Convoluted
by sher

Comment:
Absolutely terrific range of tones from such rich black to beautiful whites. Nice use of shallow DOF to direct attention to foregound leaf and it's curled tip - also gives a delightful softness to the one at the top back. Composition is very strong indeed for me.

Sleeping Beauty
by mocabela

Comment:
Lovely detail to the top with the cobwebs draping their silk over the seed head. Nice use of DOF also. Not so keen on so much darkness to left side of frame.

Anticipation
by brianlh

Comment:
Interesting semi-silhouette aspect yet enough detail to add interest. A great interplay of the shapes of the two boys, the net and the ball itself. Intriguing coastal location too.

Date Nail - circa 1951
by cpurser

Comment:
Excellent use of high contrast to really show the texture of the worn wood and accretions. Love that nail with the number on the head. How intriguing. An excellent image.

Slices
by Moreira

Comment:
Intriguing abstract with nice fanning diagonals and well placed egg. Interesting shadows too but too dark overall for my preferences.

Dice Cubes
by DCThiessen

Comment:
Certainly an interesting if somewhat bizaare idea. I like the detail of the bubbles and the high contrast on the die. Background is a little too grey - a separate light for the background might help.

Man In Black
by Brenb

Comment:
Nice side view and I like the blurred but textured background. The lenses of the specs seem a bit strange, perhaps it's just because they are so thick and it's a shame the glasses stem crosses just where his eye is but... it's does make it more anonymous which isn't a bad thing. Nice work!

belt it out baby!
by shutterfly

Comment:
A great pose nicely positioned within the frame to provide a strong composition.
Main problem for me on this one is not the slightly shallow depth of field but the plane of focus - which bits you've chosen to focus on. The nearside whiskers and the mouth are out of focus and yet are part of the more interesting elements of the image. I like the range of dark and light backgrounds - the light bit emphasises the shape of the cat, the dark bit shows off the whiskers that are more in focus. That said overall it feels quite dark.

Midnight Snack
by StevePax

Comment:
What an interesting image - certainly the kind of idea I could see used in stock photography and taken on by some firm in some clever and slick advertising campaign.
Main downsides for me:
1) Composition - the panoramic really doesn't work for me - I like the white space to the left of the pretzels but would prefer to see more of that lower one. Perhaps another third of the height that exists added to the bottom of the frame?
2) With the exception of the background there are no real whites and very few blacks. The tonal range seems very low. That makes it feel a little bland. Boosting contrast helps a little on that front.
I will email you a rough idea of what I mean with composition.
Kavey

December Waiting for Santa
by ladpupmoe

Comment:
Critique Club

Composition/ Content/ Background
I like the fact that you've really thought about linking your image to the chosen month. That aspect of it is one of the stronger points for me.
As has been said a few times in the comments left during the challenge, a big weakness of this image is in the background. The table doesn̢۪t add anything as the milk and plate on top of it are too heavily cropped to be considered as part of the main content. In any case they aren't needed to convey the Christmas theme so would be best excluded.
The stocking at the back interferes with the colours and lines of the dog's hat and again would be better excluded. The scarf that he's wearing doesn't really match the hat and just introduces a thick black diagonal to the frame that doesn't really help composition.
All in all my advice in terms of improvement would be to really think about the background as much as the foreground and possibly even use a one-colour backdrop.
In terms of the lovely dog, it's a shame he isn't looking directly at the camera. It emphasises the impression that he's not really having fun but just sitting obediently whilst he's used as a model. Stronger eye contact would improve the connection felt between viewer and dog.

Camera Work - Technical
Lighting is very harsh and has resulted in some large blown out areas in the white of the hat. Including large areas of white in your image requires more care with exposure, something that is definitely not easy. Perhaps softening the light source and also bracketing on exposure might help on this front.

Digital Processing - Technical
Some confident cropping (at top and left) would exclude some of those distracting background elements and improve composition.

Fits The Challenge
Yes