DENTICLES

ACCEPTED - Excellent idea – while the biting edges of the top two teeth seem sharp, I think in this case, there should be more of them in focus – you appear to have vignetted the edges of the image, adding to the overall lack of contrast in the photograph – with a little more thought about the composition and lighting you could really make something of this subject.

SCENTED ROWS

HONOURS - The high horizon emphasises the drama of the glorious rows of colour – I appreciate the only large strip of grass visible between the rows, curls around on the third – the sky could be a bit more dynamic – the lavender is so sharp one can nearly smell it – excellent work – keep going this way, and you’ll be an A Grader before you know it.

A BYGONE ERA

ACCEPTED - This has good diagonals, adding movement to the image – in my opinion, as you have chosen to have only one key in focus, and because of that very narrow field, those keys in the foreground and beyond the centre key, are just so fuzzy, they overwhelm you – I appreciate that you’ve moved in and simplified, but I’d like just a bit more in focus.

ROW UPON ROW

ACCEPTED - When I first saw this, I was going to suggest you crop off from the top, almost to the tops of rows – then while moving it, I suddenly saw you already had done that – the images come up on a white background on my computer and I couldn’t see where the picture stopped – when you have something like this, you really need to put a very fine border around it, so we can see where the photograph finishes – the same with mainly black images against a black background – I still think you’re stretching things with the stark white sky – the vines are beautifully depicted and it’s a well seen image.

CAMEL RIDE, NUBRA VALLEY, INDIA

HONOURS - Magnificent – every line leads to the bright structure on the left, even the camels – I’d change only one thing, if it were mine – I’d crop off at least half the very dark foreground – I think that would be more balanced.

PRAYER SLIPS, THIEN HAU PAGODA

MERIT - I think this is quite a clever image – taking the subject face on, you’ve eliminated any sense of perspective and reduced it to a purely geometrical pattern – there’s just enough side lighting to show the shape of the prayer slips, without breaking the pattern too much – good tones, with everything from black to white.

BALLOONS OVER BAGAN

MERIT - I’m not sure whether the minarets or the balloons are meant to be the main subject, but they work well together – of course the sun is burnt out, it always is, unless there’s a bushfire nearby, but as it’s not very big in the frame, it’s not too bad – the spires form a strong triangular composition – I don’t know whether it’s sunrise or sunset, but whichever, you’ve handled it well – I do like the delicacy of the spires.

SSN_114_RAINDROP LINEUP.JPG

HONOURS - This is not the easiest picture to take, but you have done very well – you’ve kept it simple and used a good plain background – the one really sharp drop is plumb on a third – the object from which the drops are hanging is simple and grey rather than white – it’s also on a slight slope, adding some movement – terrific image.

THREE BROOM PODS IN A ROW

HONOURS - Glorious lighting, which shows not only the seeds inside the pods, but also those fine hairs – the colour is superb and the background is wonderfully blurred – I like the diagonal of the stem, coming as it does from right in the corner.

LINED UP READY TO PADDLE

ACCEPTED - What a shame it was such a dull day when you took this – a little bit of cross-lighting would improve it immensely – I’m not sure why you left all that background at the top, as it’s not adding anything to the image, in fact it tends to distract from the paddles and would be a much stronger composition without it – I think I know why you decided to take it straight on, because of the set subject, but you could also have approached it from the side, creating diagonals and power.