Uppsala, Sweden
Nikon D80
Nikkor 18-70
This shot is actually from a few minutes ago with my D50 - lupe on a pile of negatives that I've been sifting through as they sit on my desk. A nice job on a winters night...
It's soft, but I don't mind the effect as it suits the late night.
. I held the watch up to a light bulb for a few minutes and then killed the lights and took a few quick shots to get this. The watch was noticeably fading after only a couple of shots.
The puddle is THE element that you wanted people to notice, but my eyes were so set on the giant green cucumber that it took me almost a minute to make sense of the image and "see" the puddle at all. My suggestion would be to do a tight crop of the puddle and flip the image upside down so the reflection is oriented correctly. It blows peoples minds when they realize they are looking at a reflection, the first thing they notice is the scene then a minute later realize it's in a puddle. Do whatever you want but please crop out the cucumber! 
I came across a box (serious box.. ) in my spare closet the other day. This box has hundreds of clear-file negative sleeves, each holding a full roll of 35mm film. My old 3' x 4' light table is stored in the workshop, but I found a little 8" x 12" lightbox and one of my old cheap Peak lupes, so... I'm slowly looking at stuff I did from the early 90s up till 2000. It's strange how few of my shots ever saw the darkroom or scanner, as many of the rolls were cherry-picked for some specific reason, and the rest were just filed away basically for good. I've got around 30-40 shot, but unprocessed rolls also, and I'm wondering what's on them. It's kind of like discovering who I was once upon a time...
With that in mind, and in the spirit of the political season, here's a cropped crowd shot from a 1996 presidential campaign rally. It's the first time I've ever looked at it beyond a quick study of the neg on the light table. Dig the guy holding up the ancient forest banner... without him, I wouldn't bother with the pic.
Canon Eos A2
Canon 28-105
Fuji Super G 400
The harsh lighting is intended. Soft light, for my vision, would not work. In my vision, I need more directed hard light, however, not enough time. No soft light in a concert.
I'll agree that a lower angle might be good. Definitely would have been nice to shoot from another angle... which gets me to my feeling that you don't have kids or if you do you've never shot them in a set environment.
I'm happy to get 1 shot that is passable in my book. I agree that things could be better, however, a hyper 2 year old does not make for ideal situations.
Thanks for the kind words and constructive crit, seattle, doylem, and .jahjahwarrior.
I'm trying to shoot with only primes at the moment so I was really limited to what I could do compositionally with the shot. Since I couldn't just zoom in on the puddle my idea was to isolate the image within the puddle with a wide aperture and blur everything else out around it. I don't think it worked out quite as well as I had planned though because I agree with you guys, the trunk is a bit annoying and quite a contrast from the sharp reflection. I'll keep what you guys have said about more isolation on reflections in mind as I try to expand more on this. Thanks.
I only shoot with primes. I actually do have one zoom lens (it's also my only autofocus lens) and I am trying to sell it, because I never use it. Too slow. 
Oblomow It doesn't do much else apart from rain in Scotland
Zoom with yo' feet!
It does!! I even saw some sun, on a graveyard.
beautiful tree btw.
Canon 30D, 1/800 f7.1 25mm
"Journey's End"
This took me a few hours to perfect. The original size is 7227x2283 pixels.
Sorry for the watermark
Today in the woods...
