The contest is closed. Thanks to all who submitted one of their Favorite Photos.
acearchie: I really like the creative and playful approach that you show in this photo. The "framing" of yourself and the expression you caught on the girls face meek this a favorite photo for anyone's library. The cropping seems to put the subjects a bit too much in the center for me. The energy seems to be flowing left to right, but I can't quite seem to decide how to crop it to improve the photo. Are you scanning prints or negs? Your scanning environment seems to be a bit dusty.
Presha: Very nice use of high shutter speed to capture a difficult subject. The flow of lines through the photo is down left to right through the birds wings and up center to right following the stalk and flower. This makes the open space on the left side of the photo too dead. If you can imagine the frame moved to the left so the bird was off center and we could see more of that interesting out of focus texture that begins to shot on the right, it would be outstanding. Nice shot.
someoldguy: Wow! Bam-Boom-Zing! This one is full of motion! I love the placement of the horizon and the texture of the clouds. The focus is sharp on the grasses and sand in the foreground, which makes the subject clear from the background. Every thing seems to be moving left to right and the framing of the grass gives a nice upward sweep to everything. I would like to see a little more sharpness in the sand near the bottom of the frame, but not at the expense of the softness on the far beach.
deep diver: Nice use of color and DOF going on here. The flowers are nice and sharp, while the background is just soft enough to breakup the pot thing in the background. Nice flow top right to bottom center. That slows this photo down for me. I see all the detail in the white petals and then dwell on the contrasting color provided by the red one. I like this one quite a bit.
mattyb240: I know you have your reasons, but dang, why do folks have to put big watermarks in the center of great photos? With that out of the way, this is a great example of light trails that work. The trails and street lights lead the eye in to the horizon and the soft detail of the remaining post sunset sky provides a neat finish.The colors are warm and I like the star flares of the lights.
JDDavis: This is a remarkable achievement, and a darn good photo, too. The colors convey the chill of the environment and the angle is interesting. Kind of like Spider Man on ice. The low center of the cave is a bit blown out, but things like that come with the territory when you shoot challenging photos. Is there a reason for moving down the cave half way up the wall? Very nice photo and a great memory, I'm sure.
compuwar: Really nice photo that goes a bit against some of the rules. The flower head is almost vertically centered, but the stack of soft colors in the background accent the overall image. Sharp, well framed and an appealing palette of colors. I like this photo a lot.
flosseR: Tons of great elements come together here to make one amazing photo. The clouds, sky and sea combine to give a color palette that blends warm and cool tones together. Good use of framing and exposure, even though part of the sky is burned out. The double rainbow makes a nice accent. Did you have to special order that? The dark rock and deep green trees produce an interesting fluid line up and across the frame. Nice.
Abyssgh0st: Well framed photo with a clear distinct subject placed in an area of highlight that pulls the eye. The line of the horizon is good in that it isn't totally straight. The darker band of clouds at the top help to balance everything out. I take it this was shot right into the sun and that caused the highlight to burn out just a bit. This hides the tree just a tad. Did you bracket this as the sun went down? Nice presentation of a difficult shoot.
a.jfred: The green and white that dominate the frame make for a nice background setting for the bee. He/she seems to have had a busy day so far and is taking a "union break". I would like to see a bit more space around the flower so that it's not quite so cramped. Add a bit more of the environment and it will become a better photo.
Jennx143: First, welcome you to MacRumors and the Weekly Contest. Very cute photo of your (I presume) dog. When you shoot something with a lot of detail like the fur on the dog's face, see if you can use a faster shutter speed. It looks just a bit out of focus, but I'm looking at the small version here. Exposure is one of the big things to learn in photography. Your camera exposed well for the dog's face and ears, but the sun on the wood doesn't have a lot of detail. Exposing for a dark subject on a lighter background is something that takes practice to begin to get right. Nice photo and a good start. Follow the Weekly Contest and show us more in the next one. Take a look at the Fortnightly Challenge. We work on a single idea for two weeks and critique each other. It's not a contest.
