At the Drive-In
by okiesisi

Comment by Melethia:
Woot! Congrats on the new personal best! I like your choice of subject matter here - brings back a lot of good memories of station wagons, pillows, and pajamas in my MUCH younger days. And I love the dramatic sky. May be a touch oversharpened/too much contrast - you'll notice a bit of "halo'ing" on the posts in the back which can be sign of either of the above. With lines like the posts, you'll always get a bit of jaggies - very hard to avoid at small sizes like we use here. A good test is to view it full size, full resolution to see if you're still getting jaggies - if you are, you know it's a bit too much sharpening.

Nature's Fireworks
by okiesisi

Comment by bubeltrubel:
oh, what a lovely flower! - where could I find? - Nice details in it.

Nature's Fireworks
by okiesisi

Comment by JuliBoc:
That's a burst, alright. Really does look like fireworks. I'm not sure how it would work, but I would try darkening the green and yellow to give more contrast to the image. The detail in the grass is a bit distracting.

Nature's Fireworks
by okiesisi

Comment by ephln:
Very nice!

P A R T Y !
by okiesisi

Comment by hcbenfield:
Love the color.

P A R T Y !
by okiesisi

Comment by robinssong:
Beads? Love the colors!

At the Drive-In
by okiesisi

Comment by xianart:
very dramatic, dark and threatening sky. oo, good. the only thing that bugs me is the little bit of halo on the bottom left corner of the screen.

P A R T Y !
by okiesisi

Comment by bikefreak:
beads from a necklace

P A R T Y !
by okiesisi

Comment by timbrumley:
beads!! New Orleans style

Color
by okiesisi

Comment by eamurdock:
Greetings from the critique club! Great shoe. I wish they'd had these during my converse days - my favorite pair had each panel a different color, though, which was cool.

Pros:

The colors are working for you, and you've captured them well. I like the general idea of the composition (abstracting the shoe by cropping part of it) but I do agree with those who suggest you change the angle a bit and definately keep the top of the shoe - it feels crowded.

Cons:

The biggest is your lighting; it's quite harsh and flat. If you could diffuse it somehow and/or add additional lights from the sides I think you'd have a much stronger shot; as it is the shadows on the background are quite distracting and the shoe lacks depth.

The Challenge:

You were concerned about meeting the challenge, but some of these are so open ended that I think people are pretty interested in different interpretations; from my perspective anyway you met the challenge just fine.

Overall I'd try to soften your lighting try taking your shots from a bunch of different angles, to see if you can find something that pops a little more.