Contest results
Okay, I'm going to try something a bit different. I really loved viewing all the photos, but I'm going to offer honest critique rather than simply point out what I like about each one. I hope you'll take my comments in the spirit in which I offer them, which is to provide an objective set of eyes that might help you think differently about your photography. If you disagree with my comments or think I'm being unfair, feel free to dismiss me as an amateur and a hack, both of which are true. After all, this is just one stranger's opinion.
LittleCanonKid: great light here, and I love how the warmth of the orange leaves contrasts with the cold sky and barren dark branches. My only suggestion is to think of a more dynamic composition. Your subject is right in the center of the frame, and there isn't much depth to the image. What I mean is that it seems like most of what's in the frame is about the same distance away. I'd be curious to see a composition with a few branches very close to the camera, and some very far away. This is a very striking image, though.
AlaskaMoose: this is just gorgeous, and obviously a lot of care went into the choice of subject, lighting, and editing. The reflection is superb. If it looks like that in real life, then what a beautiful spot. If you enhanced it with software, great job.
bootedbear: this shot fits the theme nicely, though I think the composition is a bit static. It's hard to describe, but the flower is just sitting there. I'd like to see it bigger or perhaps with more of its surroundings, but just leaving it in the middle of the frame is uninteresting. I also think the subject is a bit blurred, perhaps from missed focus or camera shake (slow shutter?). Very nice concept, though.
jbernie: great light, love the reflections, interesting subject. Those silver signs ("happiness", "radiance", etc.) look great, and I imagine you patiently waited for them to be facing exactly right. Image is cropped a bit tight on the right side for my tastes, but this is a small issue.
mattyb240: This looks great, but I just can't discern enough detail with DeviantArt's watermark in the way. I do love the smooth background and the delicate white fluff being cradled by the flower. The composition feels unbalanced; the subject is in the center of the frame, but all the background detail is on the left. My eye wants to move the whole rectangle to the left of what you captured.
lu0s3r322: Great colors and composition here. My eye is drawn directly to the red things. (You can tell from my word choice I'm no horticulturist.) The soft snow and sharp thorns lend a wonderful texture to the shot. I like this a lot.
deep diver: Wow, what a story. Congratulations on your long road back. This is a very striking image, and the texture is fantastic. Without your personal story, it doesn't say much on its own, though it does make me look deeply at it to figure out what I'm seeing. I'm glad you can take pictures like this again.
luminosity: A lovely moment, and definitely fits the optimism theme well. What's more optimistic than young love? A few little problems I can see though. First, the color seems off; skin tones look too red on my (calibrated) monitor. Second, the background is distracting -- especially the bike handlebar, but also the white car and dark post. But mostly, I find my eye drawn out of the frame to the right, because I want to see what they're looking at. I wonder if the image might be better if you framed it more to the right. (Of course, it could be that whatever was there would have detracted from the photo, but I'll leave that for you to decide.)
pdxflint: Oh, I'm a sucker for baseball and children, so this one made me smile. The bright shirts make the subject leap out at us, and the chain-link fence adds to the sensation of viewing these boys in an unguarded moment. The kid on the left annoying his neighbor is priceless. Nothing negative to say about this. Negative... did you say this was shot on film? What's that?
noemoore: great flower shot. The background is smooth as butter, the flower has great delicate detail, and the water drops are great. It took me a few seconds to even see the water, though, which makes me wonder whether this image would benefit from a bump in contrast.
jeffmode: Great sky, great light, fascinating subject. Is this Seattle? I didn't realize anyone was building anything these days! I love the white fluffy mist that makes the buildings jump off the background. Great balance to the composition, too. The cranes almost seem alive, or at least like they're having a conversation. This shot is just as beautiful a presentation as AlaskaMoose's.
