A Bad Night
by lennier

Comment:
From the Critique Club! First of all, welcome back! I saw that you didn't have any submissions for about six months. Glad you are back and participating!

I like the use of long time exposures and I like that you were adventurous enough to try something like this.

With respect to showing despair...
I like the body language here. The hand on the left knee says 'stress' to me. The lowered head and closed eyes indicates that he is in deep thought, possibly agonizing over something, maybe some regrets?? I like the fact that the image shows two positions. The second appears a little staged, but it gets the point across. The fact that there are two images kind of tells a story. The first image is a beginning, and the second progresses to 'despair' (or at least distraught to a certain extent!).
I like that this shot is taken outside. It helps add to the despair theme, possibly indicating that this person wanted to get away and be alone.
I like the fact that there are some background details instead of an all dark background. I don't think I like the way the entry steps overlap his head(s). I like the fact that some details are there, but I would have liked to see the steps off to the left or right of his head.
Concerning the 'judiciously' applied dust and scratches filter...
The effect is applied in a manner that it borders on the effects you'd get with the watercolor or cutout filters in Photoshop. My instinct is to say I feel this was overdone a little. It would be interesting to see the original image before this effect was applied. Most challenges require technical excellence, but I think this topic of despair works well with dark, grainy images.

Overall a good image. I like the fact that you experimented and tried something unusual. Congrats for your creativity, although acting lessons may be in order to truly portray despair. ..trying to imply despair sure beats actually having despair, though! Keep plugging away and earn yourself that Canon D60!!

JD Anderson

jesus !!
by j-oconnor

Comment:
A 5 or 6 for image quality and interest, an 11 for the message!

His Despair Our Gain
by Vision

Comment:
Gets an 8 for image quality and interest, gets an 11 for the message!
JD

When all else fails.....the door is always open
by jab119

Comment:
Gets a 7 for image interest and quality, gets a 10 for the message!
JD

The Weakest Link
by rmahan

Comment:
The angle of your shot causes the broken link in the shadow to be low in the shot, wiht the actual link being high in the shot. In my opinion, that's what makes this shot great! I think this is a great concept and your composition and angle are perfect. The background is a little bit mottled and murky. A tiny bit more light on the lower part of the chain would have been nice. 8 Nice shot and good luck in the challenge,
JD ANderson

Before the Storm
by xertion

Comment:
What a great, moody image! I like that this is not completely black and white (I think I see some blue tones in the clouds). Nice shape, nice clouds. The only thing I can think of to make this better would be to get rid of the trees in the background. This one tree shot against the sky without the trees in the background would be very powerful (IMHO). Nicely done and good luck in the challenge! 8 JD Anderson

She Measures Up
by Shiiizzzam

Comment:
Nice image, but for the life of me, I can't figureout what her waist size is!! Idon't understand your measuring tape. How did you get this to desaturate flesh tones without affecting the yellow of the tape? I've tried this technique and I've had a hard time separating fleshtones from yellows. Great job, nice image and good luck in the challenge. 8

How'd You Find Me???
by 3boyzMom

Comment:
I like the effect of desaturating all colors but one. The image itself is wonderful! What a cute kid! The lines in the wall behind the child are a little distracting, but not a big deal. The yellow got some weired grain to it as a result of the desaturation... Tough to pull off without spot editing. Good luckin the challenge!

lamp
by ymer

Comment:
This is a very simple, but very effective image. I like the shapes and the lighting is very fun. I'd be interested to see the original file to see how much post processing was required to get this version. Nicely done... 9
JD Anderson

Sunburst
by mariomel

Comment:
So how cool is this shot? Enought o get a 10 from me!! I love the lighting on this! I'd be interested to find out what your lighting setup was like. The brighter yellow circle of light around the center of the flower is great! THe lower part of that brighter yellow is a little bit blown out, but not enough to complain about. Cropping on the yellow flower is perfect, too. I really like the composition created with that crop. For the most part, your background provides added interest without being a distraction. I like that the background is not all solid black. With that said, I do think the small amount of background 'leafs' that are overlapping the yellow petals is distracting. I would have moved those behind the flower. Better yet, I would have trimmed them out of the picture. The lighting on the background elements works very well, but these leaves in particular have the same lighting as the yellow flower. They are not part of the flower, but the lighting on them is too strong for them to match with the background elements. OK... I feel like I am rambling! Even though I found something I would have changed in this image, I am still giving it a 10 because it has enough WOW factor to overcome the small flaws! Nice work!
JD Anderson