My bucolic village
by rhipster

Comment:
Beautiful town, beautiful photo. Like the foreground and the composition. Great.

Real size mirror
by oskar

Comment:
Magnað, sjálfur var ég með mynd af sama vegg í "Where you live" sem lauk á sunnudaginn!. Flott long-exp. mynd fínir litir á mosanum.

Transitions
by garrywhite2

Comment:
Good eye, this shot could be in one of the larger newspapers or newsweek or something. Probably will not score very high here (like the grade stuff at DPC), but it's very good.

Depression
by Mad-D

Comment:
Háskóli �slands, ekki satt? Góð hugmynd, magnað oft að keyra þarna framhjá þegar fólk er að labba fyrir utan skólann og risavaxnir skuggar varpast á húsið. Flott "hue" á þessu, svarthvítt hefði gert hana flatari. Virðist vera pínu barrel distortion út af gleiðlinsunni. Flottur skuggi, hauslaus.

Historical Perspective
by Falc

Comment:
Nice framing (within the shot too). Good shot.

The Strength to Choose; The Power to Kill.
by sevenine0

Comment:
*** Greetings from the Critique Club ***

Hi Cole.

Challenge
I think you have a good shot there, but I don't think it fits the challenge entirely. The title seems to shue-horn the photo into the challenge, and it would not surprise me if you took it for something else. I would not phrase it like it were a strength to choose, would rather say the power to choose (different meaning in my mind at least). In this case it would be strength to be able to avoid the addiction.

Composition
Composition seems pretty basic here, and it works well. Putting the ashtray in front with the egg and the chicken behind it works very nicely for my eyes. This angle works well for this kind of propaganda, it puts the egg "in-your-face" and the chicken behind like it's not thinking about the egg (if you know what I mean...)

Lighting
I think the lighting is excellent in this setting. the egg is well lit and the ashtray and chicken are sufficiently lit, but in a way that makes these elements secondary to the egg (nicely done). Background all-black and totally non-distracting. Good.

Camera work
Excellent work on the camera, I know what it's like to operate this kind of equipment (have a G3 myself) and working in these kind of conditions is not easy at all. I especially noticed how nice your DOF is, all of the ashtray is crystal clear, while the chicken is just perfectly blurred into the background. Excellent work, I thought this was a DSLR shot when I saw it first.

Post-Processing
Not sure what you did in PS (or similar) but it looks unedited and that is always good. You probably had to do something to get the background as black as it is and while keeping the objects right, and you seem to have done very nicely. Would like to see this a bit sharpened, but I'm not sure it would be better, this looks really nice.

Title and Info
Like I said before, the title seems to shue-horn the shot into the challenge, although it has a kind of propaganda ring to it (I am icelandic, english is not my native language like you can see on my spelling ;). Info is not good enough in my opinion, you did not enter the basic info (aperture, iso, shutter) that is very easily available both in camera and in most viewer software. In "Photographer's Comments" I would like to see how your setup was done, how you got the background so nicely black and what you did in post-processing (although it's right, smoking does kill). I always check these things when I'm browsing DPC, it's a great learning tool for me and others.

Overall (my opinion)
Overall, I think it's a very nice shot, but maybe in a wrong challenge, and I think that explains the low score. You obviosly spent a lot of time and effort on this and the outcome is great IMHO. The Beau (?) on the egg might be a tiny bit lower to show the form of the egg, but that's about all I can suggest. You really pulled good work out of your G5, should not let the low score get you down, keep on submitting.

Hope this helps,

Best regards, Tyrkinn

Also in White
by Clarney

Comment:
oh, and I like the dirt spots, they give it a "real" feel.

Also in White
by Clarney

Comment:
*** Greetings from the Critique Club ***

Hi Sean,
Congrats on your first entry, 12th (after DQ's) place isn't bad at all, it's a good shot.

Challenge
This entry fits the challenge perfectly, teken from the inside out and the window frame is a big part of the composition. Generally I am sick of pet shots, but once in a while some good ones drop in and this is one of them, it's got a good feel about it and is nicely done.

Composition
The subject is filling the frame nicely and the frame fills it completely. Two things bother me here:
1. The frame is tilting a bit, the inner lines of the window are not parallel [spelling?...] to the image frame, (could be the angle shot from or tilting camera). This could maybe be fixed in PS by rotating a tiny bit.
2. The top of the window is missing, and thus braking the nice wooden frame, would be nice to see all of it in the shot (might be too tall to include, can't tell)

Lighting
Lighting is excellent! Shooting against windows is always a challenge, but you seem to do it all right. Frame is beautifully exposed and the cat as well, except a tiny piece of fur lit by sunlight (inevitable). Background is non-distracting, dark and nice.

Camera work
You sure seem to know your gear, exp., focus, DOF and everything looks great.

