couple are so sharp as to almost be 3D. This detracts again from the subject, however cropping the couple out would have been next to impossible withou causing much more distraction. A good start with some very positive points, but too many distractions to reach a high level. Bumping from 4 to 5, because of the insanely 3D effect on the unintended couple and effort taken to find an interesting angle/framing that would add to the composition.

Bubble Blowing
by Heavy

Comment:
A nice capture, most certainly candid or at least it very much appears so. Use of the fill flash was great and the reflections in the bubble are muted nicely. The lens flare off the bubble, however is unfortunate and distracting. If you have PSP or Photoshop, this is easy to clone out. A slight touch of noise reduction and your well on your way.

Overall not much here to draw me back to the image as is, but a more horizontal crop with less top area background could move this up a point with me. For now a bump from the 3 holder to a 5.

December Day
by Prime_Time

Comment:
Most likely a candid, but not much more than a simple snapshot that would go into a family album. There is little to bring this image out of that category.

In this image, a shallower DOF (lower numbered f-stop) would go a long way to removing the overpowering effect of the pickup in the background. A more vertical crop would bring more focus to the actual subject and some postprocessing with the burn tool would help to eliminate some of the blown out highlights.

One trick (and it is hard to do this in a candid) is to shoot for a darker shot (faster speed and smaller F-stop, but to use the flash to bring the subjects lighting up a bit and fill in the shadows (fill flash). The challenge with this one would have been the sunglasses that would most likely have done a very nasty reflection. When sunlight is so plentiful, it is often hard to remember that the flash can still be used to an advantage.

Final rating 3.

Honey, how much money do we want to blow up this year?
by drengskratti

Comment:
Variety in midtones seems slightly lacking, but not flat by any means. I like the diagonal and the level of the camera was perfectly placed to minimize problems on the top lines. All elements of this shot are in good focus which is very important to tie into the title.

The two most disrupting elements of the shot however are the overexposed lights in the pyro cases and the shadowy clothing of the male subject. He being half of the candid (title) should have more contrast and depth of detail. The far end of the counter is distrupted by an unfortunate passerby, but to have cropped him would have hurt the blance of the lines and diagonals in the upper roofing. An average shot that would do 1-2 points better with a wider variety of tones and some selective burning down of the lights. 5

Sneaking Off
by MAK

Comment:
I am left questioning what I am really looking at. The soft pastels of the sky are soothing and the horizon cut with the silhouettes(sp?) invokes a sense of 'the old wink wink, nudge nudge.' I wish I could see just a smidgen of the sea or coast on this one to up the mood. It seems overly dark in most places, but obvious highlight blowouts in the sky tell me that there should be so much more to see here.

An interesting capture with a somewhat candid feel. Too dark below, too light in the highlights but it has an appeal I can't quite identify. I may return again to this one. For now bumping from 3 to 4.

Oasis
by bpickard

Comment:
Hmmm....motion, highlights, deeply saturated colors, an unbalancing angle of attack. This comes off as artsy to me. Not the expected type of candid, but fits the challenge even if it is a round peg in a square hole. I cannot say there is an abundance of interest in the piece for me, but I think that is due to the crop and placement of the majority of color. Ithink a hefty rotation of the subject to place on an angle and a more rectangular crop would seem to give this a bit more edge, but don't do anything to lose the plants on either side. Losing the left top foot and burning the largest blowout on the center top would be ok though.

I think this has a potential that is yet unexplored so am bumping this from my original 3 holder to a 5.

Roofing Plumber
by Node

Comment:
Excellent framing with the trees, crisp clear almost unobstructed view of a full moon. Wow. Good points for the framing, lines and lighting. Actual subject, although no doubt taken candidly, leaves no interest for this viewer and is in many ways an unfortunate distraction to an otherwise top notch photo. A 5 for effort and technicals, wish the subject had not been there and this had been another challenge. Minus the person this image could be an 8.

Tokyo fish market
by blanceric

Comment:
Memories of working on the fishing docks here, gawd what a smell. We all appreciate your DOF being as shallow as it was as the red left portion would not have been a pleasant addition to the rest. I have a hard time considering this candid, although it very well may have been taken discreetly, the image holds absolutely no emotion or revelation that a candid should.

Your target is almost exactly centered and would have been a bit more interesting if cropped so as to be in the lower left third. It is not an overly appealing subject and unfortunately falls flat to this viewer. The abundance of goo and vital liquids pushes it in to the realm of nasty (but in a good way, not like the picture sux).

I offer a 2 for this image. While a good capture for some uses, it does not seem to fit the challenge.

No Indoor Plumbing
by Bear_Music

Comment:
The dog holds no interest factor for me at all in this shot, but I can definitely see the humor of candid all over this capture. More so, the image's silvery cast against the snow seems AMAZING to me on this monitor. I cannot sense any blowouts, all of the snow, seems to have a texture and the lines of the fencing hold good attention to the eye. A border would have destroyed this shot.

I am not drawn to the candidness in the picture, but recognize it. The shot is more interesting by far on a different level to me with the surrounding area and would be far improved if the dog had not been included at all. Technically I have nothing to offer on the whole, but find I do have to bump this up from my initial score to a 5 simply due to the other elements.