Rochester Aglow
by juliejold

Comment by ASTONishing:
Great exposure, and DoF.
there are a few parts of the composition I would try and correct in this photo:
I think I would position myself more left. this would bring the right corner of the "yellow brick road" to the far right lower corner of the photo. This would also bring the left side of the bridge into the frame, and the near lamppost would end up on the left imaginary "thirds" line.
Finally I would cool down the White balance slightly, and rotate the photo counter clockwise a couple degrees to level the bridge out.

Broken
by juliejold

Comment by posthumous:
Well caught and well composed.

Broken
by juliejold

Comment by bvy:
Kind of unsettling. The bright light and orientation are both a bit of a surprise here. To good effect, though, I think. Great textures all around.

Broken
by juliejold

Comment by bmilne:
wish there were more blacks

Broken
by juliejold

Comment by organic:
i think the picture could have used some better lighting. Maybe taken at a different time of day.

Broken
by juliejold

Comment by Paul:
OK, I'm going through the Free Study submissions, purposefully finding those images I think are shot with a less conventional eye - this is one of those images! Thanks for offering something that isn't just DPC friendly eye-candy (though of course there's nothing wrong with eye-candy):

Positives: Great colours and texture and a very interesting orientation of the subject. I find it rather disorientating (I mean that in a good way) - not only am I not sure how the chair is lying or the orientation of the surface, I feel that my POV is ambiguous. This makes for quite an unsettling but engaging image. This disorientation draws me in, makes it more real for me.

Critical stuff: The close crop to the top of the chair at the bottom of the image seems too close - clearly this has been your choice but I'm not sure it works for me.

Overall: an interesting image which benefits greatly from the colours and textures you have managed to capture so effectively.

Celebration
by juliejold

Comment by salmiakki:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I must say I was rather expecting to see a lot of firework images in July Free Study given the recent holidays in North America.

I know fireworks are incredibly difficult to shoot well, I have tried only once and gave up as i was getting nowhere, so kudos to you for persevering.

To score highly in a Free Study with a firework image, the technical aspects need to be completely spot on. In the case of this image, the technicals are lacking a bit which is why I think you ended up with a 5.3.

Typically a low ISO setting (say 100), small aperture (High F number) and slowish shutter speed will give you a crisp clear image (of course, using a tripod). The settings you have used tend to leave the image quite blurry and thus the impact is lost. So, from a technical point of view, I think you image is suffering a bit. The fireworks are blown out in places and are quite blurry.

Mostly I think it takes a bit of practice to get good firework images, but the opportunity to shoot them doesn't present itself too often.

Celebration
by juliejold

Comment by yermun:
Excellent.

Celebration
by juliejold

Comment by Sirashley:
This is the 2nd fireworks shot of the challenge, I would have expected more. I like the silhouettes, and the fireworks are crisp. I think the shot could have benefitted from a portrait view crop, but that's my very unprofessional opinion :) Overall a good shot though

Celebration
by juliejold

Comment by Emerkaza:
NICE! 8