pukifloyd: I have been waiting for someone to enter an abstract image. The wood has an interesting texture and tone, and I like the way the staples seem to wander their way across the frame. I assume this is a phone pole. It could be improved with more sharpness and depth of field. Using a tripod and an f stop of 8 or higher really helps with this type of photograph. Horizontal framing is a good choice here.The grain lines of the wood break the frame up into smaller segments. Nice entry.
nomad01: I like the lines created by the shadows and how they interact with the organic verticals of the tree trunks. Nice exposure for the shadows and mid tones. The sky is too light, but you know that. It's hard to cover all the tone ranges without some sacrifice. The dance of the tree trunks across the park into the distance is intriguing.
luminosity: Great energy and personality in this one. The DOF is just right, with the subjects nice and sharp while the background remains soft. Black and white is a great choice for this type of shot. Color would have introduced elements in the background that could spoil the delicate balance you have achieved here. Very nice!
OrangeCuse44: Wonderful capture of a beautiful sight. Great broad color palette presented to you by the true Mother of Color, Nature herself. This is one of those shots that makes you want to kiss your camera for it's ability to spring into action and capture the sight for you to share with others. This photo does a great job of capturing the unique colors of the islands. When I was there, the colors of the dirt really stayed in my mind. Great vacation photo.
saurabhb: Interesting juxtaposition of where you are going with where you have been. Kind of a time travel thing. The illusion is that you are looking through a glass frame down the road, while you are actually looking into a mirror. I think it would be a bit better if the overall tone was just a bit darker. But I still like this photo. Oh, and welcome to the Contest!
VirturalRain: Stunning sunset panorama. Loads of warm tones and textures in the sky that give it great texture and feel. It almost has a personality of it's own. Overall exposure is good. nice detail in the foreground without losing the highlights. Hard to do. The ships with their lights add interesting elements to the foreground, but the one on the right spoils the clean line of the horizon. Maybe you could have told him to move
JK
Very nice contribution.
Schtumple: Very nice cityscape. I like the viewpoint and your use of a wide lens. Nice choice to squeeze as much of this massive city into the frame as possible. The way the lines of the buildings spread out from the center make for a good study. Lots of interesting things going on in this one. Nice lighting, too.
CK Williams: Awesome photo! What a great capture of a majestic creature. Everything is just nailed here. Perfect exposure, focus, framing. All the good stuff is great in this one. The clarity you captured in the eagles eye is amazing. I checked the Flickr version and noted that this is a rescue bird. Hope it will be able to return to the wild where it belongs.
pdxflint: Very serene image with lots of strong elements. I like the consistent verticals moving across the frame and the way the reflections compliment the subjects. Lighting and exposure is just about perfect for this shot. Your choice of near sunset makes use of natural light to warm everything up. There may be a bit too much showing on the left and bottom of the frame. For some reason the back of the boat on the extreme left is not just right - at the base of the first pillion over there. Maybe take a bit off the light reflection in the water, too. This would make a nice large print on my wall.
MattsxB: Great warm colors used in this photo. Yellow seems to be an underused color palette with the exception of macro flowers. Too bad. I like the framing you used here with the sunflower head creating a diagonal line down and across the frame. That lens is stopped down to f/8 and you can see how thin the DOF gets when you go up close at 200mm. Try using manual focus if you didn't on this one. Watch how the image will change character as you move the focal plane across the head of the flower. Use the preview button on the side of the lens to see what you have going. A nice photo with a lot of potential.
liljohnny51: Another nice calming photo using a cool color palette. I like the lines flowing throng the frame. They give it a nice feel of movement. It looks a little pushed to the blue side to me. The greens of the grass are a bit lost. In all of the reviewing I have done for this Contest, I'm gaining a respect for how difficult shooting into the sun late in the day can be. The highlights detract from what is going on in the foreground and middle sections of the photo. I like the composition and agree that this must be one of your favorites.
bubulindo: I had to disqualify you for posting two photos.
Apologies for any spelling things...
This was the easy part. Now it's up to Maxx to select, in his view, the three best of all these best. IMO everyone is a winner.
Dale
