Iris Drops
by SharonS

Comment:
Congrats on your first ribbon!
This is beautiful, and I'm thrilled to see that it was taken with the 300D.
Go team Canon!

Tired Student, Losing Focus
by brianlh

Comment:
From the Critique Club :

Good job on your first set up shot!
You did a great job with the lighting and soft focus here. Your choice of b&w works well here.
My only suggestions would be to have angled the book differently so we dont see the ucla stamp. I also would have removed the papers from the upper left hand corner. They make the layout a little busy and are picking up too much light(brings my attention there).

soft
by agwright

Comment:
From the Critique Club :
Great shot!
As a flower lover and shooter, I can appreciate this one even more.
Obviously by your score, your photo was well liked.
You did a great job achieving soft focus without making the flower look blurry.
Lighting and composition were good, especially the stem placed in the corner. You achieved a nice deep black background and picked a nice simple border to complete this.

It's hard to critique the good ones :)

Cibolo Vaquero
by Gordon

Comment:
Hey Gordon,
This is my first "critique club" image, so here goes:

The image has good use of duotone. Composition is also very good. I really like the shadows on the building.
While I know you intentionally added grain, I'm not sure it is effective here. I notice it mainly in the sky. Also, could be due to the stockings.
I see that you used stockings over the lens, just wish the effect was a little more noticable.
In this challenge I think voters needed an "in your face" soft focus....your's, though effective for the shot, was not noticable enough for them.
BTW, I am not thrilled to receive your's as my first, because I know you are already a great photographer, and what ever you did with this shot was your intention. I can't help or teach you anything you don't already know.
Keep it up :)
Terry

Consider the Lily
by banmorn

Comment:
nice shot, looks familiar :)

Cheers!
by Michaels

Comment:
Interesting abstract. My only complaint is a little noise in the upper red portion. Maybe oversaturation.

Simple Pleasures
by Cam

Comment:
funny!

simple wonder
by grigrigirl

Comment:
how cute. I would have left a little more on top.
But I do like the nice close crop otherwise, it makes for an intimate portrait.

Uncultivated
by Glen King

Comment:
this would be much more effective if you didnt cut the pic in half by the sky/ground. Next time try a one third/two thirds crop.

My First Christmas Tree
by Sonifo

Comment:
This was a perfect example of soft focus used in the right way.
Congrats on 1st place.