Five levels
by thomasjessen

Comment by kteach:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

First Impression: Great location, and the long exposure really helps to show the flow of the water over all the levels of the falls. A bit too blurry though, and the bright spot in the upper left is a bit harsh.

After reading your photographer comments, the blurriness is obviously due to lack of tripod. I kept having this problem of leaving my tripod in the car, only to find a great spot when I'm out in the middle of a hike... so, I got myself a Gorillapod for Christmas! Maybe something like that in your camera bag would help you too, so you don't have to rely on trees!

I do like the framing here... my eye follows the soft flow of the water down to the bottom of the shot. It's almost even in the shape of an S curve, which is nice. The b/w is a nice touch... the more I look at the shot, the more I like the high contrast of black to white. I think with the blurriness of the shot, leaving it in color wouldn't have worked.

I didn't vote in this challenge, but it seems as though many voters dismissed this as dark and out of focus, and then voted you a 4 or 5. However, you got some nice comments during the challenge from those who took a bit more time to explore the shot. And, to get a comment from posthumous naming this "the most underrated of the challenge" is quite a compliment! :)

Hope these comments were helpful! Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions about my critique.

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by trevytrev:
I like this shot but think that it could have been stronger without he motion blur.

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by sethlfrench:
The eye should be in focus. Great idea though.

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by arondee:
Such an interesting shot and idea but the picture is out of focus.

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by pffree:
Would have got a better vote from me if the eye was in focus, but nice idea and picture :-)

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by Tuesday:
I like the concept! I wish it were a little more sharp, but I like the picture itself!!

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by Hampster:
Clever but blurry.

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by LMA128:
nice idea, it just seems a little blurry, but that may have been intentional?

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by brownguy:
This would have been really cool if it wasn't so blurry...

Painful keyhole
by thomasjessen

Comment by karmat:
A sharper focus would have made this a bit more effective, I think. Technicals aside, I find myself wanting to poke a pencil through the keyhole, which is why I assume you call it painful.