"The Question"
by tfarrell23

Comment:
The creative nature of this image doesn't speak to me. The composition, however, is good. I love the contrasting angles of the page, the margin and the words leading in different directions and the contrasting spots on the edges of the pages. The smooth ink overlaying the textured page also present this image as solid composition. I'd score this image much higher for a different challenge but for the current contest it just doesn't inspire me.

The Floater
by RiderGal

Comment:
If the title is supposed to put the viewer in mind of a body found floating (many police shows seem to refer to corpses in the water as floaters), then the composition would have had more impact if the subject were dressed for work or religious service or something other than swimming. The artists toes in the frame also hint that this was a day at the lake as she (?) isn't dressed to pull a corpse from the river.

Good idea though.

! ? !
by CLarson557

Comment:
Person on a motorcycle?

Hmmmm..... I Wonder.........
by macox

Comment:
Good subject.

I have a difficult time enjoying the keys fully because my attention is drawn down the line of the keys to the bottom of the picture. I think if the keys were shot landscape rather than portrait (where the straight lines were more horizontal than vertical) then the attention could center more on the keys and the potentialities they provide. The difference in the lighting between the keys at the back and the front is so great that it creates a couple of areas rather than a continuum of possibility in which all the keys exist. I would like to see a more homogenous lighting scheme (preferably darker) to hint at the potential caches locked away without these keys.

Creative take on the challenge

My Last Smoke?
by buzzrock

Comment:
Wow.

Nice take on this challenge. Personalized, off center, good use of colors/tones, love the depth of field.

This shot may be my favorite for this contest. The composition of the image is as close to flawless as I wiould be able to distinguish and the creatively personal approach implies vulnerability that aids the viewer (or at least this viewer) to put himself/herself into the place of the artist. Having never smoked but had friends who smoked for years; this captures the essence of a question that I can understand; namely, am I strong enough this time to do what I say I want to do. The subject could have as easily been a spoon of ice cream (gluttonous) or a used condom (lonliness) to express the very human question of why we perpetuate self-defeating behaviors when we say we want to stop them.

Good job.

Abandoned village,why they left?
by pitsaman

Comment:
Some subjects lend themselves to this contest more readily than others. Congratulations to you on getting this subject.

Nice photo. What lens did you use? I'm interested in the composition as you got a good, long view of this setting.

Unknown
by sher

Comment:
Good subject(s).

Wow. I'm loathe to critique this as I like it so well but I wonder how this would look with only the front marker cropped in to the right and some grass on its left to make it asymmetrical. That way I think you'd get closer to a duotone color and you'd pickup some creative import with that.
I'd also like to see a shorter depth of field so that if you left the lefthand marker in the image it would be more out of focus. I think this would lend a signifigance to the marker in the foreground.

I do like this composition, though. I like the cropping and the coloration. What media did you capture it on? Did you get this idea and go looking for this shot or did you happen upon this shot and just submit it for the contest?
Good job.

What am I?
by WILDBLUE

Comment:
Sparkler? Fuse? Neither seems ingeneous.
Perhaps a question that would have gotten me involved more would be:
How did I get my camera this close without messing up the lens or body with some stray particles?

Exhibit A
by Annida

Comment:
Is the fingerprint embossed? What kind of retouching was done to this in postproduction (if any)?

The title gives this composition a direction but after seeing forensics show after forensic show, I'm left feeling that the fingerprint shouldn't be so obtrusive. Perhaps hiding it in the image under a thin layer of the liquid would have been more to my liking.

The use of the spatter beneath the serated edge is creative. I'm not sure that's how it would be presented in court but it does give a more organic feel to the image that would have been lost with just the smooth metal and liquid color on the central subject.

Untitled
by lionelm

Comment:
OK. I see a goblet on its side . . . no wait, two faces?!?
Just kidding. At first glance the texture of the styrofoam head threw me off with the smooth, blankness of the background. The texture stands out even in contrast to the pores/hair/lines on the human subject's face. Perhaps I'm just not in the mood to make up my mind tonight because this work doesn't seem to present a dichotomy that is easily understood. In several ways it presents a multitude of options for interpretation and I'm vacilating between enjoying the uncertainty with which I view the work and the annoyance of having to look at it over and over again.

OK. The human subject's face could be farther back in the image or the styrofoam face could be closer creating a more homogenous structure as the human face is larger. That is from the side of my brain that wants this creation to just 'fit' instead of stand out.
I also wish the creator had titled this work as it concerns me that he/she might not have known what the goal was in this creation.

En toto this image leaves me with unanswered questions that range far beyond what I expected when I saw it in the list and knew it would be flashing onto my computer screen. Kudos