Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by photokariangel:
This is Kari Ann, greetings from the Critique Club:

composition: the centered composition adds to the image in this case, and the leading pebbles up to the little tree add interest

color:strong, vibrant colors work well against the pale blue backdrop

contrast: contrast in the rocks is a little too dark imo, loosing some of their detail

focus: great focus on the tree, its nice and sharp

depth of field: as tygerr said, a deeper DOF would have helped this image. All the pebbles in focus would have pulled the viewer in and made them look for longer

lighting: good lighting, but the small shadows underneath the pebbles are a little distracting

other: I feel this image is extremely zen. I feel at peace when looking at it, and congratulate you in capturing such an inspiring photo. With a few more tweaks here and there, I feel this could have been much higher in the ranks. glad to see you here on DPC, and keep up with the challenges and expanding your horizons. I hope to see you around here more, and see what you can come up with. if you have any more questions, feel free to PM me whenever, anytime.
-Kari Ann

Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by Tygerr:
Nice zen composition. I like the bright red berries against the pastel background. If there was one thing I'd change, I'd try to get all those pebbles in the front in focus too (i.e. deeper DOF/smaller aperture). Somehow I just find the blurry ones in front a bit distracting.

Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by hesam:
i love the idea... nice shot...

Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by Blackbox:
It certainly looks like an 'Island'. It would have been cool if you could have added real water somehow.

Halstatt
by Schnitzer17

Comment by GregoryB:
Lovely clarity and detail in the buildings with a magnificent backdrop.

Emerald Wood
by Schnitzer17

Comment by GregoryB:
I like the processing you've done on this Josh. I'm not so sure about the tree on the left border as indicated by AP. Maybe the base of this could be cropped out to give more symmetry to the image. One other thing...and I know trees don't grow straight......the horizon is rising from the left to the right...I would rotate the image to level this up just for aesthetics...this would also reduce the amount of cropping to the left of the image.....all in all a very pleasing image.

Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by geinafets:
I think so many rocks take away from the plant.

Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by Rainbow-Coloured-Soul:
This was a good idea, but I think the flowers should have been the main point of focus and not the stones. Nice simple picture though. Very feng shui.

Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by HeiSch:
very basic, reduced to the minimum. I feel that in a picture such as this, everything should be tack sharp and in focus

Island of Hope
by Schnitzer17

Comment by Alain:
Very Zen, well done