Celestial Painting
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that meets contributes to the open challenge well

A lovely golden hour seascape Janine. Though the sky and the foreground beach have some interest it is difficult to favour one over the other for compositional purposes which may be the reason it didn’t score higher. In this situation I will usually try and emphasise one over the other and more often than not I will choose the foreground, in this sort of situation I think this would have improved it and your result here but we will never know. Anyway, lovely image thanks for sharing.

Baby Gator
by Phocal

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An excellent image that meets the challenge well

Exquisitely done Ronnie! Yet again you are able to keep pushing the boundaries, another very striking ‘gator, with that amazing eye staring at you, while at the same time reflecting the world around him. The shallow DOF works well emphasising that eye even more but what I like most is the mono processing this makes the end result even more focused. The content while striking is also quite minimal and fulfils the challenge brief, good score and position well done Ronnie

60 Watt Idea
by jbirkman

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An excellent image that meets the challenge well

Watt (sorry, just couldn’t resist!) a lovely simple concept, it really is true the simpler the image the more effective it is and this certainly is very effective. You’ve handled the lighting well, it’s inevitable given the nature of the subject you are going to get some unwanted reflections but these are minimal to the overall end result. The mono processing is good with a broad range of distinctive and subtle tones throughout. It would be difficult to improve on what you have so well done Joe for a great image, score and result.

Unzipped
by clickodak

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An excellent image that meets the challenge well

Nice one Marcel. Well done for creating a true macro, something that seems to have been sidelined by a lot of the entries here. I like your composition it works well, I like the soft focus curve of the foreground cloth and the way it leads you into the zipper itself. Your focus point is accurately placed exactly where it needs to be which makes it work even better with the very shallow DOF you have here. I think you’ve done a very good job here Marcel, had the voting reflected the challenge itself more closely then you would have been in the ribbons but anyway, its still a respectable score and placing, well done.

Said the Spider to the Mosquito
by Phocal

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An excellent image that contributes well to the challenge

A great shot Ronnie, made even better with the quality of the light and the composition. You have done well to include the poor mosquito with the spider it completes the image. As for your self-criticism about DOF I can see your point but it is not a major issue because the rest of it so good. I like the way the light catches the web and the detail of the spider. I am not convinced that this is true macro but the voters here seem to have favoured close up images so well done with your blue.

princess butter lettuce
by tanguera

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that contributes well to the extended challenge

What a lovely, creative and original idea. I can imagine this must have been one hard image to get together in a convincing way but that is exactly what you have achieved it does look really convincing. Altough it's a tad soft at the front it is not at all detrimental to the end result. The lighting, her pose everything just comes together lovely, well done. A well deserved high score that in any other challenge would have won outright, well done Johanna

Curious
by Phocal

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that contributes well to the extended challenge

Another great image Ronnie, great viewpoint. I love the shape of the alligator as it swims towards you, however, the distinct ripple in front of it is rather distracting which is unfortunate given such a lovely image as you have here. The shape on the right of the frame is especially detrimental to the overall result. I love the colours and distortions on the water surface, this together with the alligators features are tantalising. Good luck with your ambitious challenge, I'm confident you will get there…!

I'm To Sexy For My Shirt
by Phocal

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well

The stark high contrast between the bird and the white background is very effective indeed. The tones and detail in the feathers is beautiful and this is what gives the image its impact. So was the original background snow and the processing has pushed it to this pure plain white backdrop? My only minor point is that I may have been tempted to clone out those small white spots on his neck just to complete the birds perfection. Nice one Ronnie.

Snow Fall
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well

Nice one, this has instant impact Janine. I love the stark graphic quality of this it hits you as soon as you see it. The perspective and composition is good too. The limited tones are what makes this work so well it is very graphic, the distant delicate grey veins of the twigs are a great backdrop to the well defined shapes of the trunks, well seen and executed.

First Light
by Ja-9

Comment:
Hello from the critique club

An appealing image that meets the challenge well

Well congratulations Janine for first place, your ribbon and a thoroughly deserved high score. Your image is really something special and a very fitting tribute to an excellent landscape photographer. The choice of a low viewpoint and technical accuracy has given the image a remarkable depth of field which draws you into the scene as a whole, it works well. The snows, the sky and the rugged mountains are all a treat and the panorama crop adds to it all, an excellent result well done Janine.