"Comments Required"

Not a very interesting composition.

Nice picture with blue background and dead branches are adding value. Leaves at upper left may kept by purpose, but you didn't mentioned anything here.

4 stars

Its dead and my gaze keeps going up to the left corner

I think another appropriate title could have been something like skyward bound. I agree with others, take away leaves at top left. Nice

The picture is really nice.

Not for me I'm afraid. Too little to hold the attention.

I didn't like this picture, but I've shown it to a half dozen friends at my house and every one of them lights up and says this is the best of the challenge. I would like the upper left rubber stamped out though. But I have to admit the subject contast is well done. I'll go for a 3.5 rating.

I like this shot, it's interesting. Trees are great subjects. I would have cropped out the bit of leaves in the upper left though.

Im really not too sure what to say about this pic. There is nothing in particular that I like but there is also nothing in particular that I dont like(perhaps just the foliage in the top left could have been removed). There are a few things that I would have done to improve on this shot but they may have completely changed the reasoning behind what you wanted to achieve. I would have really liked to see the shot from a slightly lower angle and perhaps playing around with a couple of black and white filters may have really made this shot stand out!

GOOD colours and contrast.
AVERAGE composition.

Emotionally speaking, neither the tree nor the sky have any strong attributes.

BELOW AVERAGE overall.
I don't find the picture pleasant. Maybe a change in the composition, where one could see also other aspects from the tree could improve it.

Nice caption...Perhaps it could be better without the leaves on the top left...:-))

The dead branches snaking into the sky give an eerie aspect to the shot. I quite like it. You possibly could have photoshopped the leaves at the top left as I think they unbalance the shot.. but very nice

nice pic..I'm also taken pic at blue sky as my background most of the time.. although its not a big deal but I think its better if you did not include the leaves on the upper left corner..its disturbed the dried branch

I love this photo. The tree branches are climbing up to the sky and remind me of old wiley and wrinkly fingers or wands from the Harry Potter movies...

Having a second look after reading the cropping suggestion below - I think she's right. Without the foliage at top left, the photo looks better - the bare tree branches now seem to be yearning towards that open space. Good call, barb_s.

Balance wise, I the green up top seems to be unnecessary. I like this with that small part cropped out. The bare tree touching the top of the photo edge will look good too.

Really nice. I wonder if it would look even better eiter with a few more leaves top left for a better balance, or non at all. On the other hand, can one cheer about a dead tree?

Pleasant colors - maybe too pleasant for your title? The composition is well balanced - it passes the 'upside down' test that painters sometimes use to check their compositions. The branches at the top left are important to that balance, I think. Another very small file. This image might look better on screen if you'd gone for less compression. DPR will accept larger files. Did you try this in black and white? It might be very dramatic if the sky were quite dark. Do you use Photoshop? Try image>adjustments>channel mixer, and then 100% red channel. (Just a suggestion)

I agree with the comments before mine. Is this in Australia as I tried a similar shot myself recently? I like the branches of the dying (dead?) tree stretching upwards almost as if pleading for help! And certainly more of the top left hand corner tree would be nice and with a more interesting sky behind it all.

I wonder if you ould have captured mor of the tree in the top left to make more of a frame?