Stiff arm
by dlinn3

Comment:
It's a nice moment though it's a bit unfortunate that the focus is on the guy to the right.
It is also extremely strange to have the left guy's right shoe disappearing into the ground.
I'm of the opinion that this picture would be more suited to B&W than colour as it is somewhat monochrome already (e.g. the lighting is very flat and and the guy's clothes are alls black and white).
Regardless of whether the picture is in color or B&W the contrast should be increased. The easiest way to do this would be to do an autolevel in Photoshop but a slight s-curve would also help tremendously - //www.outbackphoto.com/workshop/photoshop_corner/essay_17/essay.html

Running outdoors
by lastef

Comment:
This is a very happy picture as such, e.g. we feel the joy in the kid's face as he is running.
However, I don't connect this picture very much with sports - more with playfulness.
Other than that it's quite frustrating that the right foot is missing in the picture - a wider view would probably have been more optimal here - and to have such an overexposed sky.
I would probably have used slight Shadow/highlight in Photoshop to bring out the detail in the kid's pants.
Sharpening is perhaps a bit too agressive as can especially be seen in the kid's pants.
I also think this picture would have been much nicer in black and white.
�slensk, geri ég ráð fyrir? ;)

Middle age
by IceRock

Comment:
Here we have a good example of the value of fill-flash. The woman and the surrounding 'frame' are simply too dark and you should have used the on-camera flash, or better yet an external flash, to lighten those parts up a bit.
It is often said that the built in flashes in cameras were put there for one reason, to be used as fill-flash to lighten up the foreground during the day and not for using when there is little available light, such as in the evening.

Try it! (If you haven't done so yet). During sunny days you should try to enable the on-board flash when taking pictures of subjects close to the camera (especially people).

asphalt dreams
by pcody

Comment:
Nice capture - good framing and it even looks quite dreamy. I would like the bottom part of the asphalt to be a bit darker though, a slight burning would do nicely.
Perhaps a slightly smaller aperture would have been better, it seems the asphalt above the truck is too much out of focus, though it could just be that it is covered with water?

Defining Beauty
by arnit

Comment:
I'm sorry if I'm a bit harsh, but I feel you've botched this shot by using too much jewelry and/or using too flashy jewelry!
If you had used just the ring or just the necklace this would have been quite nice photo but as it is the photo is too tacky - the bracelet, in particular, should not have been in the photo. A less pronounced color could also have helped here.
The lightning is quite nice and so is the model, of course!
I don't like the shadow falling off the necklace - quite distracting.
I also feel there is too much space above the 'Carties' text.

Nice photograph overall but I feel it could have been much better!

Closed church
by marvin

Comment:
Wow, I took an exact looking photo of this church last week!
//www.andri.org/ljosmyndakeppni/CRW_0025-copy-2.jpg

As for your picture, the halos around the two crosses are quite irritating. The ground is a tad too dark and I think the sky isn't very appealing. I like how your picture is taken from a higher vantage point than mine though the road doesn't help the picture.

I quite naturally like the framing ! ;-)

Dark clouds of the past
by andri

Comment:
I'm quite grateful for all the comments, folks ... and I'm of course jumping with joy that I managed to win a ribbon - my first one at that!

I'd like to mention that it is quite funny that the house on my photo is the exact same as the one on the terrific picture that placed 4th in the challenge. Strange, eh?

I also want to address some questions and comments from from people who took the time to comment on my picture:

1) haakky was curious about the location of this shot. Well, this house can be seen while driving from Keflavik airport to Reykjavik, shortly after driving past a small town called 'Vogar'. The picture in 4th place represents the view from the road in case anyone will be traveling to Iceland and is curious about the house.

2) I believe the picture is quite level. On the original photograph (this is a crop as I didn't have long enough lens) there is a house and flagpole to the left and these seem to perfectly level.

3) IceRock commented that he'd like to see the picture either a bit darker or in hard tone B&W. I did play with converting the picture to B&W but ultimately I felt subdued color suited it better.

4) viajero noted that the clouds weren't really dark. This is true but the title refers to the single dark cloud hovering above the house (I felt 'clouds' instead of 'cloud' sounded better so I chose the plural form).

5) cpurser wrote that " wish I had landscapes like this... well, maybe it is good that I don't... I would never go to work!"
Well to answer this, we Icelanders seem to never have time to appreciate our country as we work longer hours than people in most, if not all, 'civilized' countries. ;-)

I also have an outtake for the challenge that some people seem to like better.

One more payment and it's mine
by boone

Comment:
Nice. what I would have loved to see here would have been a shot from further away where the whole tree would have been included. I'd also be curious to see a version where you would stand either a bit more to the left and would have shot the front face of the house straight on more to the right and shot the side straight on.

Empty
by rubytuesdai

Comment:
What is wrong with this picture? Here is an incomplete list:
a) The horizon is not level. You should have either fixed this in editing or be more careful at shooting time.
b) The picture is too soft. Either the focus is incorrect or you are using too slow shutter speed. A tripod would've helped here. Slight unsharp mask would be nice too (100 in amount, 0.3-0.4 in radius and 0 in threshod would probably help here).
c) The framing is not good enough. What is particularly irritating is that you've failed to include the leftmost part of the building. You might also have either tried to include more the surroundings or perhaps focused strictly on the door and the staircase - that might have been better.
d) The photo is much too grey. Try instead to take photographs when it's not as cloudy as is the case here and take them early in the morning when the sun is low on the sky.

Solitude
by SnapperL

Comment:
It looks as this was shot through a car window - am I right here?

Anyway, I think it would have been better to go a bit to the left and shoot the front of the house straight on. I think that would have looked neat because of the step-like form of the house. Including some background or foreground would also have been helpful here. If the woman on to the right had been somewhat closer to the camera this could have been a nice photo.
It also irritates me a bit that you have angled the camera upwards here. Better to shoot at a greater distance and crop the lower portion off the picture.

In addition the photograph is too soft but I like the toning though the effect is perhaps a tad strong for my taste.