Reaching Across
by ad12

Comment by Dave Gordon:
The out of focus background dominates the photo, taking attention away from the main, green subject.

Reaching Across
by ad12

Comment by ihartnv9000:
is that rain, in the backround??? :0

Reaching Across
by ad12

Comment by Zoomdak:
Love the drips in the in background. The lighting is wonderful!

Reaching Across
by ad12

Comment by sherpet:
I would have liked this cropped square, without the busy background on the left...

Reaching Across
by ad12

Comment by EricMGB1974:
Nice DOF and lighting but I think the composition could be improved. I'd suggest moving the camera position slightly so the tree (branch?) is coming from the lower left corner and using a vertical format to make the image more dynamic and highlighting the falls more.

Reaching Across
by ad12

Comment by lifternessjt:
Would have liked a longer exposure to blurr out the falls more, still, very nice

Reaching Across
by ad12

Comment by FocusPoint:
Cool photo. Could have a little more contrast :)

Country Road
by ad12

Comment by CEJ:
Hello from the Critique Club!

I have studied your image and have the following to offer:

Composition/perspective - the overall scene here is very pleasing to look at, but could have a lot more impact. The crop to make it wide leans the image more towards a landscape (see below) and takes away focus and strength from your subject, the road. A narrower crop would have allowed for an overall larger image (closer to 640x640) which also would make the road more prominent in the shot and placed better to the rule of thirds. I think this also would help with the lack of foreground in the shot. The road appears to come out of nowhere and when you follow it you are immediately in water which opens the scene up as the next thing you are led to is the shore. Again, this takes away from the subject as one naturally follows the shoreline across the scene and focus is lost on the subject as the main element.

Color - black and white obviously. But overall I think slightly different processing would make it stand out more and give the individual elemnts more presence. It is very gray. Some more adjustment with contrast and perhaps levels would help separate the abundance of similar shades.

Lighting - natural and well controlled in the shot. There appears an even cast over the whole scene. The sky is not blown out at all and there are no flares or bright spots.

Challenge requirements - this meets the challenge in the sense that it does have a road. However, it leans closer to being a landscape. A stronger presence of the road in the shot to make it the center of attention would have made it a much stronger contender. This could have been achieved a number of ways - crop being one, different zoom/camera angle.

Overall/my opinion - as stated above this is a very pleasing scene to look at. I think it needs work on the processing end to give it more contrast. Would be interesting to see a color version. The road is very centered in the shot. What saves this is the width and the fact the road, although the subject, does not seem a major element. A different crop to offset it some to get closer to the rule of thirds would eliminate this.

Country Road
by ad12

Comment by rick13601:
photo is somewhat small. hard to see the details.

Country Road
by ad12

Comment by Falc:
The crop here feels very drastic. I find myself wanting to look 'under' the photo. I think it needs some foreground.