Apparently not many people were too impressed with my choice this week, but a big thanks for everyone that submitted a picture! There's some good ones here but I feel that not everyone understood the challenge. I apologise in advance if my judging is too harsh or if you don't agree. It's just one guys opinion which we all know is subjective
MacRy: Very nice composition, especially considering the challenge this week. The use of one color in your picture just enhances the way the composition naturally leads my eyes across the photograph. Though, personally I would have liked it more if you used a shallower depth of field, not much, but just enough to hide the background a little more to bring more focus to your subject, and because your background isn't optimal. But all in all a very nice picture!
Reality4711: The first think I thought when I saw your picture was that this guy didn't understand the assignment, but I guess it can be interpreted in several ways, so good job! I like the background, but I think it should "pop" out more, and the overall color and contrast in the picture is a bit bland. Try to increase clarity, or go the opposite way with maybe a long shutter.
AlexH: Nice use of the single color in this challenge, but that isn't all. Just because you keep one color in a picture like the assignment demands it should also fulfil the basics of photography. Not only is this a "boring" picture but it shows no photographic skills of any kind in my opinion, from basic composition to blown out highlights to ignoring the rule of thirds and dark areas. Take a look at IndyDenny's picture for comparisson.
IndyDenny: Nice job! good use of rule of thirds, i like the vignette you put on, and your photo really pops! I would have taken the picture on the other side of the road so it doesn't get in the picture, but just a nice smooth snowy field leading up to the barn instead.
HughMac: Really cool picture! One of the more interesting ones to look at because there's so much to actually look at instead of just one thing. Not much to complain about here except that I would have kept something else in color instead of the cone. Why didn't you choose to keep color in the water?
Someoldguy: I like your idea with this one, but unfortunately it falls short. Not only is it out of focus but your red is also way too red. It should be more subtle, a darker blood red instead. You have a nice smooth image, nice contrast and depth of field and it's just pleasing to look at, but then the red comes on way too strong. But a good effort!
Jkramerbob: Not sure what happened here, did you crop it in real tight or is just out of focus? I like the picture, so let's assume everything was in focus and super sharp, why not crop in even tighter? It looks a bit weird when you crop off at the nose. Imagine if you cropped a humans face like that... So get tighter or wider, not something down the middle. I like the choice of color, not too much color but a little bright for my taste. look at Rx7Dude's picture.
E3BK: Very cool. Looks like you're trying to go for something symmetrical here with the cars and branches going down on each side. At the end of the road it looks foggy, and your color subject is to the left of it because you're not in the middle of the road, which is a shame. I think it would have been way better if you made it symmetrical so the dude is right smack in the middle of the fog, and cropped it in, it would make him pop even more and you'd end up with a almost perfect picture. Remove 1/4 of your top and 1/3 of the bottom. It should have been taken in landscape mode. Very good effort!
MiltZ: I got no idea what I'm looking at. Not really sure how to critique this picture as I have no idea what you're trying to do. You're supposed to use color to emphasise something of importance in your picture, I can't really say you've done that. And it's not very interesting to look at. Maybe someone else here would know better to give you tips, mine is: try again..
Koilvr: Very creative photo, I like it a lot! But I would have chosen a different color to emphasise, why not the scoreboard?
It has a silky feel to it, not sure what you've done, it looks like everything in black and white has a low contrast while your red has a lot of contrast in it? I like that effect, if it was intentional or not! I'm stealing that idea! thanks!
Maybe next time think about your composition, where do you want my eyes to start and end in your picture? This is especially important when we are working with only one thing in color.
RX7Dude: One of the best pictures in this competition! Very nice use of color, nice composition and subject, depth of field is spot on, i like the contrast too, not many things to complain about here. Though, I think I would look at your highlights again, they do look a little blown out, maybe think about lowering them a bit. Since this is an overall very good picture i'm going to get picky, so the eyelight you got here is a bit far to the left, think about repositioning your lights, maybe it's a bit too close and that's why you get those blown out parts, so move the light further away and add a second light to give you that glorious eyelight! it's what would make this picture really A+.
Now on to the winners! This is all subjective, but I have to pick the winners based on who took the greatest picture and followed the challenge.
1. place: Rx7Dude
2. place: MacRy
3. place: Hughmac
Congratulations!
Yellow Cab by Roger Øyen, on Flickr
Red Barn
Blue eyes