DeVille Prison City
by tonyv

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

Two things immediately stand out in this image. The first is the contrast in colour between the subject and the background. The second is the man's expression.

I have no idea what the title refers too, but I presume it is a real prison, and that your subject is supposedly one of its guests. If that is the case, the background is perfect in that it looks like an old sepia image from a time gone by. And if you think about it, prisons are places that mess with the idea of time: Time inside drags for the inmates, but time outside stops for them. Often they come out to a world that they no longer recognise. So the sepia representing the archaic, time bending institution of prison is a perfect choice. The man on the other hand is in glorious technicolour, representing his individuality inspite of his being incarcerated.

The man's expression to me could suggest fear or menace - both of which are appropriate in this context, and it was well captured.

Your post processing steps in acheiving your overall image might as well have been written in Greek, as I am PS challenged, so I can only bow to your expertise and say well done;)

Devil's Poker Club
by Mr_Bond

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

One of the benefits of giving critiques is that you are 'forced' to spend longer than the usual 5 seconds looking at an image before passing judgement. The longer I look at this image, the more hypnotised I become by those eyes! They demand that I look into them and then dare me to look away. The menace is enhanced by the strong facial expression.

I think the effect you have created with the lighting on the face is very clever:It seems to hint at the two sides of man's nature - light and dark, reminding us that we are not always 100% good and not always 100% bad. Rather we are somewhere in between and fight a life long battle with ourselves and temptation.

Just having the white of the eye showing in the right side is so effective, so menancing, so dramatic.And the fact that the highlight in each eye appears in a different place adds to the effect of duality.

The poker chips and cards are symbolic of our obsession with materialistic gain even to the detrement of our spiritual nature, and that we often gain one at the expense of the other.

I personally love the red tones against the black, for a poster it is eyecatching and dramatic. I would also love to see what a black and white version looks like.

Whilst the focus does seem a little soft on the cards, I think it does not take anything away from the rest of the image.

A bold, dramatic, well executed image, that perhaps should have scored higher;)

Monk
by amber

Comment:
Is this crap?

Colors in Rhythm!
by kbhatia1967

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

There is something about coloured straws that evokes a pavlovian response in adults: they instantly bring memories of childhood, and the feelings that go with that, to mind. These feelings are, 9 times out of 10, pleasurable. Pastel colours, too, often have the same effect, because as babies they are what our rooms, furniture, clothes...etc are decorated with.

Compostionally this is appealing as there is a suggestion of a spiral, both in the overall arrangement and the way you arranged the colours, particularly the red ones (well done!) The balance between postive and negative space is also good.

The focus does seem a little on the soft side, but this adds to the calm, comforting feeling the image promotes.

The background seems white enough on my screen, and whilst the border initially bothered me, the more I looked at the image, the more it seemed right. It balances the red and echos the green and blue straws.

A really appealing image.

Serene
by efren

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

Sometimes when we look at a scene in real life we feel something, or it moves us. Often when we take a photograph of that moment, it can fail to convey or capture that feeling or emotion, no matter how accurate the exposure, depth of field or shutter speed. The camera cannot sense what we sense.
Sometimes, we find that by experimenting with photoshop we can create an image that whilst it isn't 'true to life' strictly speaking, it can convey something of what we saw with our 'other' vision.
I think that perhaps you have done that here; the over saturation does convey a sense of one of those days, when the blue of the sky, and it's reflection in the water are almost too blue and wonderful.It's all down to personal choice and taste and depends on who you are trying to please - yourself or others.

That said: The rhythm created by the pier is irregular but interesting, but the fact that it tilts upwards on the right-hand side distracts the eye of the viewer and disturbs the balance.
The yellow buoy is a nice contrast to the blue, but the boat? in the bottom left-hand corner is very distracting. Had you cropped the left hand side of the image to get rid of this, it would not have harmed your image much. In fact you could have cropped up to the clearer water reflections and made a cleaner image perhaps, focusing even more on the pier and the clean reflections on the water.

Three Sheets to the Wind
by GeneralE

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

This was one of the few images to really meet the spirit of this challenge. It is clearly well thought out and shows a creative mind. The use of printed papers adds enormously to the effect and interest. The sheets have made appealing curves and shapes and have seperated well.

The trees help suggest the idea of wind, but had the sheets been solely against the blue sky, instead of against the trees, I think you would have scored even higher. But compositionally it does adhere to the rule of thirds well.

A well executed, creative take on the challenge.

Message edited by author 2006-05-16 05:22:34.

The early bird catches the worm.
by charliev

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

This is a difficult one.

As far as the challenge is concerned, there is nothing in this image that suggests an 'early' bird; the sun is not rising, the bird has no watch on and is not reading the morning paper:)The worm has obviously overslept as he is missing from the image, like the signs of early morning:) But hey, we trust you when you say it is early morning;)

I actually like the composition in a abstract way; the angles created by the green against the blue work well. The plant shooting straight into the middle of this is quite dynamic. BUT....very little, if any of this image is in focus. My eyes are watering trying to do the job the camera failed to do. I desparately want to like this image...but the focus!!!! Enough said;)

Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson
by Tombola

Comment:
Hi from the Critique Club!

Part of doing well in challenges is to make the voter go 'Wow!' You have to make your image stand out against the competition...not easy! When the first thing your voter notices is the smallness of your image, you've really shot yourself in the foot! Of the 14 comments you received, 11 mention the size. Looking at your portfolio, I see that you have entered full size images before, so I am curious as to why you didn't here, with such a universally appealing image?

The contrast of the purple/pink against the green works really well.
There is a lovley diagonal movement in the image and nice repetition of the spikeyness of the petals and grass.
There is a nice depth of field, but the central flower is a little too central for me, dominating the image and keeping the eye in the centre of the picture.
But a nice appealing image, which would have received a higher vote had it been larger.

Self-Portrait with Architecture
by Joey Lawrence

Comment:
Wonderful.

Dreams: Trepidation
by alfresco

Comment:
Really, really nice!