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This duck is part of a park in the US VI. It was captured with a 70-

200L canon lens with 1.4TC. Minor levels and sharpening in PS.

The obvious problem here is the unleveled horizon. Many good photos get ruined this way.

 

The other problem is that the horizon is smack in the middle without providing clear compositional value. Other than that, the subject itself is just another sunset w/o any major center of interest. Perhaps croping or including a ship or some other element would give us a context and an element of scale.

Thanks for the comments. I know the pole is a distraction, as well as the part of the fence on the left, but short of choping it down and moving the fence, then going to jail, there wasn't much I could do. I took a few different compositions, but this first one made the most sense to me.

 

Sorry about the technical detail comments. I was uploading a roll and forgot to erase that from the previous photo. The comment is from my other photo up for critique: Pelicans on a break. Please take a look at that one as I'm quite excited about it and I'd like to know your opinions. Thanks again,

Not bad. Well thought and the blurry flower on the left adds context w/o distracting. I'd only crop out the useless stem on the right.

Close-ups of flowers are always difficult. You get excited when you take the shot, and then at home, somehow you wish it was bigger or tighter, etc. This flower is pretty clear and head on. You definitely need to remove the blured background as it distracts and move in closer, fill-flash will be difficult unless you use a zoom and shot from a far, I'd suggest a macro light or other ambient light, and more depth. Otherwise, well thought.

One of many that turned out very sharp, please comment on the

composition and any suggestions for cityscapes like this, thanks

This one is a sign of the times in jersey city's development.

This was one of many that had more detail and sharpness in the birds.

I took this one morning from the hotel room, after desperately trying

to catch them diving. I like the contrasts of the sand the turquise

water in a diagonal, with the pelican's providing context and a

center of interest. What do you think?

I can almost see what you were trying here. I would say that if I saw this I would attempt the same thing. One thing that bothers me is the lack of depth. With closeups like this, you really need to add depth, unless the background is very distracting. In this case, the background -- the shapes on the wall -- is part of the composition and the cross stands out on its own very well, so you didn't need to blur it. Other than this, this is basically a composition in shapes and contrasts. Maybe I'm wrong on your intention, but I'm learning too.

I like this a lot simply because I was there and caught the moment,

especially, the two couples on each end of the cliff. However, I

often wonder what's wrong with it and what could have been better. In

the end, not bad for a digital camera.