Hard & Soft
by kevrobertson

Comment:
IMHO, this shot suffers from a few technical faults, the boots are almost so dark as to be recognizable--I can tell they're boots, and I'm guessing they're some sort of ski boot? Levels adjustment or some different lighting, perhaps from the side, might have remedied that. The shadow and reflection on the wall are distracting--you could have avoided this by moving the subject far enough away from the wall, and even used an F-Stop to give you a soft background taking advantage of low DOF.

chessmen
by MorbidAngel

Comment:
I'm sure you've received a lot of comments that have told you this is out of focus (OOF). But I am guessing you knew that. So let's look at something else. It's hard, in this depiction, to tell that the chess players are different. The colors are the same in this very dark image. There is a good feeling of "opposition" though, from the angle you've chosen. But the tight crop here, combined with it being dark and OOF, doesn't have any dynamic, or "pop" as some people refer to it.

32 degrees and rising
by BrennanOB

Comment:
One of the better of the many fire and ice shots!

Faceoff
by paynekj

Comment:
Nice idea! I like this better than the other yin-yang ones I've seen so far. But I wish you had pulled off full symmetry here, and maybe true color symmetry as well.

sniper
by hopper

Comment:
Congrats on third place. Didn't get to vote on all of these, so I missed it. But I see it's taken in my "home base", which makes it more special to me. (Well, it's not exactly my home town, but I've lived here in the capital district for 28 years now!)

model trains (or "the world through a little boy's eyes")
by tomzinho

Comment:
Nice motiion blur. I think it would have been better to have more of the train though, and perhaps to adjust a bit for the up perspective.

Dropping by
by asij

Comment:
Very good capture of the insect, enhanced by the colorful background OOF. Nice work.

Battle of Stirling Bridge 1297 (but don't attack on a holiday Monday, as we are shut)
by kevrobertson

Comment:
This has all the elements of a great photo, and good composition. I've scored it well, but am teetering: there still seems to be something missing. Perhaps it just misses the beginning or end--there's neither a starting point or an end to the bridge. And if the bridge isn't the focal point, what is?

Cactus Portrait
by Tranquil

Comment:
I like the contrast you've achieved here--both in the tones, and in the contrast of the sharp burrs and the OOF background.

In the Gym
by magnus

Comment:
For some reason it doesn't look like it was shot at a gym--take that as a compliment if it was. It has an interesting symmetry, but somehow I just don't see it as flattering to the sport or the girl, or to the tone of her body. Maybe it's just too straight up and down. Don't get me wrong, it's alright--just not a strong composition IMHO (pun intended!).