Irony
by Turco

Comment by Natasha:
Critique Club
Composition-Content
Great idea, but I think that you probably lost a lot of people with the meaning of it, one of those times when seeing the photographers comments at the time of voting would have helped! Perhaps a different angle of the sign would have added more interest.
Technical
The true colour of snow has come out well here, nice and clean! Lighting is a little dark, perhaps a different time of day would have been good, or even B/W and then more contrast would have provided a stonger impact.
My Opinion
Great idea and after reading your comments, I can see how this fits the challenge, just needs to be a little more obvious for this site! Good Luck in the next challenge.

Irony
by Turco

Comment by dsidwell:
I like the tones here, and how you've used the snow in the foreground to make your point. The blatant centering of the sign and the use of a standard perspective echo the sign's sentiments. Still, you might try different angles and light to see if your point and mood couldn't be made clearer. Snow and "No thru traffic" doesn't really equal despair to me. I would think that having the image more in focus and having a greater depth of field would aid you.

Irony
by Turco

Comment by tcherring:
Very ironic, indeed! Good photo, but a little too candid.

Irony
by Turco

Comment by Malokata:
Funny irony, but I don't see the despair communicated.

Irony
by Turco

Comment by KimInNB:
Irony, yes ... but despair? NO.

Irony
by Turco

Comment by Chuckie:
nice photo, i like the colors.

Irony
by Turco

Comment by paynekj:
This would have been good for the road-signs challenge, but it's a bit too humorous for a despair challenge.

Irony
by Turco

Comment by Gren:
Not sure how this fits the theme.

Light House
by Turco

Comment by Manic:
Critique Club comment :o)

Composition:

The composition of this shot is great - I love the way you've used the foreground grasses with the lighthouse in the background. Also, the way you've got the effect of the wind on the heads of the grasses contrasts nicely with the very solid feel of the tower.

One thing I would suggest with this shot would be to crop/zoom out a little bit more, if possible, or to take the shot further away - this way, the line of the darker area across the bottom of the shot and the tower itself would be nicely on the Rule of Thirds lines.

Another suggestion would be to flip the shot left<->right, so that the tower is on the righthand side, so that the eye leads in from the lefthand corner (the natural start point) across the row of grasses to the tower on the other side.

Background:

The background is an integral part of the composition of the shot, and thus is covered in the above section. In addition, the sky is quite interesting, since it's not a generic clear-blue, but would really benefit from some levels & contrast adjustments, so that the tones within it stand out more.

Camera Work:

The focus and depth of field (DoF) on this shot seem OK, with both the grasses and the tower in focus, but since the shot is small and you've not provided any camera settings info (Aperture / ISO / Shutter), I can't really say much more.

Post Processing:

Since you've not provided any details, I can only guess as to the post processing you've done, if any. Firstly, this image is tiny! It definitely doesn't hit the 640 pixels maximum in either dimension, so the image here is much smaller than it could have been - this means that there is less detail for people to see, and thus makes it harder to get interested in the shot.

Secondly (and due to the small resolution), this shot is only 8Kb (!), out of a maximum 150Kb, therefore you may have lost quite a bit of detail by compressing the image down to that size - I always recommend that you try to get as close to the 150Kb line as possible, so that as little detail as possible is lost.

Apart from all that, it looks like a very gloomy day, which you can either emphasise (b&w might work will in this case), or reduce by playing with the saturation & levels to make it seem brighter.

My Opinion:

This is a potentially very good shot, but needed more post processing work and a little more thought on the framing, so I'd rate it as slightly below average. As for meeting the "Landscape" challenge, it definitely does that, and the buildings in frame integrate into it nicely, rather than distracting.

If you have any questions about this critique, please feel free to contact me via the PM system.

Light House
by Turco

Comment by mcrael:
Very nice composition - I like the inclusion of the grasses in the foreground. Photo is too small to evaluate properly.