The Game of Life
by LCDeHaan

Comment:
Wow. Sometimes I wish there was a special shoehorn award just for fun interpretations of the challenge. I bet your score is getting slammed, but I'd also bet you're making a lot of viewers smile with this one. Kudos for the bravery to enter this.

Simple Pleasures
by bspurgeon

Comment:
No doubt about it for me. The DOF isolates the subject perfectly and the whole composition is very evocative of childhood fun in the sand. Very under rated imho.

My eye in the sand
by bob_bobski

Comment:
Nice job on this one. I did a similar sand shot for a previous macro challenge & really enjoyed seeing this done better than what I was able to accomplish:


Regarding the focus, sure the marble may be towards the front of the focal plane (very difficult to hit that same spot time after time), but I think the focus is fantastic since the marble and the stationary grains around it are quite sharp and the far part of the ejecta that is not on edge (the most important part imho) is going right through the center of the focal plane.

Stopping the grains with a shorter flash might have been interesting, but I'm not sure I'd like that more than the texture you captured here with the sand's motion blur. I bet you have some very cool out takes from experimenting with the settings.

Kudos to you Bob for having the perseverance to pull this shot off so well! I think capturing sand drops makes water drops seem like an easy point and shoot.

Week 01 - Party Animals
by Ken

Comment:
Fishy vision is sure fun to play with. I think including the right pole and left wall corner really accentuates the fishy feeling, which I think can be a little disconcerting for viewers. Perhaps a crop from the right side of the drapes to the left wall corner (or square would work) would mitigate that feeling. Or just step in to the room further to avoid hard curves from normally straight objects along the sides. Then again, if you want that warped feeling this works just fine ;)

Squirrel
by davidw

Comment:
It's very funny to see this guy's left hand clutching at such a small support. Too bad about the foreground branch in the way, but I agree that this is a very interesting pose.

Busy Squirrel - Face Crop
by davidw

Comment:
I vote for your first idea :). I loved the context in the original and I liked the overall composition much better.

1.52 Cell phone cigarette break
by Melethia

Comment:
Great composition. I had a first split second reaction that it was strange to place him so far left, but what a cool capture with his shadow in the composition.

Spokane Falls at 6 Degrees
by jhess77

Comment:
Great tones in this shot and vary interesting paths for the eye to follow.

Week One
by karmat

Comment:
Interesting perspective on your town. I love the contrast between the town and the hills, and the hills offer such interesting lines to wander through.

African Hoopoe
by sulamk

Comment:
Fascinating bird! You might have better luck with sharpness and isolating the bird with a smaller aperture & perhaps aperture priority mode. Still, a fun capture. Thanks!