Noisy, Hungry Sea Lion
by StevePax

Comment:
GREETINGS FROM THE CRITIQUE CLUB!

Well, I wish I had more to say about this picture....

Its great. I like the crop choice. The detail looks sufficient, maybe a bit obscured by the darkness in the shadows. A lot of others have commented about the blue cast and I think they're right, it detracted from the photo. Im guessing your score would have easily gone up a whole point if this wasn't the first thing to hit many a viewers brain.

Home at last
by Coley

Comment:
GREETINGS FROM THE CRITIQUE CLUB.... or something like that...

Well, I see you scored a 5.1 on this shot. Quite frankly, Im surprised. I would have rated this at a 4 or so....

The most impressive aspect of this shot is the capture of the bird. His (or her!) wings are caught in full spread, a very powerful looking pose. The feathers are perfectly spread out and are a little blurry, but judging buy the shutter speed, that couldnt have been helped.

So the bird is amazing.... but unfortunately, the whole rest of the shot detracts from this.

COMPOSITION: I think you could have obtained a better crop by cutting some of that vertical post our of the picture. If not removing it entirely, at least get rid of the small shred of sky to the left of the post. Same thing with the top of the shot. I think the post that angles down into the top of the frame is distracting. I think the composition is the main thing that kills this picture. Next time try to obtain a setup that you would want to look at even without a bird, then wait for it to fly into the shot and SNAP!

FOCUS: As others have mentioned, the shot kind of feels out of focus. The trees in the background definately, and at an aperture of 7, thats how it should be. I think if you dropped the aperture even lower, making the background completely out of focus, it'd draw even more attention to the bird and house, and then the trees wouldnt be distracting us at all.

In sum, next time pay more attention to how all the elements in your shot are framed before you make the shoot. Try to get an arrangement that looks pleasing to the eye BEFORE the bird gets involved, that way when you get a great capture of a bird such as this, you dont have several background elements distracting from it.

Note of D
by Kneeforu

Comment:
Normally a shot like this would be dreadfully boring, but the cropping choice is interesting. You captured the hues of the wood really well also. The black background is a perfect match to the scratch-protector (I forget the name), making an undulating pattern of black, yellow, black, yellow, black yellow... (8)

Tiny Heart Beats
by lmhr

Comment:
Nice. The soft light is good.... its a great shot. I cant offer too much of a critique, sorry! Nice unique interpretation, keep it up. (10)

Universal Language
by karmat

Comment:
I was getting so sick of seeing Hands-on-the-Piano shots I was marking them way down, but this has to be most appealing execution of the bunch. I cant critique the technicals of the photo, its pretty flawless. I like the title, but the shot still loses crucial creativity points for being associated with the cliche. (7)

Pump Up the Volume
by jab119

Comment:
Good execution of a great concept. I'd give it a 10 if it weren't for a few minor flaws. It appears a bit oversharpened, as I can see some pixelization on the top rim of the glass in the upper right corner. A different colored background might have made for a nicer contrast against the black rim of the speaker. Otherwise a great shot. (9.5)

Iced Cap chillin at the beach
by DCThiessen

Comment:
Hmmm, dont know if the subject is terribly interesting, but this shot gives off a nice feel. Bright hues, balanced composition.... nice work.

Oil Giant
by renzo

Comment:
I really wish I knew what I was looking at on this photo. Normally with abstracts I dont always care, but this looks so much like a planet that I wonder too much about what it really is. How was this taken?

Please? Don't cry ...
by e301

Comment:
Wow, this is remarkable soft lighting. The milk looks a little off-white, what liquid is this? It looks as if great care was taken in all aspects of the set up, and for that reason the odd-shaped droplet throws me off. Not to say that all the pools should have been uinformly round, the odd shape is crucial, but just that in a shot with a studio feel such as this, even the irregular or randomly shaped elements need special care to preserve harmony. Something about the way the left tail kind of narrows to a point? I can't really finger it. I KNOW it sounds like nitpicking, Im just relaying what my eyes told me. It was the 'only' thing that detracted. Fabulous shot. (9)

Lick Quid
by Wraith Ravenscroft

Comment:
This is great. I was going to try a phonetic interpretation of a previous challenge, wondered how it would score. I give high marks, not low, for this unique idea.