I'll start with what I mentioned before (but they're not etched in stone so chime up if you have something better)! :-) First, I'd keep the rating scale from 1-5 for simplicity (you don't really want to THINK about 10 different definitions for each category, do you?) That would drive folks away from critiquing...and along that same thought, there probably shouldn't be too many categories either (we may have to experiment with that one though). TECHNIQUE. Flaws are: 1. considerable (need more work) 2. noticable (detract from overall image) 3. few (minor detractions) 4. scant (I had to squint to find one) 5. none COLOR: someone help me out here, I'm not a professionally trained artist. I'm goin' off some of the photography lessons I learned in high school when we had to walk... COMPOSITION. Balance is: 1. extremely distracting (there's way too much...) 2. somewhat distracting (you need to move quite a few things around) 3. some distractions but it's still an acceptable image 4. relatively free of distractions (just move this one thing) 5. no distractions SETTING. The subject: 1. doesn't even belong here 2. 3. It's getting late folks. The synapses aren't quite firing at 100% 4. 5. looks natural in this image EMOTIONAL IMPACT. This image: 1. did nothing for me 2. solicited a second glance 3. caused me to study it a bit deeper 4. moved me 5. invoked laughter/tears/sadness/etc. That's it for now...wait a minute. What about a "MOVEMENT" category?