Comments per req:
1. An interesting idea, but too underexposed, and with too much distracting background to really work. One of the difficult things about learning photography is being able to distinguish scenes that should make a good photograph from those that do.
2. Much nicer. I'd brighten this up a little in post, and perhaps increase the saturation slightly as well. Additionally, I'd suggest cropping the OOF portions at top and bottom as they really add little to this image. Lastly it needs to be levelled; all the water is running out of the picture and on to my desk.
3. Very nicely done; good focus, nice exposure and good tones/colour. I think perhaps a shooting position slightly higher which showed more detail of the ring might have worked, but as-is, a very good capture.
4. Nice pose. In this case the OOF muzzle and the bright area image left (window?) are both very strong, and distracting elements. The dog has a very expressive face, and this would be well worth reshooting in better lighting conditions.
5. Cute, but I think you missed the focus slightly. Remember the eyes are the critical point in any portrait (animal or human) and in this case the sharp focus looks to be around the nose. Also note your background; while you've made good use of selective focus, the background is still focused enough to very distracting. This image also needs to be leveled.
6. There was potential in this image, but with a 1/2 second exposure, the time was just too long and the movement of the person in the foreground is rather distracting. Good use of the curve to lead the eye, but there's no real main subject.
7. Good idea, but IMO, not quite the right shooting position. You have two major distractions; the OOF people image left and the treeline above. I think that perhaps shooting from a slightly lower position and zooming/cropping sot hat the distracting elements were removed and that some of the names were legible would have benefitted the image. As well, the use of a polarizing filter would have removed the reflections from the wall itself.
Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.
~John
