Wistful
by lynnmarie

Comment by Physics_Guru:
Adding some shadows to the subject would make this more interesting.

A Natural Spiral
by lynnmarie

Comment by johnmcboston:
A little more color added to the flower woudl have made a big difference...

Wistful
by lynnmarie

Comment by mist:
The face is good here. The crop I'm not sure about, just losing the elbows..

A Natural Spiral
by lynnmarie

Comment by Ivo:
The subject is captivating but the placement is weak and the crop may have been tighter to lessen the attention to the outlying leaves. They donothing for the image but take away from this spectacular flower. Still, you gotta 6 from me.

Wistful
by lynnmarie

Comment by justine:
Expression, focus, light, you've got it all. Great entry.

Wistful
by lynnmarie

Comment by sherpet:
Cute.....

A Natural Spiral
by lynnmarie

Comment by muur88:
your desaturation and center weighting of this image are very daring.

Devil's Claw
by lynnmarie

Comment by talj:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Composition:

The first thing that strikes me about this image is the Devils Claws and seeds appear to just be floating and I find this very off putting. I do like how you have linked the two claws together and the few scattered seeds in the front help the overall idea.

Technicals:

Your commenters have pointed out the processing you have done on this shot is what has let you down. By turning the background to black you have lost detail and a natural look in the Devils Claw. As it is now the seeds in the front don't look in focus but I am not sure if this again is down to your processing, I would really like to see how sharp this image was before you did any editing. I can also see some editing marks around the top of the right hand claw.

My personal thought:

I think you would really benefit from purchasing some black material for your background, I have found mine extremely useful for still subjects like this. It would have mean't with this shot you would already have had your dark background and you wouldn't then have lost so much detail and the claws would have kept their natural look and colouring.

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

- Natalya :o)

Gold Leafing
by lynnmarie

Comment by scaramanga:
Great composition and lighting. I don't like the soft focus here. When you take a shot of the structure of a leaf it has to be quite sharp imho. Try to sharpen your shot via postprocessing.

Gold Leafing
by lynnmarie

Comment by sherpet:
Quite magical.....stunning, and one of my favorites in this challenge.....Definately a "10" from me.....