Dance On A Volcano
by tcc

Comment:
There's a lot going on in this shot - the smoke, the red vial, the hot coals in the foreground and the purple-ish tinged background. The colours all work really well and the lighting is pretty much spot on too. But in terms of your subject matter I think you maybe have a bit too much going on. I'd have preferred this as either a volcano shot or a shot of a red vial with smoke coming out of it. As it stands everything is competing for my attention in a way that is without harmony so I give this a 6.

Biochemistry
by pointandshoot

Comment:
This is, I think, the most artistic response to the challenge I have seen. I really like what you have done here, a strong sense of narrative prevails. I'm left wondering whats going on in this photo, why the guy is peering through a hole, whats going on under that tarpolin to the right.. a real interest feast here. The negative space works really well too to focus attention in on the main areas of interest.

So technically, obviously there is a blown highlight in there but I do think this is an example of a shot where a blown highlight doesn't impact the overall effect. We couldn't see the detail in the guys head anyway so its moot. Other that that there's not a lot else I can fault, so I give this a 9.

Water Chemistry
by IreneM

Comment:
Very clean shot, the toning really works well for it. The different elements of the photo come together nicely, the smaller bubbles inside the syringe add some texture to it, the larger ones form great shapes which hold the interest of the viewer well. I might have preferred this a bit more with a steeper incline angle to the syringe but overall its a great shot - 8.

It's Alkaline....Or is it?!
by ahmadbaara

Comment:
There's a lot going on in this shot and what I like most about it is that its very balanced. The square crop has been used to full effect here to draw attention in on the main areas of interest, the varied colours work well and the different elements come together nicely. This is one of the better shots from this challenge but a couple of minor faults made me mark it down a little - the blown highlights on his head being the more obvious. The second one, and this is somewhat subjective, is the guys expression. I cant place my finger on exactly what I dont like about it, but I think I'd prefer it without the raised eyebrow. I gave this an 8.

lesson of the day
by apixie

Comment:
I took a good long look at this last night and was struggling to come up with any comments I could make, but after sleeping on it I came back to make one :)

Although this technically meets the challenge as the drugs/medicine is obviously chemistry related I'm not sure this has enough interest in the shot for my taste. You've chosen to use black and white for this image which is a good choice for most subject matter, but then you have left it as a fairly flat black and white which makes the subject matter appear fairly boring. If you'd used some really harsh black and white contrast it would have added a real sense of drama to the image which would have helped it a lot I think. The title suggests that maybe these are narcotics rather than medicinal drugs? If so, more drama would have been even more important I feel.

Although that all sounds pretty critical, this is pretty well executed, you've clearly spent some time thinking about the arrangement of the photo and the texture of the power and pills is evident and strong, but for me that wasn't enough to hold my interest. Overall 4.

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.

Chemistry of Rainbows
by Moose408

Comment:
This is a good clean shot with a simple yet effective layout. The different colours add visual interest and I can tell you have an eye for details as even the markings on the test tubes are uniform :) The decision not to include the bottom of the test tubes could be seen as a bit of a gamble but I think it works for this shot as its all straight lines and uniform precision. Can't really fault anything here except that it leaves me a bit hungry and wanting a bit more to be going on. 8 from me.