A California Pasture
by sherryk471

Comment:
This is a little on the soft side in terms of focus. The horse in the background I don't feel is very suitable background. In terms of the whole pic I don't think it is as effective as it would've been with just a green or sky backdrop

Thistle
by DennisF

Comment:
Great subject, great detail. The colors are also great and I realy like the tight framing of this flower. Nice work

Macroflora
by scroosloose

Comment:
This was either shot at a high ISO or was oversharpened a little. The slight grain in the background gives it away. I reckon it could've been oversaturated a little. The blues are very strong in this photo.

cherry blossoms illuminated at the time of festival
by kenbo

Comment:
Holy pixelated sky Batman!!! The reflection is nice but the angle is a little strange. This whole pic looks like it might be just a tad overexposed.

"Wild, Wild, West"
by tfarrell23

Comment:
A little grainy. The sky is whited out a little too much. Looks like maybe a polarizer would've been a helpful tool for this shot.

Song of the Desert
by Gringo

Comment:
The colors on this are nice, but not quite saturated enough for my tastes. This looks like a great candidate for a softening filter with this lighting too, after the challenge of course. NIce pic.

Flora
by STEINR

Comment:
I think the reds in this shot could be saturated a little more. The blossoms are really nice but the background is a little too much.

Flowers In The Rain
by pinback

Comment:
I'm glad to see this moved up to 2nd. Taking nothing away from the blue ribbon winner, I liked this shot best. Great capture and sincere congrats - Inspzil

Burning Bush
by crabappl3

Comment:
Congrats on another blue ribbon Crabappl3. Great capture! - Bob

Welcome to the Sunshine State
by CreativeFlyPhoto

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club
By Inspzil

Composition - The branches frame this shot in beautifully. I question the framing of this picture in general. I think a landscape shot would be more advantageous to show a little more of the landscape and a little less of the clouds at the top of the frame. Those are a bit grainy for some reason. The sun is a little bit hot, but hey, it's the sun for Pete's sake. There is a very calm feeling to this photo, even though the water is so choppy. I think you did well with the composition of this photo, except for the orientation.

Technical - These shots are tough. I shoot a lot of sunrises and get caught up in the same type of scenario, with a hot sun that isn't lighting everything else up proportionally. So what I would've done is stopped this up to F6.3 or so and taken it again. Normally on shots like this I manually bracket it and take it hot and stop up from there to make sure I have the right exposure. I usually start where my exposure is a little higher than optimal and then turn the shutter faster every time I stop up. I probably end up with at least 5 shots of the same exact thing with the exposures getting darker as I go. Back to your shot.... I think that a higher F and shutter speed would've brought out the colors in the sky a lot better. You wouldn't really lose much detail from the branches or the rest of the landscape because they are pretty dark anyway. Most of those would be captured in silhouette which is a nice look anyway. It also might hide a little of the choppy water.

Overall - This is a pretty good picture as is. I think it wouldn't take a lot to make it really good. I like doing CC's on pictures like this because it's really up my alley, and its something that has a lot of potential and is worth the time to do these. Hopefully this could be some help to you and good luck in the future. - Inspzil