~ My Bleeding Heart ~
by Ja-9

Comment:
I've been starting with a shot that scores around 5.5 because it usually indicates a promising shot that could have been improved. Here, I like your idea, but I would suggest a few things. First, this is going to be an image about form and flow (and color), so distracting elements don't help. The upper right BG needs to be nixed. You can do that by providing your own BG (maybe a matboard), changing the POV, or editing (although on DPC you couldn't have edited that completely out). What I do like is the diagonal movement, but I have have tried to emphasize that a bit more. Maybe by raising the camera by an inch.

Lancaster Street
by Yo_Spiff

Comment:
The composition is what you did right. Centered loves symmetry which you provide. However, you add in a dash of diagonal energy and you have a nice picture. It's a tough one for the rest. The image looks soft to me and that's bad, BUT it's an image that I can see would oversharpen VERY quickly so you might be stuck with it.

I like them for breakfast
by Yo_Spiff

Comment:
I don't think this was a "boring subject". I like your eye for things. Probably the small canvas DPC offers let you down more than anything. It does make the BG people small and insignificant. If you had too much going on on the right, however, it would detract from the subject. The sky is awesome and I love clouds like this. Do you use any Wide-radius USM on your shots? You have to watch for halos, but it might provide just a bit of contrast kick to the clouds (and you could mask whatever you didn't like). I usually start around 25/40/3. Give it a try.

The Old Timer
by Yo_Spiff

Comment:
I'm going to try not to pick all high scoring shots to comment on because that is too easy, but I just had to say I really enjoyed this one when it came up. The guy is such a iconic image and I appreciate that among the top finishers this gives us feelings of contentment, hope, and happiness with life. I think it's his eyes which appear to be opened slightly wider than normal.

The crack of dawn
by Yo_Spiff

Comment:
This is one of those images the "substance" people hate. But that's not what we're going for here. We're going for the art of color and form. You did a very good job, obviously, as reflected in the score. If I were to tweak it, I would have cloned out the brush or tree or whatever that is at the bottom of the trunk. This image is about simplicity and so detail like that is a downside, not an upside. Composition is great and you did well in your sharpening. I tend to oversharpen stuff like this and it usually looks worse.

Old Red
by Yo_Spiff

Comment:
Let's start around a 5.5 image. That's a good place because it is an image with promise that let us down. I see you were hoping for more on this one too. The choice of subject is good. A very interesting building. Your composition is at least not straight on, but it is a bit static in that there is little or no context for us (sometimes that can't be helped and I don't know what's there that I can't see). The HDR is a good choice because it allowed you to keep detail in the sky, BUT I see two problems. One, and I'm pretty sure you know this now, your colors are crazy. I'm all about saturated colors, but not when they look unnatural. We've hit that point here. Two, the clouds in the sky are too lopsided. You have half a blue sky and half with clouds. I think that generally degrades the image and sometimes you just have to sit and wait until you get a better balance.

Old Adobe
by Cory

Comment:
I like this shot. The B&W processing is well done and the black sky adds to the depth. It is nicely contrasted by the white door. The overall composition provides interest and the image takes advantage of the power of diagonal lines to provide dynamics. I think you did well on this one. The only downside I see is it seems the most in-focus portion is the column on the left rather than the church itself.

Robber fly
by Cory

Comment:
IIRC you use your own hommade macro so I won't comment on the technicals of the shot, but I will give you the advice to think of your insect as a model. We almost always want to see the model's face and especially their eyes. Sometimes that rule can be broken, but not too often. So while we get some detail here of an interesting fly, we wish it were turned towards us.

Watermelon Tourmaline
by Cory

Comment:
I wanted to comment on this one because we have a picture to compare composition to. This one is better because the higher angle provides some depth to the crystal. The white background might be too stark. I have often just completely blown BGs out like this and I've started to see the benefit of almost blowing it out, but not quite. It makes for a bit less of a feeling of "floating in white space" and grounds the image.

Time, wind, rain, sun, and nuclear blast
by Cory

Comment:
This shot caught my eye because I think you did well with your composition and using the wide angle to distort the cabin. The trees in the background both help and hurt. It is nice to have something else for the eye to see, but trees like that often wind up all jumbled and muddy, especially at these small canvas sizes. You did well to control the sky and your processing overall is very good.