Post-Processing
Post-Processing is great too, image looks "natural" (not much processed) that I think is very important for this type of shot. Cloning done very nicely, can't see any marks. Good job.

Title and Info
Can't say I understand the title, but it sounds o.k. Your info is good, all the essentials (ap/iso/shutter) and the comments explain the setting, and what was done in PS. Everything I need to know to learn from the shot. You are a good exsample on the info.

Overall (my opinion)
Nice shot, technically good and has a nice feel to it, got the challenge just right. Don't care much for cat shots, but the execution of this shot was done so nicely I almost forgot. Cheers, mate.

Hopes this helps in some way, good luck in the future.

Best regards, Tyrkinn

Trees within
by Gaia

Comment:
*** Greetings from the Critique Club ***

Hi Gaia, these are my thoughts on "Trees within":

Challenge
Personally I don't think this does fit the challenge as I understand it. The phrase "The window glass or frame must be included in the photo to make it obvious it's been taken from a window." indicates it should be taken looking out of a window. Your photo doesn't have a window in it, and it looks like you are standing on the outside looking in, but I don't see a window.

Composition
I think the composition is very cluttered and messy and I'm not really sure what the subject is. As I read from our comment, It's an old burned-down barn with trees growing inside of it. I would think that another angle or view could make this shot more interesting. All lines and parts of the barn and trees are set up in a rather confusing way inside the frame. Looking in more from the side or from below could have made more interesting results.

Lighting
Seems like you had a very hard exp. setting on that day, the inside is a bit dark while the front seems nicely exosed and the trees are making nice little shadows on the wood. Again, it's a bit messy.

Camera work
I would like to see your aperture and shutter settings here. The depth of field looks good, enough of the barn and trees are in focus.

Post-Processing
The image gives the feel of a desolate place, colors are very "fall" looking and that fits the subject very nicely. If the trees were blooming I would like to see more color, but this was nicely done.

Title and Info
Title is descriptive, since the subject is rather confusing, good Title. Info on the shot could be better, I would always put in the Aperture and Shutter settings, you can find them in most image software. Your "photographers's comments" are nice, many don't use it at all, but you put in all the most inportant things; Explaining the subject and what you did in PS (or similar software). I would like to see also what lens you used on the 300D.

Overall (my opinion)
For my parts, I don't think the image is terribly interesting, another angle and composition would do better, maybe including surroundings or sky if they look good. The image is messy, taking either a more wide angle shot, or a much closer look could "clean" it up a bit, my eyes don't have any focus point, they wander all around the image. Not bad for a first entry, keep on sending them in, shoot alot, delete what you don't like and give each one some thought.

Hopes this helps in some way, good luck in the future.

Best regards, Tyrkinn

Don't fence me in
by xsnrg

Comment:
*** Greetings from the Critique Club ***

Hi there. A few words on your photo:

Challenge
Submission meets the challenge as the wheels are the dominant factor in the shot. I would have liked to see a little more work on it though to make it more interesting, it's a bit lifeless for my taste.

Composition
This factor is a bit weak I'm affraid, this angle makes the fence look a bit cluttering and uninteresting for my taste. Positioning at a right (90°) angle would be better, the small angle standing a bit nearer the leftmost wheel is a awkward. Better yet, shooting from one side could produce some interesting results. Shooting from the left corner showing both sides of the fence could be nice, or shooting from a few inches away from the fence along with it making the wheels more dominant. Making the cattle more a part of the image could have been good too. In situations like these it's best to use a digicams biggest advantage and shoot a whole bunch of shots from different angles and deleting the less interesting ones. Try everything that falls into mind, often this ends with really good shots that you didn't belive in at first but gives something extra. Crop is rather tight as well, the rightmost wheel is just on the edge and the leftmost one is too tight as well. I would have included either more or less of the sky, often it's better to put the horizon either two-thirds up or down, middle seldom works best.

Lighting
The lighting is smooth, cloudy and even. Your exposure did good (it's often the best weather to shoot outside photos)

Camera work
Very nice, no blurring and the dof is wide enough for this type of shot.

Post-Processing
Image looks little or not processed in Photoshop or similar software, good thing, this type of shot does not need much processing. How ever a few things could be better, working with levels a bit (not too much could boost the rater dull colors up a bit (you can do it more easily with saturation). Sharpening a bit could do good as well.

Title and Info
Title is good, but the info isn't very informative. It's a good rule to always include aperture, ISO and Shutter settings and preferably something about how the shot came about and how it was done in the "comments" area.

Overall (my opinion)
I think you could have made a more interesting shot out of this, it's rather monotone and the composition isn't very striking, needs the so-called wow-factor, something unusual or striking. Your final score indicates though that many people like it, and maybe it's just my taste.

Hope this helps (excuse my english, I'm Icelandic)

Best regards, Tyrkinn