Hopeful for a Kiss
by riley

Comment:
Take away the title and, Hey! It's just a frog! And frogs are almost a dying species. What "Hope" is there in that? Nice pose by the frog though - and the focus and colors look pretty true to life also.

Irony
by RedOak

Comment:
The "irony" for me is that I really liked your image, and I left it until last to comment on. The reason was that I saw no "hope" in the image. I saw a dark, foreboding soul drowning in the dispair of chronic alcoholism. I saw Russian leaders, hiding their failures as human beings by losing themselves in the stupor of Vodka. I saw no "Hope". I DID see a striking, backlit image of contrasting yellows, reds and blacks which was really attractive.

Sent From Up Above
by dv_rock

Comment:
This image needs to be re-thought. My reaction is that here are two pieces of statuary glued to some rocks with a jumble of rock and distracting plant patterns all around. I would try and see if I could take it in such a fashion that the major bright white space of sky disappears, the background clumps of bushes are cropped out, and the image concentrates on the top 80% of the foreground image and all of the background image. If you could then get some lighting effect showing the background figure with more brightness and detail, you would probably be heading in the right direction. But, hey! That's just MY opinion. I'm sure that there are plenty of others that WILL like it. The kneeling (nun?) could be an attractive image.

Feed Me
by JJacobson

Comment:
This is a really "busy" image - with not a lot to say for "Hope". And that which might indicate "hope" is conflicting: Maybe the fish is "Hoping" for a meal, but "Silica Gel; Do Not Eat"? And maybe a student somewhere is "Hoping" for a good test result, but I "Hope" you don't mean the fish is. :-) Yep, there is a Unicorn in the background, too. But, paper clips? A piece of pipe fitting? The edge of a paper towel? A drum stick? What IS all that stuff ... ? I HOPE you got it cleaned up since then. :-)

Determined to succeed
by Heavy

Comment:
Just didn't seem to fit the challenge - at least for me. As a photo, it's nice to have captured the moment, but even then - the dog is lost amongst all the background clutter and the rays of light underneath distract your eye.

Good morning, God!
by Mary Ann Melton

Comment:
Nice job. I like the composition: coffee cup, rose, glasses, bible, crochetted doily - it all fits together, both subject wise and in terms on color tones. The rose image is picked up in the cup and "Hope" is framed in the glasses. All very nice. Only criticisms? The rose looks kinda wilted (didn't last through all your hard work); it would have been nice to have some stronger glasses so that "hope" was magnified slightly more, and the coffee is cold! :-) Really nice photo though.

Hope can't be chained
by arngrimur

Comment:
Oh, the contrasts! Soft versus hard, bright white and colors vs. very dark and blacks, smooth vs. rough, organic vs. mineral, it all combines to make for a really attractive image. Now, ... "Hope"? Without the title I could probably come up with the word "hope" as one of my first ten guesses, but then, "Hope" is a very hard concept to convert into a stand-alone image. And you've done a really great job.

Esperanza
by 77DX

Comment:
I've always been particial to artwork lit from within by a single candle. One of my favorites is St. Joseph the Carpenter, a painting by Georges De La Tour in the 1600s. It currently resides in the Louvre in Paris. In that one the candle is hidden behind the young boy's hand and actually turns the hand almost translucent as it lights up the painting. This photo has much of the same quality - even to the religous connotation. I really like it. Congratulations.

and.... where is my house????
by kaske666

Comment:
The two biggest factors I used in my rating were: 1) If I came upon this image outside of the challenge, what word would it evoke ("hope" wasn't in the top five); and, 2) What do I think of the quality of the image (no detail and out of focus). If there were no title, I'd have trouble figuring out the theme. As a result, I couldn't find any positive points for which to give credit. Hey, that's just me. I sure that there were others who really liked it.

He loves me, he loves me not...
by dwterry

Comment:
Rated this a six, then a seven, then an eight. It kept growing on me. As a portrait, it is so striking - natural windswept hair, crystal clear focus on the whole individual, obvious symbolism of "loves me, loves me not" even without title (Why do we have to include titles, anyway?), great contrast of black dress and yellow flowers, no confusing background because of angle of shot, downward look indicative of hopeful longing - it is just a really nice photo. Doesn't hurt that the subject is very attractive also.