Spaghetti
by Jacko

Comment:
Now that is macro spaghetti! Almost looks like a flower, quite a trippy image!

Under the Christmas Tree
by Yomi

Comment:
What a unique picture! Great patterns and contrast.

Flower Girl
by Sonifo

Comment:
This is a very charming portrait, obviously not camera shy! The lighting and background are perfect. My only niggle, she seems to be holding onto the flowers for dear life, maybe just loosen up the hands a little.

His name is...
by Pifflefish

Comment:
Critique Club
I agree this is good for the holiday shoppers! You have found something blue but the composition doesnt focus on the main subject which is the toy and not the box, just moving around closer to the front would have shown him more and got the TRY ME label out of his face. Also, getting rid of the Xmas bear on the left would have created a cleaner composition. Though to be honest, if you care about the votes then I wouldnt chose a toy, as they never seem to do well!

Flash is a bit bright overall and creates some flare on the TRY ME label, does your camera have a flash bracketing system? If so, maybe lower the flash output. I have the same problem using close up flash. Also, do you have a white balance setting on your camera, as the background seems a bit yellow, maybe play around with the white balance settings...Overall, focus is sharp and for it fits the challenge. I hope that you find this helpful!

The Blue Leanie
by Manic

Comment:
Hi Manic, seems that muckpond has critiqued this one before me, but heres my version. By the way, am from Oxford too, grew up in a little villiage called Beckley, you know it? I live in Japan now, but often come back to Oxford cause my parents still live there. I know Aylesbury too.
Critique Club:
Well the main thing here is the sky, but being England, I know how hard it is to get a blue sky. In the case of an overcast day, I would have tried to get rid of as much as the sky as possible, fill the frame with the building. I think that it would have looked good if the top angle of the building had just pierced the top frame of the picture, either taken from a lower angle or just cropped a bit more. You could have even done a vertical panoramic shot, cropping out the pink bits and concentrating on just the centre section, would have been quite abstract but maybe cool.(wasnt DPC legal before, but would be now) Anyway, enjoy the beautiful UK weather! Hope that this helps you.

Lacy in Blue
by Marsha

Comment:
I am surprised this one didnt do better, some strange voting this week!

Longing
by jitams

Comment:
Critique by Natasha for the Critique Club

I am finding this one quite hard to critique, I gave it a 7 t the time of voting, but I was expecting it to do better than it did. I think that it deserved to be in the top ten. You have created a very artistic picture here, the composition IS the picture. I like the position that she is standing in and the use of the shadow was fantastic. As I said in my comment, I thought that the empty space at the top was a bit big and I think cropping off a third of this would be good. At the moment the amout of space seems to overpower her, if that's the effect you wanted, then it worked.
The contrast of the shadows is nearly too much, especially around the left side of the towl and a little dark on the upper hand. At the same time, the contrast at this level adds the impact off the picture. I think that if you tried this again, it would be interesting to see the shadows intersecting in the middle of her hands.
Overall, I think that this was a really strong and unique picture, it's very artistic composition. When I saw it during the voting, for some reason the towel bothered me but now that I have looked more carefully, its not an issue! It would actually make an excellent framed picture! I hope that this helps you!

Blue Fizz
by fotofrog

Comment:
I thought that this photo was great annd I am surprised it didnt place higher!

Blue Lady
by JEM

Comment:
Critique by Natasha for the Critique Club

Composition- Content
The overall impact of this picture is great, the expression is strong and it captures the emotion of the subject very well, tells a great story. The person standing on the left of the picture could have been cropped out, but to be honest I didnt notice him at first, just thought it was the darkness of the corner. Eyes are totally drawn to the woman, so the guy standing there doesnt spoil the picture, it would just be better without him there.
Camera Work-Technical
Focus is sharp. The lighting is quite harsh on the right of the picture, but the exposure and lighting on the womans face is perfect. The washed out top right corner almost adds to the blueness of the shawl, but maybe you could try a bit of spot editing to cool it down a bit ( I know its not DPC legal, but this picture would be great framed or used for other competitions where editing is legal)
My Opinion
Its a great capture and the story it tells and emotion of it are beautiful. I think its one of the hardest things to do, capture pure emotion, just did it perfectly! With just a bit more cropping this would be even better. Congrats on 7th place! I hope that you find this helpful!

Moving by night, sleeping by day
by psychephylax

Comment:
This is a really fantastic picture, the background and the pure white of the owl are great! However, I dont think that this shows motion......otherwise, i love it!