Mirror Me
by e301

Comment:
Nice to place a face to such a wonderful photographer and person overall. You should have placed much higher!

Deannda

When good photographers go bad
by DrAchoo

Comment:
Well, at least we don't have to ask Doc the age old question of "Boxers or Briefs!?"

Thought this was you, nice one, gave you a 6 myself :)

Deannda

Anticipation
by lauraodom

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

What pretty flowers in such a pretty arrangement! I love bouqets! As someone who used to work with a studio photographer the first thing that jumped out at me on this shot was the ring. If this was a set up shot you always want to make sure all the jewelry and such are straight and lined up. The second thing that I noticed was the focus or lack of or I'm not really sure what. It's not fuzzy but it's not sharp nor does it come across as a soft focus, which would probably work well with this shot even though I'm not normally a fan of soft focus shots, here a slight touch of guassian blur might really help with the overall feel of this shot.

The colors also look a bit washed out on the flowers, a slight hue/saturation or curves adjustment might really help them pop up a bit more. The last thing I saw was the overall composition of the shot. The way she's holding the flowers almost looks likes she's afraid of them, holding them with her fingertips, I understand wanting to show off the nails, I know I did on my wedding day but the way the shot is set up I keep wanting to reach out and grab the flowers before they fall, LOL :) The ribbon on the left coming is a good leading line but if the shot was cropped so it was more towards the bottom left corner, leading me in and up it would also help with the overall composition. I put my magic envelope up to the screen and cropped off the bottom so the bottom of the ribbon was right in the lower left corner and WOW, what a difference it made in what I wanted to look at. It made the flowers the center of attention. Currently they are just part of the overall shot, not really holding my attention overall.

I'm not sure which Post processing program you have but don't be afraid to play with it. I took a day once and just played with mine for about 3 hours straight and boy did I learn a lot! ;)

Hope my comments help and good luck in future challenges!

Deannda

Severe Weather
by postoakinversion

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

What a stunning shot when I first look at it. The colors, the tiny bit of lightening you caught, the light to dark, nice constrast. I feel this overall composition is pretty good for the newspaper shot. But something just niggles at me about this shot and I can't quite put my finger on it, let me look a bit longer here.......Okay, I think I see what it is, it's the balance between the sky and the ground. It's very top heavy. I took my magic envelopes and put them on the screen and when I crop out the ground completely it makes a completely different, more balanced picture to me. Even is you crop about half the ground, leaving more a dark line across the bottom rather than the lines leading in, which usually would work very well but in this case, to me they are competing with the top of the shot and the lightening. Also the colors seem just a tad pale, maybe a slight curves or hue/saturation adjustment to really make them pop out might make some difference.

But otherwise this is a great shot, nice capture! Hope my comments help and good luck in future challenges!

Deannda

bridge over dirty water
by Jaded_Housewife

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

My first impression is, "WOW! What a pretty picture!" Then I read the title and laughed out loud! ;) I don't see the dirty water myself, I see a very nice reflection in the water of the bridge giving a very nice mirror effect.

What also grabbed my attention right off though was the red bar in the upper left side. It wants to lead me in or out or I'm not really sure how to feel about that bar, it's confusing me honestly. It's a nice directional line against the arch but at the same time it's competing for the attention, does that make sense. When I scroll my screen up just enough to remove the bar it really changes the entire composition of the shot. No more competition for my attention, it's all on the arch and what's inside of it.

And what is inside of that arch? The vision here is stunning to me, I love it. It looks like an arch to another world, almost a mirror world again. The reflection on the water, the bricks that are in the water, the plants on the other side, it's all creating a very visual meal for my eyes. I just can't seem to get enough! Well done overall!

Hope my comments help and good luck in future challenges!

Deannda

The Circus in town
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

OH NO! How on earth did I get this one? LOL!

I love this image but you already knew that! This is fun, active, colorful and would make a great picture for the front page of the entertainment section or even the front page.

The colors are wonderful and the timing is also very good. The only thing I might have changed looking at it closer , since it is an advanced challenge would be to clone out the spots on the floor. Not sure if it's debris or light spots from a disco ball but they are touch distracting. Other than that, I love this shot!

Hope my comments help and OF COURSE Good Luck in future challenges!

Deannda

Two worlds - One bus stop
by timfythetoo

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

I saw this during the challange and thought to myself, "This would be a perfect photo for an article either on divirsity, homelessness or even how our society had changed from a more open to a more suspecious one." I liked the shot overall but something left me off. The colors are great, the expressions are wonderful and I had to come back to it a couple of times to figure out what was bothering me and I finally think I put my finger on it. The balance seems off. You have the man on the left right by the border but the man on the right is more no the thirds line. It's the bench on the right either being cut off or not being cut off enough that seems to bothering me the most. Just putting my hand up and bringing the right side up to the umbrella makes a big difference on the composition of the shot.

Other than that I really can't say much else about the shot, it was the only thing that was really bothering me overall about the shot. :)

Hope my comments help and good luck in future challenges, though after your ribbon you might not need it, LOL :)

Deannda

Forest
by pellemannen

Comment:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

Hi! This is a very interesting photo and I personally feel a great choice for this challenge. The trees draw me in and take me out the top to the "brown" sky, LOL!

A few things that caught my eye right off the bat was the composition of the overall shot. There is really nothing that is keeping me in the shot, it's all fighting for my attention except for that tree in the front right. If you had cropped either that out or more around it to have it be the one for the most attention, not sure if I'm getting my point across. But what it basically comes down to, while a great overall choice for the challenge there is nothing that is standing out in the shot and telling me, "HEY LOOK!" I played with my magic envelopes a little bit and with some creative cropping, take the grass out of the bottom maybe and a little off the right to bring the front tree more on the thirds line might help with the overall feel of the shot.

I hope my comments help and wish you the best of luck in future challenges!

Deannda

Complementary Glasses
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
WTG SHAIL!!!! This is awesome and a well deserved score and placing! CONGRATS!!!!

Deannda

daydream
by CalliopeKel

Comment:
OH SURE! Leave the team and win a ribbon, LOL! Just teasing, congrats on this shot, it's wonderful!