oatmealface

I think that if you're most concerned with the balance between houses and paths, then you're right, there's too much path and the houses are too small. On the other hand, the title you gave it - Golden Paths - is completely appropriate for the image. I would also say that although this shot isn't (in my opinion) aesthetically appealing, it has to be one of the most unusual and interesting shots i've seen in a very long time. Really intriguing.

i like the sand ripples and reflections. go back, see if you can get an even better sky...that's about all that can reasonably be improved.

very nice, and i disagree, i think the saturation is what makes the photo as good as it is.

i think your doubts are correct, and it would be a better composition without the upper, out-of-DOF leaf. it appears to be almost impossible or at least very difficult to put two of anything into a picture and still have good composition. not that i'm an expert.

 

on the other hand, the foreground leaf is very nice, nice curve to it and the angle between the two halves of it gives a good sense of 3-dimensionality. you put the camera in the right place...at the right time.

wish i'd shot it

as the comment above says, unique background... what exactly IS the background, anyway? i can't figure it out at all.

the composition is very unusual, and striking... original. some day i also will visit oaxaca, if i live long enough...

i gotta see what was so good in the other direction! ... hope you shot some closer-ups of the grass, it's interesting

7/7, 7/7, 7/7! beautiful, simple... eerie, calm. i suspect the reason the ratings are so much lower than mine are that the focal point of the composition is the big pointy rock sticking up into the sunrise/set, and it's too near the edge of the photo to satisfy the Rule of Thirds. To Hell with the Rule!

nice variety of contrasts, very pretty... placement of the knife is good but i'm not so sure about the tangerines/mandarins/whatever those orange fruits are, they make a right (90) triangle with the roses and onions and somehow it just doesn't fit? pythagoras forgive me!

i disagree, i think the 3rd glass is absolutely necessary... and it has to have less fluid than the other two, or it won't look as good.

the subject-motion blur and fog/snow/sleet make it mysterious... and the wiggly reflections of headlights on whatever is reflecting give a sense of hurry to some objective.

 

it might have been improved by getting the building in the background out, or otherwise minimizing it somehow - of course, that's not always possible

i wondered how you could rate originality in photos -- after all the billions of shots taken, how unusual is it to have an actual new photo? especially an aesthetically pleasing shot of an oil slick? i thought us environmental geeks were the only ones that took pictures of oil sheens... this has got to get top marks for originality, if there's any sense to the idea.

 

what is the nature of the surface we're looking at? road-spray covered bubbles?

this violates at least a couple of the basic "rules" of composition --

i think -- and i still like it. comment?

beautiful... good depth of field, separation from background. stands out.