station meeting
by ray_mefarso

Comment:
Nice, the burst of bright colour in the background really makes this for me and really emphasises her smile.

this withering flower of dreams
by posthumous

Comment:
My favourite image of this challenge (I gave it an 8). I find it a shame (although in retrospect somewhat predictable) that it finished so low and with a score of <5. Despite being abstract this (imo) fits the challenge much better than the majority of the highest scoring entries that while perhaps 'good' images, I found somewhat soulless (or in some cases, missing the point). This entry, for me, really conveys emotion which I think is the most important factor and a real tribute to all those who've lost their lives in war.

I'm glad you're never perturbed by the threat of low scores when entering abstracts like this Don, I won't pretend to 'get' all your entries, but whenever you come up with one such as this I find it hard to understand how it can be so underappreciated by the voters. I guess that's art =).

November
by gyaban

Comment:
While this is a truly fantastic image (easily one of my favourites) I find it a shame that you've entered what is essentially the same image as that of a previous entry:

Only circumstantially (as far as when challenges appear at least) at a different time of year. While originality is hard to judge most of the time in the hundreds of photo's that appear on this site I do believe it to be very important for the challenges and my voting (where it can) reflects this. There's no denying you have some of the most creative (and appealing) photographs on this site, however unfortunately this isn't one of them and so I must give this image (that would have otherwise been a 9) a 7.

I hope you consider this fair, 7's still a ribbon winning score after all =).

The Vault
by LevT

Comment:
That's a rather large L lens you have on the right of shot there! That aside though, a compelling image =). The framing through the vault door adds a lot of intrigue. Looking forward to learning what this place is when the challenge is over.

Orange Lush
by giantmike

Comment:
A shame this didn't score a bit higher or get more comments. The carving itself may be more simplistic than many of the higher scorers, but the composition and colour of the scene are great, perhaps not nearly the biggest 'wow factor' from all of the entrants, but one of the most appealing for me.

Oops!
by GeneralE

Comment:
The images scoring higher than this are perhaps 'better' pictures or more skilful carvings, but this is the first one to make me laugh. Humour doesn't need to be refined and I'm glad this scored higher than a 4. That it really wouldn't have deserved.

Street-Artist_4676.102411
by mariuca

Comment:
Nice shot. I've never played with a G12, is the dof here created through an in-camera effect or photoshop?

Sweet Temptations
by jagar

Comment:
Along the same vein as Yo_Spiff, had I seen the person painting this I'm fairly sure I'd have torn my eyes from their sockets just to have something to throw at them! I didn't know computer monitors could produced anywhere near enough light to blind people. Now I know better.

25 Cents
by melodicgrace

Comment:
Forgot to mention before how much this reminds me of this song/video. Anyway, glad you got over a 5 in the end!

25 Cents
by melodicgrace

Comment:
Hmm, out of all the entries I probably found this one the hardest to mark. I gave it a 5 in the end but almost gave it a 6 (I think a 5.5 would be about right), although that's a 5 meaning average, not a 5 meaning bad, as is the case with some voters.

The portrait itself is decent I think, although the bright spot from the lighting as well as the messy hair on your right shoulder I find a little distracting. The purple fringing in the eyes is also unfortunate and easy to fix in advanced editing. I guess being picky I'd have probably give a slightly tighter crop to the left of the frame also, but this is a more subjective preference.

In terms of fulfilling the challenge I think the picture does an alright job. I'm guessing you're going for a double interpretation of the challenge with the shot going down your top, although I don't think I'd have made the connection between cleavage and coin slot without having read the discussion on this challenge first.

As for the painted-on coin slot I think I'd have scored a lot higher if it were more realistic, appearing as though you could actually put a coin in there, perhaps a stuck on metal plate or similar would have worked well to that effect as opposed to only using body paint. A final very minor point is how your tops strap slightly covers the cent symbol, I think the image would be better with the slot (and markings) completely unobstructed or if they're going to be obstructed, obstructed to a larger degree so the slot itself is more subtle in the photo - also on the same area the two bright pixels on the strap (I don't know if they're artefacts or were in the original image) are a little distracting.

Anyway, hope this is helpful to you and not just mean/picky =).