Spoor of the Tooth Fairy
by GeneralE

Comment:
Dang - must be the evil expansionist/imperial tooth fairy, then. The worldwide conglomerate tooth fairy - not happy with the simple process evolved by the traditional tooth fairy over millennia, resorts to morally dubious means, though remaining within the letter of the written law, to drive an increase in turnover in a business beset by improving dental medication and care. Analysts at Thrust Clench and Grasp, city stockbrokers, expressed their approval.

Technically, I think your image could perhaps have benefited from a clearer depiction of location - at this closeness, it isn't really clear what these surfaces are. Control of light could have been better too - the highlights are a touch harsh, and composition is a bit blunt and lacking finesse. But it's a neat twist, all the same. 7

"One bite, and all of your dreams will come true..."
by stupidcat

Comment:
Comes across as twee, contrived, sentimental. Of course it's technically wonderful, compositionally assured, very well lit, etc. etc., but it doesn't do anything for me as photography. Really competent comission work, but lacking any real imaginative fire. I'm sure it will score well however.

The Keeper
by JPR

Comment:
Now then. I like the shot, in a way - certainly admire the technical achievement of it, at least. But I dislike the posed-ness of it, the fabrication of it. Too much to do with fashion photography, the rule of style over content, a kind of contrived moodiness, and perhaps an over-simplification of, well, everything. It wouldn't look out of place as a Prince album-cover, I shouldn't imagine - which is exactly what I think I don't like about it. Probably an 8 for technique (lacking a true touch of the bizarre, that killer composition). Creatively - a 3.

Glorious
by BooZon

Comment:
From an occasional critique clubber ...

Quite why so very many people decided that a Botany challenge should be a Flower challenge defeats me ... but you've nevertheless done an OK job with this. Your notes are useful in telling why it didn't do better, actually - I can't imagine that 'auto' both levels and contrast is really going to give you satisfying texture in your final image - they are processes designed to bring everything to visibility, and real depth of texture and detail in a shot require a great deal more fine-tuning. I would imagine that playing with the other controls in PS would give you some idea of what you might have got out of the shot; certainly in a dpc-friendly sense - the shot needs more sense of drama - more progression of light and shade, more three-dimensionality, than it has.

I also think your sense of composition here is slightly askew - in that this is a very straightforward depiction of the flower. A good look through all the winning shots shows that there is a much more intense focus on shadow work, on a sense of landscape in the shots that have scored well than you have achieved here. Imagine, if you had focussed more clearly on the centre of the flower, and used the outer petals to frame that area, you would have the recognisable subject all the same, but with more immediate photographic impact.

All of which presumes you are aiming simply to score well here, rather than submitting for any other reason.

Outside of dpc-world, there is a feeling of odd light that I like very much in the centre of the flower: the very centre of the stamens seems to glow, and gives the impression of the flower emerging from the light of that area. However, even in this sense, I think you still need a greater sense of light and shade in the image. Along the stems of the petals there doesn't seem to be much graduation between what should have been light areas and should have been dark ones - again, I suspect that this is as much a function of the auto-thing as of your capture of the image. Also, the inclusion of the greenery works against this - making more of the fact that it is simply a flower, rather than of the extraordinary elements at it's centre - and puts the shot into a different category - one that is more of simple illustration. Whilst there is nothing wrong with that, it never seems to do that well here.

It could perhaps have been worked into something that would have scored better, but as it stands, i think if fully deserving of it's 'average' score.

Ed

Around the Bend
by wahsabi

Comment:
I like this as a study for this challenge - much less obvious than most. I think you would need a more ethereal light to make it work well - here there is little magic in the trees, and the very bright light behind them makes the exposure very tricky to control. Perhaps it simply needs editing that isn't allowed for this one :-)

Please Mum ...
by ScantyNebula

Comment:
Wonderfully well done technically, especially for basic editing. Too twee, for me, to be a really exciting image, but it's a good average.

I keep hoping my computer will generate income...
by typologic

Comment:
Like the graininess, not sure about the lens distortion effects - the currve f that top line. Relies on the title quite heavily to explain what this is - not sure I'd have go it without that prompt.

"I Hope He Looks at Me..."
by librodo

Comment:
Good work. Not quite sure about the balance of the tight ccrop on her face and the negative space image left - feels sllightly uncomfortable, but I guess that's not an un-useful effect here. You might have titled it 'I hope he stops following me' and had a more sinister image, which just goes to show the impact of titles I suppose.

Red & White
by dunces

Comment:
Light on the tomato quite appealing, white/grey blur of cloth quite strong compositionally here, though your positioning of eleents within your chosen crop is a little odd - that vertical grey area image left is strongly placed, and draws the eye quite strongly for a figurative image. It's also prettty small, which hides a great deal of detail for me.

A rose with two-lips
by parrothead

Comment:
Not at all a bad attempt at a very design-lead stylish image. I think, however, that such very stylised photography requires a bit more PS work to really give it some pop - or a bitt more set-up care. Problems for me are an overall graininess of feel, a sense of wrong colouration on the chin (from those small hairs, and easily fixable I'd have thought), the white marks on the rose, and a feeling of congestion within the image which comes from cropping so very close to the subjects - the rose and the lips. It feels a little lke standing too close to a wall - there is no spcae for the eye to circulate around the image. It has the beginnings of an intersting idea however, certainly - just perhaps needs a bit more definition in terms of light and shape. 6