Need laundry
by russi

Comment:
Love the depth of field, but am unconvinced by your cropping: I would personally have framed things so that the focussed pegs were bottom left, and the unfocussed set top right - this way, there's a negative space below the focussed set that pulls the eye - as though there should be some illuminating element there, only there isn't anything beyond the blur of the doorway. I think perhaps you've only thought about the thirds rule in the horizontal axis - but it functions vertically too :-)

Fun On A Cloudy Day
by simbamba

Comment:
Something about the extreme sharpness of those edges speaks of an edited high-key exclusion of background, rather than a simple effect of exposure - and gives it an edited unreality that runs against the suggestion of spontaneity in the image itself. I don't like that effect, personally, though its very competently executed.

Tonawanda: Gateway to the Erie Canal
by lwkimages

Comment:
I think I'd personally have coloured it all in, rather than leaving the land in monochrome. There is some appeal for me in the effect, probably especially in the shade of red you've chosen ... but perhaps (and I'm searching for the right words to express my feelings about it here) it's rather more about the effect than the photograph.

Delta Bessborough
by leaf

Comment:
Lacks the depth of detail for a really fine shot, and perhaps also the contrast is overly heavy - shadow detail is missing, and highlights somewhat blown out. There's a feeling too of being overly warm coloured - like you haven't coped with the white balance required, like there may be more variety of colour in the light than you've captured, which might have added some depth of interest to the shot.

Schaumburg
by pitsaman

Comment:
whoa ... bring me salt now, before the sacharrine natue of this overwhelms me! Unbelieveably tweee and manufactured suburban scene - perhsp even the perfect definition of the concept. Wonderful evocation of thhe dreaful control of that environment though, the throttling of anything that ight subvert the control, even to the point of ensuring all the flowers grow in similar-coloured groups :-) The suggestion of perfect manicuring of the lawns, and you just know there isn't going to be a single mark on those cars :-) What a peculiar place ... and I really quite enjoy the threatening and awe-inspiring atmosphere of this shot.

Oak Bay, British Columbia
by ccraft

Comment:
Yeah, guide-book photography for sure. I guess in that sense you meet the challenge absolutely. And yet I can't help but be influnenced by the shots I've seen previous to this - those are the perils of being voted on in this manner. Somehow, that foreground golf course is an invidious element. nature tamed. the shot sets out to propose a life on the edge of the wilderness (that wonderful haze across the feet of the mountains, and the cragginess of them, and the bleakness of the show and sharp promontories there), and yet the hugely boring and suburban manicuring of a golf-course alonside it seems here to provide only a comment on man's inability to leave well alone, these days. Perhaps that is only the modern connotations of golf, child of the television that it is, and far removed from the battle against the elements that were its foundations ... but it certainly undermines the suggestion of loneliness of this scene at first view.

Unlimited Recreation "The Treasure Coast"
by Gracious

Comment:
Bloody tame herons, huh? There's an element of conspicuous comsumption to this shot that seems let down by it's saturated colour and composition. It's like a shot of a magazine-based idyllic lifestyle ... the boat, the weather, the fishing, and hell, even the wildlife will pose for your camera :-) Of course, there are other stories, but this is what I'm seeing ... the bird adds a sense, from another view, of contrast between the leisure lifestyle (no doubt expensively provided), and the on-going battles and chores of the natural world - though so far muted by the lens of 'cost' as to be even itself prettily toned to match the landscape. In that sense, quite an embittered photograph ... but also, perhaps, a naive one.

1st and Oak
by undieyatch

Comment:
First reaction: so what. second reaction - whoa, what's going on here? And then, on further looking, it starts to really fascinate. The progression og blues image right, and the interruption of the pipes there, and of course the contrast of the mural and the reality (so ordinarily photographed, emphasises that humdrum nature). Parallels of the real and the painted lamp=posts and telegraph pole, and that the painted pole seems to hold the real wire, just to blur that line of connection a touch more. The light on the wet road. The parallel perspective of the real and the painted buildings. The stop sign absolutely at the intersection of the imaginary and the real ... subtle, unassuming and wonderful photography. I fear very greatly that few voters will look deeply enough at this, however. But hell, I like it, so there.

Rocklin...
by scwortman

Comment:
Oh man I'd have made a bit more of the parallels of the barrier and the roadway ... perhaps justnshot a little lower, just to bring the barrier a little more strongly into frame. Great idea though, and good solid shooting. Given the high-key landscape shot it calls out for a graduated filter, just to calm the exposure of the clouds, but that's your won choice: I just think it would accentuate the graphic elements of the composition a touch more. Neat idea though, and good shot.

Spring, Philadelphia
by banmorn

Comment:
Not a bad shot at all - folows all the rules, really, and is 'properly exposed and focussed. It's just that ... well, that's all there is to it, really. Textures are a bit muted, but then that was inevitable when shooting for exposure as this seems t have been. Nothing much to criticise though, but also nothing uch to grab the attention.