Great concept, and a nice way to mark the day too!

Having the red rose drift into the red on the screen is a really clever way to mix computer graphics with reality.

If I were to suggest anything? I think a less cluttered background would be good. Also it feels like the top of the hand is slightly overexposed, maybe a fraction less exposure would help - not sure whether you can adjust it on the C533 though. Also if you could get square onto the screen maybe the monitor would look less distorted. Thankfully I think almost all my points could be improved in Photoshop if you were interested?

Anyway, very nicely done :D

Nice shot Andre! I really like the textures you've captured here, and the bold colours are striking.

A couple of suggestions though, firstly I think a little more sharpening could really make it pop, try the following, based heavily on some suggestions from Luko on TE:

- SmartSharpen : effect 18, radius 40, threshold 0
- SmartSharpen : effect 150 radius 0.3, threshold 0
- edit/fade SmartSharpen, 100%, darken blend mode,
- SmartSharpen : effect 150 radius 0.3, threshold 0
- edit/fade SmartSharpen, 50%, brighten blend mode.

The high radius value boosts local contrast, the low radius values increase fine detail.

The different blend modes mean the effect only impacts the brightness values rather than the colour, so you don't get colour haloes forming around fine detail. It replaces the LAB colour technique which can reduce image quality due to conversion artifacts.

I use SmartSharpen because it means that you're less likely to sharpen areas that don't contain detail - USM is indiscriminate.

Hints: Check the histogram before and after - the wide radius sometimes causes highlight clipping, so if that's a problem, undo it, and try a lower amount. Failing that, you could reduce the contrast a little beforehand.

Secondly, I'm not sure that the top corners are quite sharp - hard to say why without seeing your EXIF data, but if I were to guess I'd say you shot at f/2.8 and weren't quite flat on - so more DOF would help, or getting square onto the surface.

Anyway, despite those minor nits, I like it :D

Nice shot Frans! The greens of the tree, contrast nicely with the purples of the heather in the foreground - and the sky completes the colour palette nicely.

IMO the shot is slightly overexposed, as there are some flat white areas in the sky - it may just be a side-effect of your sharpening workflow though, so perhaps it might be worth checking to see whether you can get more from the original capture. I also wonder whether a slightly lower angle would allow the lowest branches of the tree to stand out from the trees in the background better?

Sharpness, DOF, focus are all on the money though. Well captured :D

Nice shot Tibi! You've captured this scene well, the architecture's fascinating, and I like the way you've layered the composition by including the dark railing in the foreground! Personally I don't have any objection to using the term postcard - they're what people send home to show where they've been, so if people are prepared to buy them, it can't be all bad ;)

Unfortunately as a result of the dark railing being included the shot's slightly overexposed - particularly on the structure on the right just above the fence. If you think the shot looks a bit bright on screen, it might be worth putting on some negative exposure compensation and shooting again - then seeing which is better on the computer when you get home. You can balance the exposure a little if you use Shadow/Highlights, say S:25 H:25 or so.

I also think a little more contrast wouldn't hurt the scene - try running some wide radius SmartSharpen, say 10% 40px and see what you think! You may need to darken the image a bit first though, as you'll run the risk of damaging the highlights more if you're not careful.

Finally I think a little less JPEG compression would help too, you're at 93kb, the limit's 200kb. When you try Shadows/Highlights, look at the sky and you'll see why I think less compression would help ;)

Anyway, a very nice capture - thanks for sharing :D

Nice shot Nuxa! Your post-process worked well - the cool blues tones really work well with the default TL colour scheme. I particularly like the fine detail you've captured here.

However, I think you could bring out the fine detail more - if you have access to Photoshop, try this:

This is based heavily on some suggestions from Luko on TE, assuming it's for images around 800px:

- SmartSharpen : effect 18, radius 40, threshold 0
- SmartSharpen : effect 150 radius 0.3, threshold 0
- edit/fade SmartSharpen, 100%, darken blend mode,
- SmartSharpen : effect 150 radius 0.3, threshold 0
- edit/fade SmartSharpen, 50%, brighten blend mode.

The high radius value boosts local contrast, the low radius values increase fine detail.

The different blend modes mean the effect only impacts the brightness values rather than the colour, so you don't get colour haloes forming around fine detail. It replaces the LAB colour technique which can reduce image quality due to conversion artifacts.

I use SmartSharpen because it means that you're less likely to sharpen areas that don't contain detail - USM is indiscriminate.

Hints: Check the histogram before and after - the wide radius sometimes causes highlight clipping, so if that's a problem, undo it, and try a lower amount. Failing that, you could reduce the contrast a little beforehand.

Compositionally, I like it. I can't quite decide whether I'd prefer the two spokes at the front of the image to draw us in through the image though.

Anyway, well captured, and nicely processed :D

Nice shot! I particularly like the way the red of the costume contrasts so strongly with the almost monochrome background. IMO I think it may be fractionally oversharpened, but that's a matter of taste more than anything. I think I'd have preferred fractionally more headroom above the costume, as it is it feels a bit claustrophobic, but it's fine as it is - you did well to capture the split second whilst he was visible between the other participants! Well captured :-)

Another good design. In some ways I prefer this one - but then I'm a firm believer in "less is more", artistically at least ;)

The only question is, should the number be the book number, or the year?

Nicely done. If I were to suggest anything, perhaps either unhighlight the E or highlight both the T and E?

Nice shot! You've captured this beach scene well, although I particularly like the sky in this shot. There are a few things I'd suggest though, IMO there's a slight tilt to the horizon - try rotating it 1.5°CW. Secondly the beach itself seems a bit cold/blue - try decreasing the amount of blue in the midtones and see what you think. Finally try playing with Shadows/Highlights - you should be able to get a little more brightness on the beach, and add a bit more punch to the sky at the same time if you wish! Your exposure is very nicely handled. Well captured :-D

Nice shot! You've captured this IR scene nicely, the strong contrasts in the scene work well - the sky looks particularly strong. I'm curious about the technical side of things though, was this taken with a digital or film based camera? There's a bit of grain, which some people like - if you don't like it, why not have a play with NeatImage/NoiseNinja/Noiseware and see if you can reduce it. Personally I'd like to see a larger image, and with less compression if possible. I'm also not quite sure whether I'd have cropped some of the lake out, it's not really contributing to the image that well IMO. Anyway, a nice capture :-D

P.S. Please consider writing a few more critiques, that way maybe you'll get more responses to your images!