the hangout
by grahamgator

Comment:
Extremely difficult.. Focusing so good

Grandeur
by Dudski

Comment:
Wow. Lovely setting and would love to see this place for real. Some minor nitty things as far as comp goes but this image has so much going for it. My personal take would be for this to be in B&W.. What beauty lies hidden in those tones

Into Thin Air
by Chandi

Comment:
What a powerful statement this makes in it's simplicity by way of good composing and lines. Im biased towards anything that resembles a rock or mountain.. lol. Love this

Who's Ned Kelly?
by Alex_Petrini

Comment:
Wow.. All i have to say Alex!. Captivating Portrait

Taming the Dragon
by HarveyG

Comment:
Wel.. ek dink jy het hom gemis omdat jy nie die oorspronklike ingeskryf het nie.. baie geluk Harvey. Eish.. One day

forget me not
by ubique

Comment:
Is this even supposed to happen to you? A ribbon in a Free Study to a non conformist.. Oh wait.. you did shoot it with your Cell phone.. It may. Congrats Paul! PS.. I dont think anybody at DPC could forget you

Homeward Bound
by Cuttooth

Comment:
Good Golly.. I think I'm going to sell my SLR and Upgrade my phone!. Yes you can see this image has been worked but This is just splendid. Well done on the Blue

Against-the-Flow
by Pangurban

Comment:
Greetings from the Crit club

First off... what a great shot.The angle works wonderful and there is a story in this image. The white swan with the black water makes this excellent for B&W and also in this regard you have chosen wise to go with this processing. You mention difficult light conditions and also the subject here being white would have made even worse.
Risky with the 1/15th and I notice with your outtake movement very noticeable and having things work out on this one with hardly any movement visible is great.... yet where it counts in the water it has movement.. giving further dynamics to the image. Comp works well and placed perfectly.

Unfortunately the image did not score very well in the challenge and understandably so as the main subject here is the swan with the water playing a secondary role. Your title supports the water theme slightly but viewers are less concerned with this. I suspect that's the main reason why this image suffered under the hands of voters

It's advanced editing and I would have cloned out the beard growing from under the birds neck - the twigs. There is a slight hot spot on the back of the swan losing detail in feathers but Im not to concerned about that.
All in all a really nice shot and well done photographically speaking.

Regards
Rian Botes

A pair
by KMcC

Comment:
From the Critique club

I think that pretty much of what has been said in the comments is true. Unusual perspective with the mirror image giving it a spin that has you look again and trace the lines of the pear back and forth.
Food in B&W is a tough one crack and as food needs to look appealing and tasteful, one has to draw more from an artistic angle to make this work. The black spot on this pear does not do your image any favours. I do feel that it would have done much better otherwise without this black spot. The focus is one of subjectivity. some would argue they love the softness on places and others would prefer sharpness throughout - at least on the pear itself and this will be of lesser importance on the reflection. Soft focus could be used more effectively in this image but the angle you shot from makes this extremely difficult to create the right mood and feel needed for it. SO... sharpness is needed on the pear in total..without a blemish.

Regards
Rian

when cookies are not enough
by posthumous

Comment:
From the Crit club

Something really different for the right angle challenge but it is no less applicable and suitable for the challenge. I like that

High on the cute factor for this shot and it does help to carry the image further on the voting scale and getting some feedback and comments. Huge gap on voting scale between people commenting and those just voting.

Processing works well and the B&W suits this. Comp does help the right angle theme as well though it could have been further strengthened to have your line flush with the couch at the bottom.
Some basic drawbacks on this image is the lack of sharpness where it counts. You have a crisp pillow but the dogs are O.O.F fist noticeable on the eyes which is where the cute factor lies..
D.O.F at 3.5 is not that great further not helping to get more in focus. Maybe a bigger F stop number would have helped here and with little light, push the iso up. I realise a 40d does not have that much noise control but this is an image that could even do with some grain.. but it needs to be sharp. (as contradictory as that may seem to some degree :)
some may complain about the folds in the material? In general it makes this scene more homely and natural.. yet for the theme being right angles those curves softened the angle effect for me - especially those in the background.

Keep thinking out of the box as this was a fresh scene in the challenge.