Peaceful Maria 22.5 Karen Blunt Pictorial Gold
J1 Definitely peaceful. Very nice composition with lead-in lines. Her face is the most important thing and parts of it could be brighter (forehead and hair). Consider cloning out the green blob in the upper right corner.
Ocean Fishing Wharf 19.5 Karen Blunt Pictorial Gold
J2 It#039;s fine to experiment with high-key images but one still has to maintain visual interest. This image is scrying out for a panoramic crop since the majority of the sky/water is not of interest. Try to bring out more shadow detail in the hut/pier. Watch the halos around the wood posts, especially the far two on the right.
What do I do now 23 Victor Turczynski Pictorial Master
J2 There are multiple areas of activity in this image and the maker has done a fairly good job to isolate it to the gent in the center by toning out the other areas by underexposure. Some brighter distracting areas could be further toned down such as the back wall. The brighter gents at bottom and bottom left can be toned down with a grad filter to bring the focus back up to the center. A large soft vignette would be another option.
Golden Leaves Sunrise 22 Andy Langs Pictorial Master
J1 Nice light that could be toned down tiny bit to less overexposure. The layers in the image are really nice starting with the leaves. The top part of the image doesn#039;t match in contrast and saturation to the bottom creating an imbalance. Perhaps more contrast to the clouds and more even color of water.
Blue Lightning 22 Dan Copeland Pictorial Master
J1 Lovely colors. Good concept and quite creative. The reflection is perfect and adds interest. Unfortunately the main subject and lines lack sharpness - it actually looks misfocused on the ground instead of the top part.
Making the most of it 20.5 Brie Langs Pictorial Bronze
J3 Technically, the focus is on the subjects in the mug and the mug is sharp, even though the focus falls off a bit on the Lego fisherman. Perhaps a bit tight in the frame. Exposure is good. Not a lot of impact for me as an image.
Little Guy in a Big World 21.5 BPP Brie Langs Pictorial Bronze
J2 The idea is there but there is a lot of areas without interest left and right. Suggest simplifying the composition even further by cropping out left/right and some of the sky above and the blurred foreground. Suggest a simple square crop and even a monotone treatment in black and white to enhance the textures and stone patterns.
The Beast and his Prize 18.5 Brie Langs Pictorial Bronze
J2 Having the subject backlight like this will lead to loss of detail in dark subjects. If this was shot in RAW, maker could try to bring up details in the dog. Another option is to use fill flash when shooting backlit subjects to balance out the exposure. The composition is weak with the subject dead center and tight in the frame. J3 good shutter speed to keep the water splashes sharp. Unfortunately, the dog is mainly a silhouette with very little detail visible. The back foot is merging with the frame and the whole subject is too tightly cropped.
At peace in Georgian Bay 22.5 HM BPP Alison Hilborn Pictorial Bronze
J2 A pleasing scene that works well with the framing of the trees left and right. However, the trunk on the right leads the eye out of frame. Maker may want to try a square crop to remove the trunk and the far left tree but still retain symmetry in the composition. While the bridge is a key subject, it is secondary as the eye is diverted up into the frame by the channel but the viewer is left wondering for something greater of interest.
Clerigos Tower Overlooking Porto 17.5 Derrick Butler Pictorial Bronze
J1 Good point of view, good attempt at noir image. I would have avoided the sun in the image (maybe hide behind a building just slightly to give more detail around the mid left portion of the photo. You can barely see what is in the image so hard to have impact. J2 Shooting directly into the sun will throw off your light metering resulting in this severely underexposed image. Maker may want to try bracketing their shots and combining them for HDR to get a balanced exposure for contrasty scenes. Always shoot RAW to gain as much digital information as possible. J3 very difficult lighting situation, shooting directly in to the sun. It leaves us with no detail in the street scene unless you cover up the upper half of the image, including sky, and then we can see some detail in the image. Even so, it needs more exposure so we can see the buildings and cars.
Warrior 21.5 Laura Nelson Pictorial Silver
J3 This image is sharp, expect on the face, where it should be, but well exposed, given the harsh lighting conditions. The dark background gives good separation of the subject from the background, with no distracting elements.
Spitfire and Mustang 21 Laura Nelson Pictorial Silver
J3 Good avoidance of a merger between the planes. A slightly slower shutter speed is preferable when shooting prop airplanes so you can see some motion in the propellers. Increase the exposure slightly and/or open up the shadows so we can see the pilots and detail in the darker areas.
Belted Kingfisher 1 17.5 Jim Thomson Nature Master
J2 Good composition but unfortunately the main subject is out of focus which is critical for Nature photography. If shooting with a long lens, ensure sharpness by mounting to a tripod or a tripod with a gimble head for added flexibility. Using single point focus to target the bird would also be recommended. J3 great opportunity just missed with the focus. lighting was good and nice, soft background and separation of the bird from it.
