Graceful Splendor
by anaheimca89

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This shot is asking for my what I like what I don't like format, so here we go...

What I like: I love the overall composition of this shot. The eyes of the statue and the bird are very close to being on the third lines. This naturaly gives a bit of oomph to the shot. Love the fact that you caught the bird on the statue. Was this an accident or were you watching for them? I love the potential lighting of the shot. With a little work in photoshop (and I know you can do this in other programs to but am not sure how) you could really bring out the drama of the shot.

What I don't like: I gotta say first off the tree sucks. I know you caught the bird on the statue, but if you were actually waiting for them, moving a little bit may have made this shot the bomb. This shot is also a bit flat. This is probably because of the camera you have. Good dSLR camera's actually make pictures that don't look as good as cheaper Point and Shoot cameras before you do any processing. You gotta bring out the beauty of your shots. You can do a lot of this with a simple levels adjustment. It's also a little soft. Proper sharpening could probably bring out a lot of detail.

In short, you have a great shot to play with. This is a great place to start. Ask questions in the forums and you will get more information on post processing than I could possibly put in this critique. Can't wait to see more of your work. I'm always amazed by what a young eye sees!

Yours
TC

15--To last minute before the soccer world championship Final
by Rino63

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

First of all, I want to say that this is an incredible shot! I love everything about it. The tonality of this is awesome! You took a very mundane scene and turned it into a photograph! I would even go so far as to say that this reminds me of the work of jjbeguin and that my friend is a compliment.

What I like about this: This is almost all gut feeling because I can not get past the fact that you caught a moment. You have created a documentation of a moment. A very mundane moment that most of us would overlook. This could be looked at as a snapshot turned duotone but I don't see that. I see my mom rubbing her hands with lotion. Is that what you took a photo of? No but that's what I see. And this is the one thing that only the great photographers can do. Take something as simple as painting ones nails and turn it into an emotional attachment to something in the viewers life!

Why didn't this do good here? There are many examples of excellent photos here scoring low. I'm afraid to say that it's because of the challenge-anal voters. You know the ones that look at this shot and say, I'm sorry I see fifteen. I'm afraid to say it's because of the fact that DPC is now so big that many of us don't have time to vote/comment on all the pictures. If your shot doesn't scream the theme so loud your eyes hurt, it won't score so well. I wish this wasn't the case, but it is.

Bottom line. I love the shot and have added it to my personal faves.

Please keep shooting. I can't wait to see what else you do...
Yours
TC

Lamentation in D Minor
by alfresco

Comment:
Not really an abstract, but very nice!
TC

Sprinkleberry
by Jaded_Housewife

Comment:
Not an abstract...
TC

With and Without
by bbright

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

Very nice composition! Different take on the challenge! I like these things. You also got a nice focal point and the shallow DOF works well with the bare flower being slightly out of focus.

This shot however is kinda flat. It just doesn't have any punch. I think that this could be improved by boosting up the saturation a touch. I would also play around with the midtone contrast. This can be done very easily with a curves layer.

Why didn't it score very well? I thing part of it is explained above. The other part is probably because this is a flower challenge and people were expecting to see the actual blooms. This doesn't have any blooms and probably got marked down because of it.

Keep shooting!
Yours
TC

Lion eyes...
by Hawkeye

Comment:
From the Critique Club:

This is a very nice shot from a compositional point of view! I love the way you decided to center it on the eyes! That's a very powerful tool in shots like this.

Now I know that this was a Straight from the Camera challenge, but this could use some very simple improvements as far as camera settings. The first thing I noticed is it is rather un-saturated. I mean the colors are very flat. Your camera SHOULD have a profiles that you can set to increase or decrease the amount of saturation in the shot. You should also find that you can change the amount of in camera sharpening (for jpegs), contrast and hue. Bumping up the sharpness and contrast would also do much for this type of shot.

Your shot is also a little small. There is a tutorial here on the site that will help you maximize the size and filesize of your shots for entering into the challenges.

Hope some of this helps out.
Yours
TC

Nikki1.jpg
by ltlmschrisss

Comment:
I would also crop out the bright object top left. Next time you may wanna use your flash for outdoor shots like this to get a little catchlight in the eyes. Makes them look more alive!
TC

Locking away my emotions behind these ten bars...
by acrotide

Comment:
IMHO a tad too dark but very nice in it's subtlety!
TC

Who Left the Dog Tied to the Back Bumper?
by hyperfocal

Comment:
The title kinda sucks though I like the shot...
TC

Northen Winds
by graphicfunk

Comment:
Looks a little oversharpened and undersaturated... Too bad you are getting the anti-American vote...
TC