Now Kids, Don't Try This At Home
by antares1966

Comment:
A nice fun image which I'm sure was a lot of fun to take! The opposing colours of the liquids adds interest to the shot and focuses attention on these as the rest of your image is fairly uniform in its colours. The kids have pretty genuine expressions of shock which are I think, under utilised. The girl on the right should be facing the camera more so we can see her face, the girl on the left has too much shadow in her face so her expression is largely hidden. The addition of burnt lab coats is great, but I think cropping in more so that just the tops of the coats were visible along with the liquids and the girls heads would have helped focus more attention and cut out some of the dead space around them. A 5 from me.

Love molecules
by girish

Comment:
This is an interesting response to the challenge, you've got some sound ideas here which work well but could do with a little improvement. The varied colours are appealing, the plain background focuses attention on your subject matter and the writing adds an extra dimension of interest that a standard 'molecule' shot would be missing.

So in terms of technicals, firstly it looks like this shot is suffering from artifacts of JPEG compression. To rectify this, use a higher compression setting (IE 10 or 12). Although your background is plain, there remains some texture to it which is still a little distracting. I'd have liked to have seen this photo as a 3D representation but from the looks of it, this wasn't possible. So if your sticking with 2D try to think more about balance in your composition, and take your idea of molecules and expand on it. Try to add more molecule structures to the image and create a sense of depth (some smaller ones, some bigger ones). I have given this a 3.

H2O(J) & H2(lem)O squared
by Romford_Raygun

Comment:
I think this photo has been let down on a few levels, the clarity of the photo has suffered becayse of artifacts and pixelation. The background of your photos is arguably as interesting as the subject matter itself and the background here is way too busy and distracting. It's competing with your subject matter and this kind of conflict will not sit well with your viewers. A couple of suggestions - either shoot against a plain background, use a very shallow depth of field to isolate your subjects and focus attention, or if your background is central to the effect your going with in the photo, then make sure everything is clear and that your highlights aren't blown out.

This is an interesting idea and in spite of the bad technicals I think it shows some promise in terms of creative thought and meeting the challenge 'outside the box' so stick with it! I give this a 2 due to the technical side letting it down.

Fleur de Feu ("Flower of Fire")
by jodeleeuw

Comment:
This is a nice clear fireworks shot, and has some quite clear links to the challenge 'Chemistry'. The colours are great and very complimentary, the image is sharp and well composed. The only downside is that there's a lack of creative thought with your entry - its a little vanilla to me and lacks a 'Wow!' kinda reaction. I gave this a 6.

Combustion Chemistry
by Hillwaaa

Comment:
A great frozen motion photo, the flame is clearly just igniting and I imagine it took a lot of patience to get this just right and framed correctly. What lets this down though is the focus - its just not crisp enough on the match head for my liking. Good idea though and an unusual way of meeting the challenge. 6.

Flaming Blue
by wrldtrvlr13

Comment:
Great concept and meets the challenge very well. The whiteness of the flame adds a mysterious feel and the blue liquid is a strong source of interest for this photo. I'm a little put off though by the negative space to the bottom of the image - it does little to add to the photo since the burner isn't lit at all. 7 from me.

Diffusing Boron @ 950C
by Denise

Comment:
I think this is certainly one of the more interesting shots from this challenge as it shows actual 'real world' chemistry taking place. So in this sense its very true to the challenge requirements. There are some great elements of interest in this photo, not least that cool looking red yellow lighting in the background.

This is obviously a candid shot and I think it would do well in stock photography, however I'm personally biased as I prefer my photography more in your face and beating you with the interest stick ;) I gave this a 6.

Tools of the Trade
by pipersd

Comment:
The links to chemistry here are obvious, its a nice shot and you have clearly spent some time thinking about the arrangement of the items for the best effect. I find black and white photos particularly subjective, for me contrast is king in them and this is one area I feel this shot falls down slightly. It looks a bit on the flat side to me and the exciting subjects seem a bit boring because of this. I gave this a 5.

Modern Chemistry
by baileyld

Comment:
All the elements of this photo shout 'Chemistry' to me so you have met the challenge really well, I think you should spend some time thinking about the composition though. The first thing that jumped out was the bottle of acid(?) the label really should be facing forward so we can identify exactly what it is we're looking at. You could also try limiting the amount of objects in the photo and concentrating on the strongest one and isolating this by depth of field. I know these seem like little niggles but when something doesn't quite sit right it spoils the entire effect of the photo. Hope this is some help, 5 from me.

Escaping the chaos of 'brownian motion'
by pffree

Comment:
This is certainly a very interesting effect which meets the challenge well - provided you know what brownian motion is of course (or like me, you can use google!). Nice choice of colours and the fall off in the blue/white section I find particularly appealing. The yellows are looking a bit dirty in places though but I guess I can't have everything!

I think the only area this picture falls down in is that, although the subject matter is interesting, this effect is quite abstract and that for some is an aquired taste. 7 from me.