Prehistoric Azikh Woman
by Balko

Comment:
I like the idea behind this image. Nice story-telling, the clarity around the fire is great. Good tones. I wish I could see the woman's face more and have her a bit more in focus as well. I gave a 6

Beginning of the End
by Imagineer

Comment:
Great image. Certainly meets the challenge and has an interesting subject besides the fire aspect. I wish the lighting was just a bit brighter and the focus a little deeper but its still an image I can find myself looking at for awhile. I gave a 6

Streams of Light
by lentil

Comment:
Love the streams, nice color too. The rock? looks rather unfocused but I think its fine since most of the action and thus attention is centered on the light streams which have nice focus and clarity. Composition is good, though I think I'd prefer the image without the rock thing altogether and have it be a more abstract photo with the light twirls. I gave a 6

Last man standing
by LalliSig

Comment:
Great image. Like the color and clarity. The different shapes created by the spent matchsticks adds some nice interest as well. I gave a 6

Fire Dancer
by drz01

Comment:
This was a good idea for this challenge, definitely fire is featured and in an interesting way. Unfortunately the long exposure doesn't enhance what you are bringing out because the 'ghost' created by the girl's movements and the blurr in the background likely due to camera shake impacts the image negatively (at least for me). I think a tripod would have been a good choice as the movement in the background would've been eliminated which would then give a nice clean/crisp starting point. That would help balance out the ghosting found by the moving girl a bit. Still, due to all the light, you CAN see the ghosting of the girl and though that may work sometimes, I don't feel it does here. Instead, had it been darker so the girl was actually rather 'invisible' then the focus would be on the dancing fire and there wouldn't be the other issues distracting from it. That said, I think it was a good choice to try and capture and I bet another try would yield even better results. I gave a 4

Warlock´s Fireball
by russi

Comment:
That's one scary warlock! I like the simple composition of this, not too much in the background to distract from the subject of fire and the supporting actor. The fog is a nice touch and green grass makes an excellent foil for the fireball. Great clarity in the model and the fire is very dynamic. Technically there is a lot going for this image and the interest/originality is right there, but for some reason it doesn't have that "wow" factor for me. So I voted a 7 on those merits, had it had that certain something it'd had done better, but still, not bad eh?

Tame
by pacpinto

Comment:
Nice simple image, I like the color of the candle and the way it contrasts from the background. I think I'd prefer if the background was all one color and if it was that light greenish portion, that'd really set off the tangerine of the candle. The main issue here I think is the focus. The wick seems to be fairly focused but the wax of the candle is much of a blurry lump that distracts me. If the entire, or really most of the upper portion of the candle were tack sharp this would've scored much higher for me. I feel the candle being such a large part of the image has a huge impact visually and thus requires more sharpness. The lighting both from the candle and from other sources (looks like more than one light source at work) is perfect. Everything that needs to be seen is visible. The composition is good, I really like that you have the candle coming out of the corner of the image. The border is a bit distracting, perhaps thinner or just purely black wouldn't draw my attention to it and away from the subject. Overall I gave a 5

Flaming Good Shot!
by talj

Comment:
Interesting shot. I, of course, love the flames and the colors they've produced, the focus looks rather soft on the bottle though I think more fill light would help make the focus better. That said I think removing the bottle from the image entirely would help alleviate some of the focus issues since the flames and shotglass seem to be fairly focused. With this being the fire challenge I would think that just the flames in the background and the shot glass on its own would really make a striking image, especially with the pure black background behind it and the flames on the ground framing the fiery shotgloss. Might be worth revisiting to give that a try. I gave a 5

Fire Starter
by agwright

Comment:
Great action here, high drama. I love the stopped motion aspect of this. Nice detailing and you've controlled most of the natural light. The focus looks good though a bit soft on the body of the fire-eater/spitter. I do wish you'd been able to get more of a side view of him so half of his face and his red mohawk? would be even more visible. Not sure if that turn to the side would also have a better background or not. Finally I wish the fireball wasn't cut off at the top. Still this is a fun image. I gave a 5

Before Edison
by SherwinJames

Comment:
I like the simple centered composition, the colors are nice and the border works well. I think the focus needs a bit of work though, the gold/brass portions should be very sharp and clear but they have a lot of softness to them, my guess is because of low light levels. The lack of sharp focus really impacts this negatively for me, I'm giving a 5. Were it much sharper (not just sharpened) I'd probably give a 7.