A Visit
by rooum

Comment:
Greetings from the critique club

Congratulations on the successful execution of your signature style. It must be very satisfying to get your second best score with this shot!

I'm not surprised at all at the high score for this shot even though it is "artsy" and "abstract". The composition is wonderfully "clean" with all elements working together to create your vision. The wonderful lines, textures and desaturated colors support the subject so wonderfully. I love the contrast of the dark window around the bird and the frame. I've only done a few critiques so far and it has been fairly easy to come up with pointers on how to improve a shot until this one..I can honestly not think of a single thing that would make it better. It is no wonder that you have already gotten 13 favorites for this shot.

My world
by Rino63

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

My first impression of this photo is very good. I�m a sucker for fisheye photos to start with, but the composition and colors are very nice as well. I love the �cool� color scheme and the touches of warmth in the city skyline and foreground. You have great framing on the bottom and top to keep the focus on the boat.

A couple of things that might have brought the score down is the overall balance seems to be heavy on the left (and perhaps a little unlevel, and there is some strange yellow green tint just to the right of the city at the horizon. A 5.788 is a very good score here at DPC, but typically to score higher, you need clean and simple compositions and there may just be too much going on in this photo for the quick voters. You have to keep it very simple for DPC voters. I see that you cloned out garbage and that really helped, I�m talking more about the boats on the edge of the scene. I like the composition as is and would not change it, but I�m just saying what helps photos score better here.

I think you could have gone a little more aggressive on the sharpening also. It seems to be a tad soft especially in the foreground. Perhaps f/16 and 1/80 shutter would have increased overall sharpness as well, although I�m not familiar with your lens and f/8 may very well be its sweet spot. One last thing on the processing I think a little more drama could have helped it by using a curves adjustment and applying a classic s-curve to the tones. That would create some great drama in the sky and brighten up the whites. I would love to see this in b/w as well and would help hide the off yellow in the sky.

Overall I really like this photo, I think a tilt to the left to help balance it, a little more USM and an s-curve tonal adjustment would have put this well over 6.

Self Styled
by posthumous

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

My first reaction to seeing this photo is love of the great b/w tones. I am a big fan of well processed b/w photos no matter what the subject and this one is certainly well done. The curves adjustment and usm are perfectly applied for my taste.

I also love the bold shapes that you have included in your composition, but before I delve into those let me first talk about the story.

With photos that I critique I like to start by breaking down the story of the photo into its parts. Your main subject is yourself and your style (physically and photographically). You have created good separation between your main subject (you) and the supporting elements. The boldness of the wide black and white window frame on the right side does distract somewhat, but I like the shape so it is a nice element for my taste. When I view this portrait I do not see "clutter" (with the exception of the very bright window on the left) because the tonal value of your main subject, the placement in the center, and the framing help define it. The supporting elements of this portrait help tell the story of "you" and are also well used. I enjoy looking at all the "stuff" on the window ledge, the houses in the background, and the snow drifts. All of these items are in harmony with the subject and do not overpower it.

Now as far as the shapes that support the composition, I really love the overall �verticleness� of the composition with the bold window panes, your stance, and the trees in the background. The lines across the top and dark window ledge at the bottom provide anchors to keep you focused on the subject. Again the boldness of the right pane does attempt to steal the show here, but not successfully. I mentioned that the bright window on the left is �clutter� and what I mean is that it upsets the balance somewhat and is the only thing that tonally is not in harmony with the story. I think an 800x600 crop keeping your form in the center would cut out enough of that light to be more balanced.

I must say it has been a pleasure doing a critique where I didn�t have to worry about giving pointers as to how to score better! I really enjoyed getting deeper into your photo and "soaking" it up.

2 - Empty
by odriew

Comment:
Wonderful moody tones and I really like the composition. I probably would have been tempted to lighten the bench and remove the white spots and would have killed the soul of the photo LOL.

The King (Week 3)
by Scapeshots

Comment:
Great shot and processing! I love the slight tilt of the head and the great tones in the face. I would have liked the body to remain "connected" instead of black all around it because it looks odd to me..it needs its body for a base!

Lunch Break
by sulamk

Comment:
I too like the wing patterns. As others have suggested I think those patterns would have really jumped out if you had used f4 or f5.6 at 300mm and gotten closer. I think a lower perspective would have been better too, I always like seeing these critters at their eye level.

Quiet
by caseyface

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I love this photo and glad that I was assigned it for a critique. My favorite aspect is the deep reds in the barn and berries. I�m assuming that you liked that as well considering your tweaking of the reds. I think you did a perfect job on the colors and the contrast is wonderful. The framing of the barn with the wire is a great compositional feature to me and the depth of field is perfect at f9.

A couple of thoughts on why this didn�t score a 6 is that it does seem to have a balance issue as lissylou mentioned it �feels� crooked. Maybe if there was a way to get square on the fence and straight on with the barn it would have been more level? Perhaps another problem is the �fit of challenge�. The processing doesn�t fit the idea of �quite� because of the reds and high contrast, and the foreground bush creates tension in the composition, again not �quite�. In my opinion voters here like �clean� compositions with no distractions in them. I think in a free study or in a �rural� challenge this would easily score 6+.

Overall this is a wonderful photo and I wouldn�t change a thing if it were mine. I gave you some possible reasons why it didn�t get a 6, but a 5.75 is a great score here at dpChallenge.

Architecture 02 - Gas holder
by hajeka

Comment:
Great capture. I love the bright spot dead center and the little "rim light" on the left side. Overall I love the light.

Running Late?
by Covert_Oddity

Comment:
Great contrast and composition. I love the blurred bus zooming by. Did you hand hold this at 1/6? I can see a little blur in the bottom of the sign but it in no way takes away from the photo.

Week 2
by jdannels

Comment:
The composition doesn't really work for me I guess, the placement of the subject with regards to the golden mean and Fibonacci is fine, but the negatives (Really bright bank entrance, shoulder on the left, blue skin tones, slightly tilted) out weight those patterns. All just my opinion and photographic tastes of course.