AxisOfBeagles: Great choice of subject, and I like the simplicity here. But the image is very static, almost like you've just tried to record the truck for posterity. I'd like to see something with a bit more character. Those shiny hubcaps, the curvy pink fenders with the "chevrolet 3100" trim, and the Lazy Dog logo are all of great interest, but you haven't really highlighted one for us to focus on. Try getting up close to something and really throw it at us, and let the rest of the truck or its surroundings be in the background. In this shot, everything is given equal prominence, so nothing really stands out.
localghost: Maybe I'd get more out of this photo if it were larger, but I'm having trouble figuring out the story. The bench looks like it could be a cart or wagon, perhaps for these horses to pull? But I don't see wheels. The glass background looks like it could be a carnival atmosphere, but I don't see any other people. Is this guy the horses' driver? His jacket is distracting. There's clearly something very interesting going on here -- which is probably the reason you pulled your camera out -- but I don't feel like I'm getting it from your photo.
flosseR: This image is delightful. The whole frame is bursting with absurdity, from the skier/reindeer relationship right over to the terrific hats worn by the audience members. In addition, there's a dynamism here, I love the action. The orange fence is unfortunate, and I wish the shot were framed a bit more to the left, but overall this is a very successful image.
jmdfd415: terrific composition and textures. The way you've framed this shot really makes the viewer feel like we're enjoying an intimate look at a star. The axe has personality. The black & white is a fine choice, but I'm not crazy about the other manipulations (HDR?) and halos that are visible. I wonder whether an equally interesting, but less artificial, "look" could have been achieved with creative use of lighting.
endingstart: This is a very striking scene, and the scattered gulls look great against that huge sky. Good choice of subject, and I like the feeling of distance in this shot. But one "layer" (near, middle, far) is missing: near. I feel like the depth of the image could have been fantastic with something of interest (besides the pile of dark stuff) very close to the camera. Also, watch your horizons -- the tilt suggest this shot was grabbed, rather than carefully considered.
Chappers: Fantastic moment, and this may capture the week's theme better than any other entry. I love the fingers wide open and the concentration in this kid's eyes. I wish, though, that there was better light on him. Probably the bright background fooled your camera's meter into underexposing your subject, which is unfortunate and happens to me all the time. A fill flash would have been perfect, or perhaps try recovering the shadows in software. Of course, the best solution is to make sure the bubbles are blown into better light.
AlexH: The colors, contrast and sharpness here are awesome. I love the way the shadows play on the flower petals, and you nailed the exposure -- I can see details in the highlights and in the shadows equally well. In the background, I like the rich greens of the grass better than the distracting brown lines. If it was possible to keep the great light on the flower but get more grass background, I think it could have been even more striking than it already is.
Abraxsis: I like what you're doing in this image, and has a very reverential feel. The dark vignetting toward the bottom border is nice, and it works with this B&W treatment. With the composition, I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic at the top of the frame, looking for just a bit more space above the crest of that hill. I'd like to see some room between those distant stones and the top edge. I also wonder whether you could have knelt down (and perhaps to the right) a bit to make the closer stones loom larger in the frame, to add to the sense of depth that you're creating with the line of stones going from foreground to background.
NintendoChick: This is great. I love where you placed the sun, and that you filled the frame with the tree's branches. The exposure is perfect, too... dark enough to keep the sun from blasting the whole image, but light enough to maintain detail in the tree trunk and mountains. The tree's shadow is a nice element, and I would have liked to see more of it somehow, perhaps by crouching lower to let it come out toward the viewer. But that's a small point, this is a great shot. (By the way, great photostream. You play with light really well, and have an eye for close-ups.)
shady825: Wow, what a sky!!! Amazing. The car looks great too, but I think you could put anything in front of that sky and I'd stare at it for a few minutes. Even though it's not the focus in this image, I like that the Focus is in focus. Makes me want to go for a drive wherever you are.
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In my opinion, there are five photos that I feel are "winners" here. (I have a fundamental difficulty with the idea of ranking artistic work, but don't get me started.) They are:
AlaskaMoose, pdxflint, jeffmode, NintendoChick, and shady825. But because we need someone to run the next contest, I'll declare
ALASKAMOOSE the grand champion of photography this week and offer my congratulations for a very meticulously crafted image that lifts the spirits. Well done!
If
ALASKAMOOSE is unable to fulfill his duties as beauty queen, the runners-up are
JEFFMODE and
PDXFLINT, in that order.
Kudos and thanks to everyone for sharing their photos this week!
