Posing at Old City Hall 20 David Evans Pictorial Master
J1 Good exposure and nicely composed. The expression on her face and direction she is looking make the story a little confusing. It appears she is glancing at the photographer. Possibly a few seconds before of after may have may have captured a better facial expression.
Bradock BAy Reflections 22 Andy Langs Pictorial Gold
J1 A pleasing images with good exposure and depth of field. The scene has many interesting elements that all have a similar weight. The channel provides a good leading line, but there is nothing at the end. Think about what most attracted you to the scene and look for ways to highlight that aspect.
High noon forest 20 Ed Espin Pictorial Master
J2 Good attempt at a landscape monochrome but there are issues. There is nothing strong for the eye as main subject of interest. The overall same tonality of gray makes image flat. The random areas of subject blur from slow shutter is distracting. Extra care needed for evident cloned areas.
Newborn BenjaminTop P 26 TC GPP Valerie Goodfellow Pictorial Gold
J2 The diagonal placement gives it some dynamic interest. Simple composition works to bring focus to the subject. A gentle vignette would help. The lighting appears too warm. Adjusting white balance would be an easy fix for natural skin tones. Watch odd (cloning?) artifacts lower left corner.
Quebec Guide 22 Leonie Holmes FCAPA Pictorial Master
J1 Well exposed with the background nicely softened. The would have a greater connection with the viewer if the guide was looking at the camera. As it is, we are left wondering who or what is distracting her.
Dundurn Castle 21 Ed Espin Pictorial Master
J1 Good detail with all of the building being tack sharp. The building is well exposed. The bright foreground and trees in the upper left somewhat distract from the main subject. The image feels a little unbalanced, partly because of the different cropping on the right and left.
Morning Dove On Post 22 BPP Jon Dun Pictorial Bronze
J1 Pleasing pose. The image is sharp where it needs to be. Difficult lighting conditions creates uneven lighting on the feathers and perch resulting in some clipped highlights. The lighting on the head has better balance.
Backyard Visitor 17.5 Terry Ross-Poulton Pictorial Master
J1 Well seen moment. Some technical challenges to work on are getting the focus point on the face rather than the leg and looking for ways to reduce the reflection from the glass window/door, as it is quite distracting. If this fellow is still coming around, keep shooting him, he makes a great subject.
Bygone Days 23 Kathryn Martin Pictorial Master
J1 Beautiful image. The wide white border would work well for a print, but when projected, the thickness of the white area takes away some of the impact. J2 The simple composition and complimentary soft colour pallet make the image. A couple of visual issues: Having some of the petals tips blurred is contrary to the all the other elements being sharp. Having the stem stop abruptly at the neck. Large white border too strong.
Beach boy 21 Valerie Goodfellow Pictorial Gold
J1 A well seen moment. Good sharpness where needed. Getting more light reflected into the eyes would create a better connection with the child. Consider other camera angles to avoid the horizon running through the subject#039;s head.
Tulip 21 Roy Oldfield Pictorial Gold
J2 The maker had good a good concept for this backlit subject. The diagonal composition works well suggest flipping the image left to right so the eye naturally leads into the frame instead of out with the stem. Suggest increasing exposure by a stop to bring out petal details. Clean up background spots
Night Ride 22 SPP Marino Favretto Pictorial Silver
J1 Well done for doing something different. Most moving rides at night are blurred, which make this image unique. Toning down the highlights on the lower part of the ride and the reflective triangle would add even more impact.
Canada geese 24.5 HM GPP Jim Maguire Pictorial Gold
J2 The monochrome high contrast treatment works well for the subject matter. Simple yet effective but brings out details in all 3 birds. Placement of the birds works perfectly. Only suggestion would be rotate the image slightly to level the ripples horizontally.
Old Homestead in PEI 20.5 John King Pictorial Gold
J2 This image has a lot of potential as the composition is well laid out. However, it does appear overprocessed and too contrasty. Dial it back to not crush the blacks. Care in cloning especially around edges of the house and trees. Painterly sky does not match the details in house and foreground.
Hummingbird On Form 20 Jon Dun Pictorial Bronze
J2 Unusual pose of the Hummer as it hides the head but acceptable for Pictorial. Since the body of the bird is so prominent, some selective enhancement to sharpen detail and bring out colours would be suggested (too soft). Some background separation needed for the tail area as well.
Boardwalk First Light 23 GPP Andy Langs Pictorial Gold
J3 The image is well exposed and sharp throughout. The bridge forms a nice leading line which draw#039;s the viewer's attention into the image. The sun is overexposed, and somewhat distracting, but it does add warmth to the image.
