Silver with Petals
by cosmichaiku

Comment:
Whilst I guess a 6 is a pretty good score, I really think you've been hard done by with this result: such is the way sometimes.

Ed

Going Up?
by dsidwell

Comment:
Now that's a low score for a blue - bet you're surprised to see this. Excellent work - and the best kind of revenge on the loony security guards :-) congratulations.

Silver with Petals
by cosmichaiku

Comment:
Would love to know how this is lit - my guess would be a single overhead softlight - well maybe a touch behind the subject, though it could also be a window without direct light in a darkened room I suppose. Caught the texture fabulously, and the number of contrasts with those petals is amazing. I think I\'d have kept all of each petal in the shot though - I\'ve no problems with the frame being out of it, but the petals on the edge make it look like the final crop wasn\'t in the original plan.

Top work though, despite those minor niggles.

Ok - on final review, you win - the only ten i give this challenge.

Catch the rays
by agwright

Comment:
Fabulous quality here - and great texture - can almost feel the fur of the cat. There's real transparency to this, as though nothing has got in the way of your vision.

Obscured Perspective
by ellamay

Comment:
Like this very much - would love to see more detail around the porthole (I guess it is). I get the string impression she can't actually see through there at all well, makes for an interesting image - like a girl in a bubble.

Fancy's Wish
by patriciabrown2001

Comment:
Whoa - this is a most creepy photograph - I think it's the hair, and the chipped paint on the face, but it gave me a shiver when i saw it.

A Mother's Love
by BobsterLobster

Comment:
Given the challenge, this ought actually to be a very creepy photograph: inside what? My presumption being that the photographer is hiding somehow, or concealed, and therefore elements of stalking, and kidnapping and murder are brought to the image. Especially creepy given the over-romantic treatment of the scene. However ...

I think I'm bringing that to this shot, rather than being shown it: some suggestion of a window or of concealment would have helped, maybe. Otherwise it's just a good portrait scene - no, a very very good one - that seems to have been shoehorned into this challenge. You're still getting a seven though, as it's a wonderful portrait - worthy of the Agfa competition I'd have thought - which is a mark I never give to non-challenge-meeting shots.

Work In Progress
by The Peaceful Warrior

Comment:
no

Meat
by hortopth

Comment:
Hi from the critique club Tom.

The two problems that immediately strike me you've addressed already in your comments, so i think I'll say nothing about the angle and the glares. Not really sure that it is so very over-exposed though: I like that I can still see detail in the shaded areas - it keeps the level of business throughout the shot more consistent.

I'm intrigued as to why almost all your shots are b/w though. I'd have thought that the colour range in this shot would be really interesting - reds, browns, pinks and they'd help differentiate all the different items a little.

Good work though: I've been taking shots a little like this myself, of shop fronts and the like around here in London, precisely because of this kind of look. As to the score: given those issues with the angle, I think you scored reasonably - for so many voters 5 is an average vote, and to score above that is OK.

ed

Backyard Buddy
by karmat

Comment:
hello from CC world Karma

Well, I guess this got pretty thoroughly talked about in the forums, so i don't know that I have much to add to my thoughts as expressed then.

Two things I will put here though, more relative to the reason it scored as it did rather than your photography - I'm sure you got the shot you wanted, and technically there's nothing to criticise.

Firstly i think it was unclear what the hell this was: some of the comments show that, and I had the same reaction - is this some kind off cuddly toy? So i think you perhaps needed to crop it less closely, or show more of it.

Secondly, location: it could really be anywhere, couldn't it? I'd have tried to include something that clearly placed it in a garden, as i think that is required by the challenge.

If you could have achieved both those things and still kept the detail of the furriness of it I think you'd have had a winner.

Good luck

Ed