Into the Sunrise
by srbrubaker

Comment by bmartuch:
Neat shot. The mist really makes this image.

Spoon in Space
by srbrubaker

Comment by posthumous:
What I like about this is that the only way we can see the spoon is via its reflections. 7

Coffee and Toast - "Breakfast of Champions"
by srbrubaker

Comment by Dr.Confuser:
Greetings from the Critique Club. I have been assigned your photo to critique and here are my thoughts:

Personal Reaction: Your photo makes a good first impression. It is creative and avoids cliche. It is pleasant to look at and invites a second look. It conveys a sense of humor. Your thumbnail version is also good and invites a view leading to vote. All good stuff and I gave it a 7 when I voted.

Composition: The composition is good. You offset the bowl, beans and center of the toast points which increases the dynamic feel of the photo. However, the crop feels crowded to me and the various elements a bit too close together. A little more space above, below and to each side would take care of this and allow each element to have a bit more of its own space. I like that you included the newspaper. If you had controlled the reflection is the spoon, I would have liked it better.

Technicals: Your focus is very good. I like the lighting; low and from the side shows off the texture of the placemat and beans. It looks like you have multiple light sources which help the 3 dimensional feel of the photo. Depth of field is good. Tonal range is good.

Conclusions: Without knowing what you were trying for (and there’s no help for this in your “Photographer’s Comments”) it’s hard to draw a lot of conclusions. I would have thought it would have scored higher than it did. My hypothesis is that voters found other subjects more appealing and gave them higher scores.

As always, these are my opinions. Feel free to PM me if you’d like further dialog. Good luck in future challenges.

Fantasy Isle
by srbrubaker

Comment by Melethia:
What hurt you the most for scoring in this challenge is this isn't really what most would consider "high contrast". If you look at a histogram of this picture in Photoshop, you'll see a fairly nice spread across the board, with no significant peaks/valleys. Yes, the high constrast of the sun on the water at the point where the island is does define the island, but that's a small portion of the picture so the overall impact is not one of high contrast. As for the lens flare, I kinda like it. Looks a bit like the moon, though it is recognizable as a flare. An adjustment of 50% in the shadows using the shadows/highlight tool in Photoshop really brings out the colors and textures in the foreground.

Coffee and Toast - "Breakfast of Champions"
by srbrubaker

Comment by JuliBoc:
I really like the patterns and textures. Monocrome is perfect for this shot. I find the point of toast on the right distracting because it covers the spoon.

Coffee and Toast - "Breakfast of Champions"
by srbrubaker

Comment by love:
very funky... 10

Coffee and Toast - "Breakfast of Champions"
by srbrubaker

Comment by skewsme:
Wow, someone who likes their coffee even stronger than I do ;-)

Coffee and Toast - "Breakfast of Champions"
by srbrubaker

Comment by gg3rd:
Sharpness, focus and the sepia are great! Do I see your reflection in the spool?
What bothers me the most in this image, though, is the composition with roasted coffe beans on a bowl - like a cereal, as it suggests - and you might know how bitter that is (maybe that was your intention with the whole set up to evoke such feelings in the viewrs...). So, it doesn't fall well with me, but I am not taking any points because of that :-).

Coffee and Toast - "Breakfast of Champions"
by srbrubaker

Comment by talmy:
Very funny! I like the composition and (probably) duotone conversion. I do think the camera is reflected in the spoon, though.

Coffee and Toast - "Breakfast of Champions"
by srbrubaker

Comment by 777STAN:
Not your typical "jam session!" Skip the brewing and just start chewing! ;)