American Bullfrog Reflection 23.5 Geoffrey Skirrow Nature Master
J3 focus is where it should be, on the eyes, which are really sharp. great exposure. lovely low perspective from which it was taken. would have been slightly better if the depth of field allowed the closest part of the frog and the bubble to also be in focus.
Ant on Milkweed Flower 22 SPP Jim Orcheson Nature Silver
J1 Interesting macro with cute subject. Work on your composition to have less awkward position of the ant. Perhaps rotate the image slightly counter clock-wise. Tone down the bottom right corner background - the viewers eyes go to the most brightest part of the image.
Canadian Beaver 17.5 Peter McCusker Nature Gold
J2 The subject is fairly large in the frame, but the post processing has caused severe artifacts on the fur and loss of detail. This is odd since most of the background hasn#039;t been affected. Ensure you aren't cropping in too much from an image that you are causing pixelation. J3 great pose and good exposure. it appears that the image presented is either a close crop from the original or the processing output a very pixelized version. One can see pixelization all around the beaver and the water, with blotchy green and magenta artifacts in the snow.
Northern shoveler male 24 DP Greg Alderson Nature Master
J2 Good action shot which lends itself to the story. Maker has done well to maintain sharpness and detail. There is a really odd Halo/ghost outline around the entire bird which is unnatural and detracts from the overall quality.
Weathered Cormorant 23 Greg Alderson Nature Master
J2 Maker did well on the exposure and composition. While the majority of the head and neck has excellent sharpness and detail, the shallow depth of field has causing softness in the beak and the back half of the bird. Next time, ensure your aperture can cover the depth of focus for your subject. You may have to bump up your ISO to compensate from the smaller aperture.
Giant Swallowtail 22 Colleen Bird Nature Master
J2 The sharpness and details are there but the lighting is a bit too harsh as we#039;re losing details in the shadow areas. This could be recovered if RAW editing. Maker could also eliminate a lot of the dead space on the left for a tighter composition.
Egret with Catch 25 HM SPP Jon Dun Nature Silver
J2 Great nature story with the Egret feeding. Maker has done a well to maintain details in the white plumage. Composition is a bit central and can be improved by allowing some breathing room on the left.
Swallows Feeding 23 SPP Jon Dun Nature Silver
J3 good nature story. sunlight has caused a few bright spots (bottom right could be cropped up to eliminate that one). The shutter speed chosen created some blurring of the wings on two of the birds.
Northern Flicker 24 SPP Jon Dun Nature Silver
J1 Beautiful light and exposure on the bird. Nicely framed by its environment. Watch out your edges - tone down bright green area above his head, clone out blob upper left corner and bright spot below bottom centre. When composing, consider excluding the right side blurry leaf.
Killdeer 22.5 SPP Mike Moffat Nature Silver
J2 Maker has done a good job capturing the bird in its environment. The composition and exposure is well handled. The post processing has caused a very painterly effect - perhaps due to heavy noise reduction and seem unnatural for a Nature image - we#039;ve lost a lot of the feather detail and sharpness.
Alligator 20.5 Roy Oldfield Nature Gold
J3 exposure on the alligator was well handled but suggest toning down the foliage on the left, perhaps with a graduated filter. crop is a bit tight but that could be that#039;s all that was visible from the vantage point from which it was shot.
Bermuda Chub 19 Roy Oldfield Nature Gold
J2 Maker made a good effort to pan and keep the fish in frame. The main subject is a bit soft and lacking in sharpness and detail, especially in the head and eyes. Without any other recognizable elements, we don#039;t have a sense of scale as the composition is also very centered.
Sunset in Georgian Bay 22.5 HM BPP Alison Hilborn Nature Bronze
J1 Nice light on the rocks. Good sky and clouds. Work on your composition to not have the horizon line right in the middle splitting the image into halves. Include more sky during sunset perhaps wait longer for some color in the sky. Few steps to the right to exclude the top branches in the top left corner.
Egret Taking Off 24.5 DP Geoff Dunn Nature Master
J2 Good capture at moment of take-off which adds to the story. The soft flat lighting works well to hold the details in the whites but it also causes the overall image to appear flat. A selective grad from the top to the background water would give you some added contrast to set the bird off.
Raven 22.5 SPP Laura Nelson Nature Silver
J2 The contrast of the subject works well to set it off against the background. Impact can be improved by going in for a tighter crop - you would still retain the sense of the environment. If shot in RAW, work on bringing up details in the head area as it#039;s crushing the black.
Sunrise on the Lake 21 Lan Gao Nature Silver
J2 Note: clean your sensor or retouch those spots J3 lovely silhouette and must have been a spectacular sight. numerous sensor spots, particularly on the left half of the image should be cleaned up.