Adult Female Northern Cardinal 20 Joe Teixeira Nature Bronze
J1 The birds is sharp where it needs to be amp; stands out nicely from the background. The stick crossing in front of the bird is a significant distraction; would have been less distracting if it did not cross the face. There is more negative space on the right than is needed to tell the story.
Humpback Whale 21.5 Laura Nelson Nature Silver
J1 Good exposure and well timed to get water dripping from tail. Consider trying a 2:1 aspect ratio. It would eliminate the dull sky and really draw focus to the tail. There appears to be a slight colour cast.
Trumpeter Swans in Motion 22.5 John King Nature Gold
J1 Well exposed and good choice of shutter speed. Great action. Not having a clear view of the head of the following bird makes the scene a little confusing at first glance. Cropping is a little tight, especially on the left.
Male Bufflehead Landing 17.5 Gary Love Nature Master
J1 The maker had good timing to capture this moment. The lack of sharpness, detail in the feathers and chromatic aberration take away much of the impact. J2 Good attempt at an action shot. Unfortunately, for Nature, it#039;s not sharp enough and in focus. Processing has also softened the image and there is a distinct halo on the back areas of the bird.
Sicssor-Tail Flycatcher 22 Andy Langs Nature Gold
J1 A pleasing images with good exposure and sharpness. The images is a little static without a strong nature story. There is a little more of the habitat included that is needed to tell the story.
Great Egret 20.5 Joe Teixeira Nature Bronze
J3 The capture was well seen by the maker, and the timing well executed to catch water droplets. However, the white feathers are over-exposed and lack detail. The shutter speed chosen may have been too slow, as the subject shows movement, and is largely out of focus.
Swallowtail Butterfly 18 Cherylene Stimers Nature Bronze
J2 Good Composition, but for Nature, we want the majority of the subject in focus and sharp. Unfortunately, only part of the body and back wing are in focus. Using a smaller aperture to increase DoF would help. Practice on subjects to see how much DoF you have at what apertures and what distance away.
Virginia ctenucha tiger mothTop N 26.5 TC DP Kathryn Martin Nature Master
J2 The composition of this image and the contrast of the 3 subject elements work well together. Perfect detail in the flower and the bud and majority of the moth. some selective sharpening on the back and wings would help. The leaf merger bottom right is questionable. Almost prefer more of it to frame.
Mute Swan - face detail 19 Joe Teixeira Nature Bronze
J2 Makers choice of a tight framing works well for this composition. However, while the eye is sharp, part of the beak, nostril, basal knob detail are soft. Halo over the head and basal is distracting. Colour noise can be cleaned up in post. Quite a bit of artifacts in the feather area distracting
Aster 21.5 Ed Espin Nature Master
J2 Maker#039;s choice of the subject placement gives it a strong composition. Clean background enhances the subject as well. Foreground petals some front leaves are OOF and somewhat distracting. Smaller aperture to increase DoF would help.
Tundra swan 19.5 Jim Maguire Nature Gold
J2 Maker has done a good job to capture the flight. The composition is a bit central and may benefit from cropping all around and more of the left. The backlit feathers are blown out and look unnatural and this make it distracting and gives it a cut-n-paste look.
Bumblebee on a Purple Coneflower 18.5 Ted Buck Nature Gold
J2 While the tight composition brings focus to the subject, at these magnifications, it also results in shallow depth of field. Looks like the plane of focus is just behind the head. For Nature category, we need majority of the subject in focus and sharp. Parts of "fur" highlights are also blown out.
Mallard Duck 23.5 Victor Turczynski Nature Master
J2 Wonderful and unusual story with the duck. Isolating the scene down to just the 3 elements makes the composition. Would prefer some breathing room on the right. The beak tip and the rump are slightly soft for Nature but not too distracting.
Purpletop Vervain 19 Ted Buck Nature Gold
J2 The bright colours and lighting add impact but for Nature, more of the subject needs to be in focus. If you can#039;t use a smaller aperture, try focus stacking as an option to increase depth of field. Image is too tight on the right. Bright OOF distractions right and bottom right in frame.
Mallards 20.5 Jon Dun Nature Bronze
J2 Composition and Exposure are strong to enhance the image as well as the story. While the right duck has good detail and sharpness, the depth of field has dropped off for the one on the left and is slightly soft and OOF. Focusing on the foreground bird may have helped as DoF is longer in the back.
