Rosette Nebula, a giant stellar nursery
by Pascal

Comment:
Update to my previous comment-- congratulations on winning. I'm glad to see DPC finally recognize a proper astrophoto. I am quite surprised that it was voted into first place, only because astrophotos usually tank on this site-- it truly is an excellent image. I'm sure it also helps to hide the only-10-subs noise by shrinking it to 640x480 :)

The FSQ 106 is an outstanding scope, and color me jealous of your EM200 mount! That is a serious amount of money though, it ought to produce awesome images :)

Neon Spider
by Nuzzer

Comment:
cool lighting

Anticipation
by Quigley

Comment:
cute

Tiny Dancer
by tpbremer

Comment:
Fascinating use of bokeh, only wish you hadn't cropped the feet and hand.. that makes this a 10 knocked down to a 9 :(

The Greatest Star from Earth
by Scholten

Comment:
This rock has to be the most photographed beach in CA, especially at low tide.

Rosette Nebula, a giant stellar nursery
by Pascal

Comment:
Nice rosette.. good thing you had advanced editing in your favor. Looks like you used a modded DSLR as well.

I predict this won't vote very well, folks here don't appreciate astrophotos unless there is some element of the ground/Earth in the shot... except maybe an exceptional wide angle shot of Orion or something.

If I had a choice for this contest, I would have done a 50mm shot of Orion with Barnard's loop in it.

Descent from the Cross
by De Sousa

Comment:
Congratulations on the win. My only 2 critiques of the photo are:
- the virgin Mary's blue shawl looks like a cape for the red cross guy, since his jumpsuit is the same shade of blue.. I didn't even see her at first, she was so well camouflaged.
- The beam of light on the floor directly underneath Jesus is distracting. At first I thought it was a painted line on the floor, but closer examination reveals it's the backlight. I would recommend dodging/burning to hide it.

This looks like a nice recreation of a classic painting.

Here's to... Good food. Good friends. Good fun.
by Lydia

Comment:
Awkward perspective with the wine glass and the background in combination-- it looks like you're holding up the wine glass.. which gives this too much of a posed feel for my taste. If you had left this on the table and incorporated the family OOF in the background, that would make this the best of the submissions.

Feast for ONE
by hotpasta

Comment:
Indeed very fancy, looks almost restaurant perfect.

Num Num Yummy
by Pipe_Dream

Comment:
Wine, beer and a cello? Nice lighting.