Hillside Sunrise
by GeneralE

Comment:

Originally posted by meanwile: ... If a different composition or a better defined/esthetically-pleasing tree were not available, I'd probably do as you did and mess with the sky color/texture, although not quite as extremely. Better luck next time ;-)

Thanks! I was kind-of stuck as far as compositional choices go, since this was taken from the middle of the freeway at 60 MPH, without using either the viewfinder or the video screen.

I guess I thought that getting this quality of framing, lighting, timing, and (almost) focus under the circumstances was an accomplishment which deserved the opportunity to stand on its own. Someplace I have yet another version which has tonal adjustment but not the radical color shift of the currently-posted alternates -- I'll post that one too.

Hillside Sunrise
by GeneralE

Comment:
I guess I should have submitted one of the "enhanced" versions instead of this virtually unprocessed one, which I thought was my best "pure photograph" of the month.

First alternate: Second alternate:

Painted Lady
by GeneralE

Comment:

Originally posted by train: This looks stunning why didnt you crop it in to gets rid of the distactions of the back ground Its quite hard to focus on the actual image of the flower and butterfly Detail is great just that background is not

I have been trying to concentrate on my camera skills and not editing, so I've been submitting a lot of uncropped shots just to see how successful my composition has been. I was actually very happy to achieve the DOF/bokeh effect, as it's hard to do with this camera. I like the riotous colors, though they do provide camouflage, they also mimic/mirror the colors of the subject.

Another consideration is that this is only a 3MP original -- cropping would probably limit me to 5x7 prints, even with a border.

I can try fading the BG to make the butterfly pop out a bit more, and maybe I'll try a vertical crop as well -- thanks for the sugggestion.

Panorama in 4:3
by GeneralE

Comment:

Originally posted by kteach: I'm not sure if I like the overall lack of color since it keeps it consistent with the sign, or if I would like to see more color in the top half. Creative shot and perfect for the challenge. Nicely done.

There really wasn't any color in the original -- it was a gray,hazy day and this view is at least partly backlit.

At first I tried it in a warm sepia-like look, but though it gave the sky a nice glow, it made the concrete and the sign (the real subject) look a little funny, so I switched to a Black/Cyan duotone for that cooler, foggy look.

Gorgeous George?
by GeneralE

Comment:

Originally posted by agenkin: I can barely see any DOF isolation in this shot.

It was only after the challenge started and I saw a thread on using "artificial" DOF (selective blurring), that I thought to use that technique to enhance this one.

Girl from Ipanema
by whiteroom

Comment:
I like the composition with the nice strong diagonal line.

Summer Love: Please Don't Leave Me
by hotpasta

Comment:
Their isolation from "society" is more psychological than physical -- interesting twist on the topic.

Dressed for the Occaision?
by Skip

Comment:
So how hard did it rain?

trans
by sanandan

Comment:
Nice action shot under what looks like difficult lighting conditions.

Fish Market
by caba

Comment:
Good job isolating the subject's face in the dark field. I might have cropped from the bottom to an exact square, and to lessen the amount of bright foreground so it frames the face but dosn't compete with it for attention.