The not-so-green-yet Mountains
by mistchild2008

Comment:
Hi from the CC,

Your intentions were good with this image. Unfortunately, it's simply not an exciting shot, which explains the low score of this submission. The technical aspects of the photo are good: well framed by the trees and the whites are white. I like the reddish hues in some of the trees.

My first question when I saw this picture was "what's the subject?" The mountains are out of focus, have low local contrast, and don't have sufficient colour to make them "pop out". You said you did auto contrast and levels, but more could have been done. See how flat those trees on the mountain look? They could really stand out against that snow. Also, even though I said the trees frame the shot nicely, it is quite predictable. I'm betting that the sky looked more ominous when you first framed this shot; the foreboding could have been restored with some dodging and burning.

When you've got a shot with flat colour, always consider using black and white. I think a high contrast B&W shot would have scored much better here.

Regards,
Geoff Ball

Colors of the Capitol
by Megaweapon

Comment:
Hello from the CC,

As I said in my original comment, the colours are great in this shot. Vivid blues and greens, with nice, crisp grays in the buildings.

Generally, this looks like a drawing. The blue looks randomly painted in the water, with some spots beings less saturated than others. The sky is the downfall of this shot, as it looks like the blue was painted in with an air brush. The haloing around the buildings, as someone mentioned during the challenge, is distracting.

Lines and composition are good. If I were you, I'd look through all of the comments you've received so far and take them to heart. It really *does* look like a screenshot from a video game, or like something put together in Maya.

Not a bad shot, but I've got to ask: is this what you saw when you took the image? Did you reproduce the original scene in a way you wanted to?

Regards,
Geoff Ball

Puppy Hair-Do
by patio127

Comment:
Hi from the CC,

What an expression! You captured the emotion perfectly. Colours are good, as is the contrast and depth of field. The mouth and important fur are in focus, and I assume the eyes are, too. Some might complain that the eyes are underexposed, but I would disagree; they are perfectly soulful, and help convey the mood. As for the rest of the dog, perhaps it could use some frontal lighting. However, all the detail is observable and there is no noise, so it's certainly not mandatory. The background is sufficiently blurred to shift focus to the dog.

I don't have many negative things to say about this image. Perhaps a slight desat of the background? I'd say you met the challenge requirements, so I have no idea why you got a 1, some 2s, and so many 3s.

This shot ranked lower than it should have, given the competition.

Great job with this shot.

Regards,
Geoff Ball

The Tale of Tress-Lock Forest (enitrely of hair!)
by LaMas

Comment:
Greetings from the CC,

Wow! What a labour of love! I feel like I'm critiquing a painting rather than a photograph, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. All photographs have an art component to some degree, and you have certainly conveyed your artistic side here. There are great colours, interesting textures, and good contrast in this image.

The problem many had, I believe, is that it no longer appears to be a photograph. This is certainly a work of art (and a good one, in my opinion), but this is primarily a competition of photography. Although the pictures of the hair are your originals, they've been used as a texture to create a painting, not a photograph.

With that being said, there's not much technically lacking with this shot. Everything is crisp (except the outline of the tree bark along the trunk), and actually looks like a forest scene if you let your imagination run wild a bit. The tree is well-positioned, and the falling leaves are a nice touch.

I can't do much else to critique this image, since there aren't many photographic elements beyond those I've already discussed. Artistically, this is stunning, so I can see why it scored as well as it did. Since this is a photography site, I can also see why it didn't score even better.

Overall, I like it!

Regards,
Geoff Ball

Cincinnati at Sunset
by svt_gEEk

Comment:
Hello from the CC,

This image does a great job of capturing the mood of the scene. The predominant blues and yellows go very well together, and combine to produce excellent colour tones and good contrast. Some might not like the blue colour cast apparent in the buildings, but I like how it contrasts with the yellows. You did a good job of merging the 5 shots together, and there are no obvious seams or mask edges anywhere. The water is generally crisp with great reflections. You have proven with this image that you have fairly good post-processing skills.

There are a few primary issues with this image, notwithstanding which it would have scored a good bit higher. First, the clouds are quite blurry from the slow shutter speed and combination of images. These clouds are nice, with good contrast against the sky, and clearer clouds would have resulted in a very crisp shot. Second, there doesn't appear to be much in focus; the distant buildings and the buildings on the right are quite blurry. This might have been fixable with a smaller aperture, but I don't know what your original lighting was like, so that might not have been feasible. Third, many would say this doesn't meet the challenge requirements. Landscapes are natural, whereas almost every aspect of this photo is artificial/man-made. Fourth, the yellow seems to be reflecting off of some surfaces but not others that are at the same angle. This could simply be the scenario, but might indicate a PP error. Whichever one it is, it might have influenced the voting.

Not a bad shot, but you could have scored higher if the image was crisper. Good job.

Regards,
Geoff Ball

Message edited by author 2007-04-30 19:32:07.

Pine Woods, Summer.JPG
by MelonMusketeer

Comment:
Beautiful colour, DOF, and contrast. Also, great job of framing the view into the back.

Bee in blackthorn
by hajeka

Comment:
Hi from the CC,

This image is a great capture of one of nature's most beautiful insects. The colours are beautiful and the whites look white; there's no under or overexposure to be seen anywhere. You've frozen the detail of the bee quite well, although the detail of the wings is lost in that dark portion of the background. Other than the wings, though, the bee is a strong aspect of this shot.

I am absolutely amazed at your depth of field in this shot. How you got this blurred background at f/7.1 is quite a feat, especially considering that the leaves behind the bee look big enough to be quite close. Surprises aside, however, you have blurred what needs to be blurred and focused on exactly what should be in focus (and indeed it is!).

The branch provides a very strong line in this photo. The camera could have been rotated slightly to give a more perpendicular line, but I really don't mind it how it is. If you had done so, that blurred branch in the background would have also served nicely as a dominant horizontal line.

Obviously you couldn't zoom in closer with your prime lens, but I would have suggested getting slightly closer to the action to provide a tighter shot of the bee. If you look at the entries that placed in the top 10 in this challenge, you'll see that all of them fill the frame with the insect. Obviously, nature hardly gives us the time to "fine tune" our shot, so you did a great job of working with what you had to just get the shot.

Overall, a very nice shot with great colour, detail, and depth of field. This image could have been improved by getting a tighter (closer) shot of the bee, getting a better (lighter) background behind the bee to emphasize its detail, and watching your lines (horizontal/vertical and their placement). Since none of these could be achieved based on the nature of the shot and the editing rules for this challenge, all I can really say is great job!

Regards,
Geoff Ball

Message edited by author 2007-04-26 15:13:45.

The Old Stowe
by silverscreen

Comment:
Nice colour and detail.

Why I'm Not Allowed in the Kitchen
by meyers

Comment:
Should that be blood? It's not a very convincing colour.

Interesting take on the challenge. Good detail where it's necessary.

The Knife
by Haneck

Comment:
Nice close-up. Good colour and pretty good contrast.