Well, I've been out of this for a while, I honestly haven't even looked at the past half dozen galleries. But......
Heres what caught my eye this month. " Balloon Ride " by Steven Desjardins Being most of the way to being a hot air balloon pilot myself, this photo was bound to catch my eye. The composition is very dynamic, but unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. The basket is just too murky. I imagine this is a final approach to landing, given that the sun is pretty much set, or else the pilot is breaking some major rules. This is one of those situations where fill flash would go a long way to making things better. The exposure on the basket needs to be opened up a stop or so. " Receding Tide " by Harald Rust I think this is a cool picture. It is almost monochromatic, except for the splash of colour. I thing the picture would have been stronger if the starfish had been placed closer to the bottom right corner though. You have one point of interest in the top left, having the starfish placed in the bottom right would have added some dynamic tension. " Whistful Dragon " by Mark Cassino Pretty much every picture I see of Mark's annoys me, and this one is no different. I can never get close enough to a live bug to get a picture of it, and this guy churns them out seemingly routinely, and always with nice composition. Having said this, the out of focus flower mid left is distracting, as is the just not quite enough DOF. Hows that for the perfect critic? I couldn't have got the shot, but I am quite happy to find fault with yours. Seriously though, this is a wonderful picture. So there you have it. William Robb
