Silhouettes at Sundown
by Len Scap

Comment:
Great shapes and color in the sky and mountains. But I find the foreground branches a bit distracting.

Lagoon-2
by VanBergen

Comment:
The colors are great. The silhouette has some nice features, but the overall shape isn't very interesting. I wish there were some details in the shadow.

Rest In Peace
by djtj1980

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I like the contrasts in this photo: water vs bridge vs foreground rocks, old vs new bridge, and warm sunset vs cool dusk. The pattern of the girders makes an interesting silhouette. The wide tonal range from bright sunset to dark rocks is captured very well, as is the range of colors. The long exposure makes the sea very, very soft, and gives a nice, rather nostalgic feel to the photo; perfect for the tribute this photo appears to be.

I don't particularly like the composition, which leads my eye out of the frame on the left. I think turning the camera a bit to the left to get the focal point in the frame would be more compelling; the pier on the right is interesting, but not essential to the message of this photo.

The photo would also benefit from a bit more contrast and a lot less sharpening. And of course it would be nice if the bridge was in focus.

Overall, not a great photo, but an interesting and beautiful one.

Music to MY ears, anyway
by jorr

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I don't have a lot of experience with this genre of music and am not familiar with its artists. And as an outsider, this photo doesn't mean much to me. There are some good points: the square format is perfect, suggesting the square containers that music comes in, and the CD's at the bottom suggest wheels, which I guess has something to do with AC/DC since there is a truck on the poster. And the technical aspects (focus, lighting, color, etc.) are fine except for the blotch where you cloned out the glare and some minor jpeg artifacts that could have probably been avoided by using a higher quality (DPC allows up to 150K files).

Overall, not a bad photo. Just a rather static and not very interesting one.

Pride
by Charlotte ann

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club

I must confess I really don't understand this photo. It's technically superb. The low key and slight color cast, with a shadow across one eye give it a rather sinister feeling. It's the opposite of your typical glamour shot, and not what normally comes to mind with the subject "pride". I guess it portrays the "deadly" side of pride, although it took me awhile to figure that out. But certainly a photo that makes one think.

I find the bright spot below her eyebrow distracting, and the one on her nose just mildly so. Given the overall fine control over the photo, I have to assume that this is intentional, but I don't understand its purpose.

Overall, a very well done photo. Not one to get a great score in DPChallenge since it takes too much time to understand it. But rewarding to anyone who takes that time.

Red Lights
by Zenjohn

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

I like the simplicity of this photo. The lights bring out the texture of the wall and form an interesting shape. But it is lacking a good focal point; the light switch is too low in the frame to be one, leaving the rather vague shape cast by the middle light, which is in a good place but just isn't very interesting.

It also isn't clear to me what message this photo is trying to convey. Red tends to evoke passion and energy, but the vertical line of the wires with the sinuous swath of illumination behind it suggest something closer to harmony or confidence. Stringing the lights diagonally would better suit the red color, or a blue color would better suit the vertical lights.

But on the positive side, the technical aspects of this photo (focus, exposure, etc.) are great. And the negative space on the right which is dark but not completely black works very well.

Ballerina
by gliphix

Comment:
Such a nice form and great color! It doesn't need to be out of focus to be abstract, and I find the lack of focus distracting.

1779, Never Before
by Imagineer

Comment:
The bright struts on the left attract attention due to their lightness, but they are out of focus so it is disappointing. Sorry, but this doesn't work for me.

No liquid allowed, Abstract in Purple and Greens
by olddj

Comment:
Great design, nice colors, but not in focus. Perhaps intentional, but since it looks out of focus, it isn't very effective.

Silhouette
by msieglerfr

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club.

I love the gradient, and the texture of the sky is wonderful. The silhouetted building has an interesting shape. Focus is great. Exposure is just right. It is very attractive. So why doesn't this photo work better? I think it's because the two focal points (the brightest part of the sky and the cross on top of the building) are too close to the edges. Perhaps a vertical format would have worked better, both by giving more space around the focal points so they aren't crowded out, and because that orientation naturally produces more dynamic photos.