lonely road
by sweetnsourgeoff

Comment:
From the Critique Club

I liked this shot during the challenge for the composition! You have a couple of good and bad issues to address here.

Good points: Original take on challenge always gets a little bonus in my book! I like how the vehicle is in the shot, even a prominent part of the shot, but still doesn't seem to be the subject of the shot! You did a good job of taking the shot and not being in it! This can be tricky when dealing with any reflective surfaces! (In my first macro shot I gave up and made myself part OF the photo!)

Bad points: This is very noisy which to me means not enough light! This added to the odd tonality leads me to believe that you shot this through the tinted windows. If this is the case, opening the window or playing around with the levels in Photoshop should help. As a whole the shot doesn't have much staying power. I attribute this to the composition. While an interesting angle, this alone isn't enough to keep attention! I think a different crop (not so tight) would help! Also, now I'm being a little nit picky, but this was in effect a set up shot. You had almost total control over all elements. Given a choice the driver side mirror would probably have made for a better overall affect! You wouldn't have the lettering or other markings on the mirror itself or the distortion of the reflection.

This is a good example of a photo that you can turn into a study. Play around with it in different locals, different times of day (lighting) and from slightly different angles to see what different 'feelings' you can get from the shot! If you get some good ones, you can post the here for us to see!
TC

"ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE"
by dtouch1

Comment:
From the Critique Club

This is a wonderfully original and seasonal take on the challenge.

Good points: See my first statement! Also the tonality here is very nice. Like the gold/train/pastel colors! Compositionally it's an interesting subject with neat framing.

Bad points: There doesn't really seem to be a focal point here. The whole shot is slightly OOF. There is also alot of noise in most of the shot probably because of the low light situation. The black portion doesn't really seem to fit with the rest of the shot. I also think that the train needs to be a more prominent part of the shot. This would help to focus the eye and give more emphasis to the wonderful perspective lines of the track!

My best suggestion is to pump up the light, play around with moving the train around a bit to find the best composition and keep shooting! If you can do a reshoot of this shot (I know the scene is kind of seasonal...) I would LOVE to see it!
TC

Break Out
by Gracious

Comment:
Ya know what, I really like this one. It's by far not perfect, but the most original of all I've seen yet and I respect that!
Good luck
TC

Small Barn by tree
by Shannon

Comment:
This is an awesome perspective shot! I love the bigness and bareness of the tree compared to the smallness of the barn!
TC

Mountain of Corn
by Shannon

Comment:
I like the 'bigness' of this shot. You chose a very nice DOF for this!
TC

Waiting
by Shannon

Comment:
My only complaint about this shot is that you cut the guy in half with the trash can...
TC

I see You Too!
by vtruan

Comment:
From the Critique Club

This is a nice shot for the challenge. I don't recall seeing any others close to this subject which gets a bonus from me for originality!

This shot is framed and composed nicely! I like the angular lines infered by the boy and the penguin looking at each other! From a compositional POV there is an object (another penguin?) in the background on the right that is a little distracting. I don't know with all the patterns in the water if you could clone this out or not... There is a bit of noise here, but I don't think it really detracts from the shot. I'm not sure that I like the choice of B/W for this though. I am a color freak and in this shot I think that the colors and tones from the light coming through the water would add to the feeling of the shot!

Nice shot overall.
TC

Antique Whiskers
by LucidLotus

Comment:
This would have had more appeal to me without the cobwebs.... Nice compostion, focus, choice of tones, but the webs ruin it for me.
TC

Transporting Heavy Loads
by HRoxas

Comment:
Congrats on your first ribbon. This was definately one of my favorites!
TC

Snow Line
by banmorn

Comment:
Very nice composition and choice of B/W here. It's a little noisy, but that works well here IMHO. It does look a little crooked, but that just may be the perspective. The only thing I might have tried different was shooting from a lower angle to get a different feel...
TC