Ethereal
by ilka

Comment by sidpixel:
*Hello from Sid and the Critique Club*

A very competent image that is assumed to meet the challenge-w

This is a very well executed image that has a lot of appeal. You have very effectively countered the biggest challenge you were faced with, that of reflections off the glass, by using the rubber hood you have completely overcome it and produced something of quality. An apt title sums up what I like about the image, the incandescent hues against the translucency with the black background all work together very effectively.

Even though you are at presumably maximum aperture you have still got a good DOF here that captures all of the body detail well. I like your commenters remarks and concur with them fully. I think because we are more used to seeing a jellyfish in a top down posture we are thrown by the angle here, not that it doesn't work but perhaps a rotation may have secured an even better score.

In an another appropriate challenge this would have placed very highly indeed but in this challenge you are up against a lot of high quality entries but you still did well, thanks for a great entry, Sid

The old wise bird
by ilka

Comment by cowboy221977:
Hello from the critique club....

1st off I need to say that I do disagree with your 1 and only commentor. The DOF is great...... I love how the focus is on the eye. That adds alot to me. It makes the bird look at me and that draws my eye. I absolutely like to see the background and the foreground are out of focus. I think it really works for this shot. Another thing I really like.........the colors.....absolutely brilliant. Overall I think your score was a little bit low......

Unfortunately I cant give you any negative marks on your shot. I always try to give a few negative aspect of a pic to help a photographer to improve....The only prob I really like this pic. Anyway nice shot and keep it up. Happy shooting

Ethereal
by ilka

Comment by njm8823:
Uniq

Ethereal
by ilka

Comment by aliqui:
This is a very clean jelly fish photo. Love the colors and softness. I almost breezed right past it though, because most jelly fish photos are heavily out of focus and noisy due to a combination of aquarium glass and a dark room. Brain said, "Jelly, next." Thankfully my eyes got an extra second to look while my hand was responding to the "next" command and the brain sent out a "whoaaa, wait" command.

While the capture is very lovely, the orientation feels off to me, and I feel like I want to flip it or crop it differently. My eyes keep bopping across the image looking for a place to land.

Ethereal
by ilka

Comment by RyanW:
translucently transcendent :)
7

The old wise bird
by ilka

Comment by damjanev:
I don't know the old age marks on these birds but this one sure looks old. :-)
Photographically, this image is a mix of likes and don't likes for me.
- The composition is awesome and so is the posing of the bird.
- The focusing is sharp and dead on the eye. Nice work there
- Shallow DoF, to me, is not enough to separate the subject from the background. It kind of blends in with it.

Ethereal
by ilka

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Grog hungry, want peenut buter and jellifish samich.

Contentment
by ilka

Comment by aliqui:
Ahh, yes. Nothing like the morning sun to warm your dangly bits.

Brushing my teeth
by ilka

Comment by photomad_2007:
good attempt at a difficult subject.

Brushing my teeth
by ilka

Comment by giantmike:
I think it would have helped your photo if there were somehow a bit more contrast by the toothbrush. I didn't see it until the last second (after I can my vote and while waiting for the next image to load).