Hiding from the enemies
by onar

Comment:
If you would have cropped off the left half of the image and a little at the top (get rid of the non-green area), I could have given this a solid 7 score. As is, the composition is weakened by the many distractions like the bright spots and the water drops. Cropping would also have given you a lot more room to manipulate the contrast in post processing.

From Days Gone By
by J-Me

Comment:
I love the total subject matter and the post processing; however, the pot appears to be the strongest subject in the photo to me and it doesn't match the background color very well. I also find the extra space on the right side of the image makes the composition look a bit unbalanced. I realize some of it is due to the foliage hanging over the side of the chair but a bit more space on the left would have provided better balance.

Simple Comforts
by sir_bazz

Comment:
You didn't lose a step during your short sabbatical. I didn’t look at this challenge during the voting, so it was a pleasant surprise seeing your beautiful daughter with a blue ribbon. Congratulations!

Tim

Kiss
by sir_bazz

Comment:
Can't vote on this one but I love this image Bazz.

Beautiful forever
by choppers

Comment:
I liked this image when I voted on it (see previous comment) and I like seeing it on the front page. Nicely done and congratulations.

Tim

Web of Pearls
by eyeduphotos

Comment:
Congratulations on winning the blue. Wonderful composition and the lighting gives it an early morning feel to it.

Tim

Message edited by author 2007-12-28 15:24:33.

elliptical
by atupdate

Comment:
Thanks everyone for kind words and the votes. It figures, the one time I forget to put my processing steps in the comment section and I ribbon. Here are the steps I used.

1. Convert from raw using Raw Shooters Essentials
Exposure Comp [+1.23]
Highlight Contrast [22]

2. Post process with Paint Shop Pro X
One step noise reduction
Clarify [+20]
USM [radius 50 - strength 15 - clip 3]
USM [radius 0.3 - strength 300 - clip 3]
Levels [input 0-.94-255 / output 0-241]
Curve - slight S curve to set black point
Resize
USM [radius 50 - strength 15 - clip 3]
USM [radius 0.3 - strength 300 - clip 3]

The HDR effect came from the very strong clarify action. On most images, using clarify over a strength of 7 or 8 will provide nasty over processing artifacts. The max setting of 20 seemed to work well for this image.

Tim

2008 AWD Cadillac CTS : Defy the Elements
by RulerZigzag

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club:

Since I couldn’t vote in this challenge, this is the first time I’ve had a chance to look at your image. My first impression of this image was “Nice shot”. You went with the traditional low perspective/wide angle look used in car ads and it worked well in this image. For me, the crop is a little tight in this image and from reading your notes, I understand why. You received a lot of good comments during the challenge that point out the little things that kept this image from scoring in the 6’s. Since this wasn’t your car, there wasn’t much you could do with the car to give it that polished car ad feel. Keep shooting and good luck in future challenges.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique.

Tim

Ferrari: buy your dream!
by Rino63

Comment:
Hello from the Critique Club:

Since I couldn’t vote in this challenge, this is the first time I’ve had a chance to look at your image. My first impression of this image was “I wonder how he did that”. I think this image is very well done and there is nothing technically that I can suggest for improvement. So if this image is so well done, why did it only score a 5.1? I believe that the voters were expecting to see real cars in this challenge and your score suffered for using a toy. I think your image is underrated and easily deserves to be a 6+ score in my opinion. Keep shooting and good luck in future challenges.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this critique.

Tim

Peaceful Night in the City
by hotpasta

Comment:
Back to comment: The best skyline image in the challenge. It looks like the color version of hotpasta's November Free Study image. I like this a whole lot better. Giving it a bump to a 9.