Beware of the monster
by Djabordjabor

Comment:
The focus is on the wall, not on the people. It does look like you all had a lot of fun shooting this.

Forgotten Old Home
by biggis

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: The photo looks washed out. The lighting is too harsh, and it does not appear that the time of the day and/or your position were conducive to producing a good shot.

After looking over the details and other comments etc:

This scored lower than I would expect it to score. I would have expected this to be slightly above 5. However, why didn't it fare better? First of, in this challenge you should have known that there will be 90% of buildings, and this one is just that - a building. From your own comment, this must have a special place with you, as it is obviously something that you would capture, DPC or no DPC. However, the DPC voters do not know that, and our subjective views usually get trashed by DPC vote, if we were lulled into believing that others will see it the same way.

Hope this helps!

-Serge

reflections of the past
by Rikki

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression (before reading anything about it): Very nice! Actually, excellent! Except for... the lost details of what appears to be blown out part of the rotunda where there are some indiscernible creatures. I wish I could see what those were! Oh well, one of the DPC limitations, so I won't take away from the image because of it. There is a plenty of other details to enjoy here in this photo.

Now, after reading your comments and seeing the details - I appreciate your efforts to take a good shot. The compression artefacts are visible, but I'm so used to them that I do not ever score a photo down for them (unless something that could obviously have been fixed).

What I like about it even more is the fact that you did not post-process it to death, but that this is your great find! Congratulations on the 5th place!

Feel free to PM me with any questions - I'm just being honest.

-Serge

Orthodox Cathedral
by Giorgio

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: I like the tilted shot! Then I immediately recollected recent threads about leaning photos, and realized that this community perhaps does not enjoy tilted photos.
Second thoughts: Tilted is fine, but it is lacking in height. These cathedrals are usually taller, and your landscape orientation prevented you from showing more of its architecture.
Amanda commented on the gradient, that it should have been more prominent. However, when adding a significant gradient to a sky that did not have any to begin with is walking a thin line between legal and DQ. However, your gradient should have been parallel to the horizon and not to the photo's horizontal (or it seems to me that way).

Also, to do better in a challenge (and you probably know this by now) you need a more striking photo. Compositionally and subject-wise, this is just another church (and tilted, which polarized your audience). You received slightly below-average score for it.

I hope this helps! Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

-Serge

Couldn't catch a cold..
by owen

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First impression: beautiful landscape with just great DOF. Then I looked at the challenge - Failure, and I've concluded that you must have gotten at least a few views where voters thought that it is the title that makes it fit into a challenge. That's something to keep in mind if you want to satisfy those DPCers. In that case, you would have needed to show an empty net, bag, or a basket, and that would have been hard with such composition.

Second look: bottom is too dark. Not enough detail in it, and you could have cropped some of it, and still preserve the gradient from dark to light(er). Even the rule of 3rds would not have been affected if you had made this choice.

Look at the exif: Wow! 4s exposure and the sillhouette is tack-sharp! That's what I call a cooperating model!

Now I'm going to check out how did it do in the challenge:4th! Well, I was about to attempt to advise you on how to score higher... and I think I ran out of suggestions already!

Congratulations on your great placement and good luck in the future challenges.

Texas State Capitol Building
by yanko

Comment:
Congratulations on your personal best! I like the twist you took with different colors here. I'm sorry, but I just can't accept comments like "I've seen this before" as there are truly only a few photos that you can make and not repeat someone else's work.

Moreover, this one has not been done this way, as both Gordon, myuself, and others that took the same one, did not shift the hues towards chrome.

Keep up the good shooting!

-Serge

Not Superstitious
by riolobo

Comment:
Second pass (not too many entries this time):
- nice choice of colors on this one; the contrast between the room tones and the colorful umbrella is the winning combination here.
- The window adds to composition, properly located for maximal viewing pleasure.
- lighting is good, the light that comes from the window is stronger than the key light from your right, which is a good thing. I wish I could not see the shaddow on the wall from the second light though.
Congratulations on a well-executed, interesting image.
bump!

The Solitary Soul
by Cutter

Comment:
I like! We've had a similar idea, but I like yours much better than mine!

After Settlement...
by bgable

Comment:
Out of focus and too small to view properly. Please read the tutorial on how to resize image for submitting to DPC.

Help!! Only One Left!
by Mr_Pants

Comment:
They said: Bring only one thing in the room with you, so don't complain now. ROFL!!! I hope this does well (haven't seen all of them yet, but this one cracked me up!)