Fish for Supper
by JPR

Comment:
I could have given this photo 2 more points if everything in it were sharply focused. As it is, nothing is really in sharp focus. It is very grainy, which lends a certain charm to it and gives it a sort-of antique look. The sky looks blown out, but with many coastal weather patterns, the sky is often exactly that color. I am wondering if a polerizing filter might have helped?

Hope for a Responding Hand
by Jade

Comment:
Very unusual photo. So unusual I don't quite know what to make of it. The DOF has the hand nicely, but not quite perfectly focused. But the background is a bit fuzzy. So okay, that could be intentional but in this case it gives the photo a "faked" look. Almost like you saying, "See this a photo I took of sunset at the shore." Tie in to theme seems weak to me to.

and.... where is my house????
by kaske666

Comment:
The silhouette seems to be nice and sharp, but all the rest, most of the pixels in fact, are not. I find this distracting. I'm not sure I find "hope" in this so the tie in to the challenge seems weak to me.

TRUCE
by s4nd3r99

Comment:
I like that everything is sharply focused. Good reflections. Dificult composition to get just right.

Scarred
by wingy

Comment:
This is a great photo because of its emotional impact. It's disurbing, I am sure, because it was designed and executed virtually perfectly to be disturbing. I love the negative space. The composition is powerful. Among my top picks.

Defeat
by movieman

Comment:
This is a deeply disturbing photo. The emotional content tops the chart in this challenge. Obviously subject matter and composition are its strongest features. (10)

Can hope fix everything?
by Amason

Comment:
This is very good in spite of the title. It is among my top 10 mostly because of the strong composition and outstanding levels. Color, focus, DOF and so on are each good enough, but when combined, strengthen the picture. IMO it would be better w/o the border, but that's a matter of personal preference I think.

Soliloquy
by Zoomdak

Comment:
Nice shot. I like the dark moody sky and sea. The reflection of the rock is fantastic. The hand-scralled "hope" in the fore ground could have been cheesy, but in this case it works very well. I suspect the water will obliterate it soon, but in fact, that's is one of the emotional strengths of the photo. Hope is a transient for most people. Maybe my monitor is too dark, but if I were editing this, I might have brightened it just a bit. Still among my top 10 picks this time.

"Maybe I'll get some meat too...!"
by neatizzy

Comment:
I can see how if you knew and loved the dog, those eyes would definitely convey the emotion of hope for an illicit scrap. In terms of the photo though, I would score it more highly with a different composition, possibly from anothr angle or with more context in the photo. I would like it better with sharper focus and greater DOF. The dog's face would be more expressive, IMO, if it were lighter and if I could see the eyes more clearly defined. The hope is in the eyes. Accentuating that would give more emotional punch, I think.

Finding Hope
by pearcer

Comment:
Well, you found the definition and the image is a good workmanlike image technically. It meets the challenge in a strict technical sense. In the challenges where the theme is a bit more esoteric, I see a lot of photos of dictionary definitions. Maybe I'm just narrow minded, but they don't resonate much with me. Compared to others in the challenge, they doesn't convey the same emotional impact or graphic punch.