morning's pastel damsel
by skewsme

Comment:
Beautiful photo. But this could be any time of the day, couldn't it?

Provincetown Pier
by middleway

Comment:
Excellent composition. The leadling lines from the pier give this photo a strong perspective. A great score for your very first DPC submission! Keep up the great work and we hope to see lots more of you here in the Challenges.

Vampiers Cocktail
by eransh10

Comment:
Might have been more powerful with only the glasses. Nice photo.

Spires, Clocks and Windows
by abroken1

Comment:
Beautiful shot but not sure of the relevance to challenge.

my bulldog puppy
by jamesfrater

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

Very creative photo. Expression is good, exposure is good.

Composition: this is where you could have scored better. As your commentors have mentioned, the foreground detracts from the image. I would remove all of the out of focus foreground and leave enough of the rug to frame his face.

The image as a whole needs some sharpening. I would start with the face and allow the focus to go towards his face by making it sharper in contrast to the out of focus background. This will allow his face to pop a bit more and stand out.

Might even desat the brown in the background a bit so it does not detract from that face. Use of levels and brite/contrast on face only would help as well

Great submission, Keep up the good work.

alexzen

Dreaming of Spring
by jpochard

Comment:
Great potential in this photo. But the first two things I notice is that shallow DOF works against it because there is no real clear focus of attention where the sharp focus would normally be. The three flowers in th background are very good and somewhat abstract. But in order to pull that off I think you might need to get that foreground flower out of the shadows and into sharper focus. If you selected out that front flow and used levels, maybe curves, sharpening and color brightening, I think this photo would have scored better.

Ttere is no real main focus and to the degree to which the front flower is the focus that flower really needs to highlighted.

Very creative.

zlexzen

Agouti Gerbil
by kashi

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Great photo. Beautiful tones and colors. Nicely in focus. And a surprise to see such a small creature so up close.

Darkness. My very first impression was that it was too dark. I think boosting the levels - selectively if necessary to preserve the black background - would have helped your score quite a bit. There is allot of beautiful tone and texture in the brown fur and whiskers and boosting the levels would allow these to 'pop'.

Composition. That big black eyeball is great. But it is almost centered. A different crop that put that eye on the thirds line would make this stronger. Probably cropping from the top and cropping from the left so you preserve those great whiskers. If you could get those whiskers to really jump out, you would have a very strong photo.

alexzen

Dyson lurking
by SoulMan1978

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Nice job and good subject.

Composition. The composition is good as the lines move diagonally across the frame. Eyes are on the thirds line.

Pretty good job of avoiding the glare from the tank. The shallow depth of field means that much of the photo is not in focus, but that does put the attention on the face. This scored a 5.5. A few things in post processing might have helped the score: Perhaps desaturate the intense green in the upper left hand corner since it detracts a bit. Some saturation of the purples could help. And some selective sharpening of the foreground - in particular the eyes. Probably sharpening is the most critical.

Great job.

alexzen

A Puppy's Heart In an Old Dog's Body
by Scoman

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Wonderful photo. You really captured the essence of Goldens. That keen attention - probably a ball or a stick?

Composition: Well composed. The eyes are on the upper thirds line. I like the fact that he is turning and you can see his out of focus body in the background giving the photo some movement and emotion. The only thing that bothers me a little is the crop at the top. That crop only leaves a tiny bit out. I would suggest either cropping tighter or looser. That little bit missing detracts a little.

Good depth of field keeping the attention on the face.

This is a photo to be proud of.

In regards to post processing some suggestions might be to desaturate the green in the upper right just a little so it does distract from the main subject. And the image, in particular the face, nose and whiskers, could use some sharpening. There is a fabulous line that draws me from his eyes down to his nose, but at the nose it is not quite as sharp. Sharpening would also help the face stand out more against the blurred background.

Very nice job. Keep up the good work. I would have given this at least a 6.

alexzen

After work
by puzzled

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Absolutely wonderful. This is a very successful photo. This really stands out amongst all of the other dog images in this challenge.

Composition: I like the composition alot. The movement of the tie flowing to the foreground gives this photo a lot more depth and saves it from being just another portrait.

Lighting: Perfect. You did a very nice job with balancing the lighting and creating nice soft shadows that really support and enhance this photo. I think the background is as strong as the subject.

Thank you for the subtle border. Just enough. Only thing that I think detracts is the fact that her eyes are not as visible as I would want them to be. But that is the hair cut.

Great job.

alexzen