You Can Lead a Horse to Water.....
by vtruan

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

Great challenge concept, this is a very unique idea.

I like the poses of all three horses (individually), but they don’t seem to work together visually. To my eye, the image is quite busy. I feel that one or even two horses would have made a great subject, but three seems a bit like visual overkill.

The composition of this photo feels a touch claustrophobic to me, as if the right side of the shot was cropped a bit too tightly. I feel that more room on the right would help open this shot up and give it a touch more visual stability.

Black and white was an ok choice for this, but I wonder what the color image looked like. Like someone mentioned previously, the horse in the foreground seems a bit overexposed and its color is probably fairly washed out. Did you try shooting this with a faster shutter speed or smaller aperture?

I hope this helps,
Quadrajet

Six of One, Half-Dozen of the Other (or Am I Comparing Apples and Oranges?)
by TooCool

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

Excellent idea for this challenge, it really works well.

The lighting on this shot very soft, exactly what a person needs when shooting fruit like this. The thing that I find missing with the lighting is depth. The top and front of the fruit is illuminated perfectly; but, for food images such as this one, I find that lighting from above and slightly behind helps to add more dimension to round fruits. Lighting from above and slightly behind keeps the hot spots (not that yours are bad) to a minimum and gives the bottom of the fruit a bit of light causing a slight silhouette effect. I suggest playing around with it (if you want to) and you’ll see what I mean.

The composition is pretty straightforward. I don’t know what you could have done to improve it, but it leaves me a bit flat.

I hope this helps,
Quadrajet

Time to Pay the Piper
by StevePax

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

I like this idea for the challenge. My thought on the subject is…it doesn’t necessarily convey the idea of actually “paying” the piper. Maybe for this, a “tip jar” in front of him or maybe him looking at the camera, holding his hand out would help convey “paying” a bit better. Then again maybe I'm just being one of those "rule mongers" :). Of course either of these ideas would entail you interrupting his playing and possibly the whole event, so I suppose they aren’t viable options. I think you did well with what you had to work with.

Your exposure looks very good, considering the sky looks pretty overcast, unfortunately this results in fairly flat lighting (as was mentioned below). About the only thing that I can think of that could help in this situation would be a polarizing filter or an off camera flash illuminating him a bit from the left.

As far as composition goes, I like that you included the microphone stand in the shot. I have to say that the camera angle (height) is rather ordinary and doesn’t help give the subject an “interesting” look. Getting a bit lower (possibly just below eye level) might help make this shot more dynamic and the subject more interesting.

I feel I should mention the background. The background is almost an image in itself, and although that isn’t a bad thing, the subject is the piper. To my eye, the pier, sand and buildings detract from the shot. Not only do they add more for us to look at, they visually intersect his head. A different take on this shot may have been to shoot the piper from the same angle, but from the other side, with the water/sky as a backdrop. This could help keep him as the focus of the image as well as making him stand out even more than he does here.

I hope this helps,
Quadrajet

Look for the fork in the road!
by Coley

Comment:
I really like the starkness of this shot. The vertical format works very well, as does the idea behind the image. Excellent fit to a great shot!

The Holy Temple
by pncowley

Comment:
Greetings, from the Critique Club.

This image has an elegance to it that doesn’t immediately jump out at the viewer. A person has to actually LOOK at this shot to appreciate the delicate balance between light, aperture and shutter speed.

I like how the bell towers/steeples stand out against the night sky…also the tree silhouetted against the light on the building is a very subtle touch. The visual flow of this shot is great. My eye starts with the tree on the right…goes up to the steeple and follows the roofline to the other steeple…then down the back of the building. By the way, great job of handholding this shot, the lack of sharpness doesn’t bother me a bit.

I think your exposure is almost perfect; although, I feel there are a couple of overexposed points in the bell towers/steeples and the darkness/blacks are a touch grey. Of course, if you were to stop down any more, you’d lose the details in the building, so yup…there’s some give and take with a shot like this. Another thing to note…I have my monitor set a touch bright in order to see details in images with a lot of darkness, this may have something to do with how I’m seeing your shot.

I hope this helps,
Quadrajet

The Color Purple
by hopper

Comment:
I think this is an amazing image. The shape of the sculpture, the shape of the trees...the colors in the sky and the trees. The lighting, composition...I can't say enough good things about this image.

Into my favorites it goes.

Country Livin'
by Spanish_Grease

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club:

Well I was given your image to critique and I have to say that I’m very happy about that. I recall seeing your image in the still life competition and thought that it should finish in the top 10. I was disappointed to see it way down in 73rd.

There are quite a few things I like about this image. First of all, the character of the plate, spoon and milk bottle all strike me as very rural, just like one might find on a farm. Of course the title “Country Livin’ “ didn’t hurt to perpetuate the image.

The next thing that attracted my attention was the interesting composition of the spoon, bottle and plate. I immediately looked at the spoon silhouetted against the bottle, then followed it up to the plate, then around to the apples. I found your image to be very visually stimulating.

I do have to admit that the lighting is abit dim, but it reminds me of evening time on the farm, with the last bit of sunlight glinting through the window. It really sets a mood for the photo.

I didn’t know exactly what to think about the apples. They look nice there, but imho, they don’t quite fit in with the inorganic feel of the spoon, plate and bottle. What could replace them? Who knows, but what I do know is…I like this shot! I gave you an 8.

Don't Put All Your Egg in One Basket
by SharonS

Comment:
I find this composition and the simplicity of the subject fascinating. The lack of color lends this image well to black and white, great choice. The faint reflection works well because it doesn't draw away from the subject, but enhances it. Excellent shot!

To spike a drink
by kosmikkreeper

Comment:
This is a truly amazing shot. Excellent tie in with the literalisim you've chosen as well. The Sepia tone works perfectly, in my opinion, because color would add another dimension to this image...and it doesn't need that. All color would do is draw away from the amazing subject. I feel the depth of field is perfect for this image and the clarity is awesome.

This is a great shot and deserves a ribbon, no question.

Wine is A Gracious Creature
by vrphotos

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

I have to say that this shot was one of my favorites…a classic still life image. There’s obviously a lot of attention to detail in this image, from the beautiful rich, burgundy background to the (what appears to be) authentic wine cask the subjects are sitting on. The highlights in the stem of the glass are wonderful, they make it stand out so strongly against the dark background.

The only thing I could possibly critique in this shot is the fact that the highlights on the bottle and glass seem ever so slightly hot, but not to the point of being blown out. I realize that when dealing with glass, slight hotspots are impossible to overcome but that’s about all I can see that is remotely distracting (to me). Some may feel the corkscrew shouldn’t be cropped, but I feel it works well as it is.

This is a fantastic shot that in my opinion, deserved a higher placing.