Under Missing Rails
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by 1olddawg:
My personal favourite "10" A great find and great layout

Under Missing Rails
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by _eug:
Portrait would work better here.

Blue Grapes
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by KarenNfld:
Photo is too dark, grainy and looks out of focus. You say "Blue Grapes" but I don't see grapes, just leaves.

Blue Grapes
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by bcoble:
Interesting image, however it does not jump out. It is not a very exciting image. I wonder what day time shots would be like?

Blue Grapes
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by DanSig:
first.. don't take this the wrong way..

this image really really needs color adjustments...

composition is bad.. I can't even see what I'm looking at, it's way too dark and that spotlight in the lower right corner, well normally I'd say let it go, but in this image it's the only interresting thing... sorry

just my 2¢

Blue Grapes
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by taterbug:
Interesting subject, looks like it could have potential. Focus seems a little off, and the one bright light is a bit of a distracting element. I find my eye wandering, looking for a strong point of interest to hold my attention. Perhaps simplifying the composition a little could make for a stronger presentation.

Light at the End of Christmas
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by lkn4truth:
Looks like you are using an inexpensive camera which is hurting you but also the shot isn't al that interesting or creative. Dpon't give up! - 3

Light at the End of Christmas
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by balancedfox:
The background writing/picture is distracting. The position of the candlelight could be better - rather don't put it in the middle of the pic.

Starlight Starbright
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by wavelength:
Merry Christmas from the Critique Club!

I see that this is your first entry and you are a newly minted member. Welcome. :o)

I think this idea has potential, but even at its fullest may not have been a truly strikingly great photograph for this challenge, for a catalog cover that is. Maybe a phone book cover, or postcard shot, or city advertisement, but I'm not really sure how this could have been used in a catalog.

Your composition is fairly well done, resulting in generalized fore/middle/background elements, but the foreground is cluttered with random people that leave the foreground unbalanced. This is a little distracting. Also, the people are blocking the main subject, the water light show. Ultimately, the composition of the shot falls flat.

The colors are interesting, but they lack enough presence to really pop out of the picture, possibly some saturation adjustments could have helped with that. I ran it through Photoshop some and it did help very much. The picture is a little noisy; running it through a program like Neat-Image might help. (a free download is available)

This is a good choice of an interesting subject, combined with a bad choice of angles and positioning of the subject. This leads to an ultimately uninteresting composition. Something that helps me when shooting a well-known subject is to analyze other photos and thing about how that photographer accomplished the end Image. A quick Google search returned these: //www.pbase.com/terraxplorer/longwood_gardens&page=3 which might give you some ideas.

But remember, sometimes it is also VERY good to shoot something from and extremely different angle than has been seen before. With this, possibly very close and focusing on one of the fountainheads with the rest leading off and using some perspective may be just the ticket. Think, large to one side with fountains leading off to the distance. Not sure what the rules are, or how near you could get to do it though.

-Steve

Light at the End of Christmas
by Mansonsdesdemona

Comment by melismatica:
A nice effort. I don't quite understand your title. I think a colored card for the blurred background would have been more effective in adding some interest than then one that is shown here. The red ribbon in the front looks like a stab at framing and using color for contrast but I think the red would have been more effective in the background (as previously noted regarding the card). The ribbon isn't quite framing the shot so much as adding a distracting element to the composition. The sphere of light created by the flame would have been a nice visual element as it echoes the curves on the rim of the bowl and the bowl itself, but it winds up competing for attention with the red and blue ribbons and the busy looking graphic on the card. I think eliminating the ribbons would have made this a much simpler, effective image. The size of this entry borders on being to small to effectively evaluate, for future reference.