at the bottom of the slide
by shutterfly

Comment:
Nice timing. I've used these tubular slides as props myself (see my entry for "Upside Down" if you're curious).

Busy Merry-Go-Round
by vestanpance

Comment:
Personally I'd probably like this better if you'd been able to get a clear shot without the people in the foreground.

Reaching the Fractals
by paganini

Comment:
Well I got your title, and think this is an excellent natural example. I like this even more now that I can read about how you did the color, as I'm a big fan of duotone mode, and look forward to trying this on one of my numerous shots of trees and sky.

A Plethora of Privet Berries
by GeneralE

Comment:
For the record, I have a common (in men) form of red-green color-blindness, which gives me difficulty in distinguishing between blues and purples, greens and browns, etc. I avoid making many judgements based on color -- I make my esthetic decisions primarily on tone, contrast, cropping, and sharpening, and the appropriate application of each considering the subject matter.

When I checked some of the brightly-lit berries in Photoshop the densitometry indicated a pretty pure blue, although I'm sure there's a lot of purple ones too.

These were several feet up, and the wind was gusting that day 30-40mph and they were swaying pretty wildly, so I couldn't really make it a much tighter shot. And, it was mostly back- and side-lit through the rest of the hedge.

Privet berries are much esteemed by birds, but my gardening book makes no mention of their edibility by humans, so I'd suggest not eating any. It did mention that the fruit made a huge mess, so don't plant over your patio or driveway. Privets are bushes or small trees used with great frequency for hedges.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I think I actually scored a little better than I predicted!

A tribute to my partner´s blue eyes
by bcncrazy

Comment:
Here you will probably always get a lower vote for soft-focus or out-of-focus pictures unless people ae completely convinced it's deliberate and necessary. In this case, I'd have recommended using the narrower aspect ratio (640x427) to draw more attention to the eyes. I'd have probably gone all "arty" if I really wanted to use THIS shot -- I have messed around with it and posted it at pBase at:
//www.pbase.com/image/8523831
If you don't want anyone else to see, let me know and I'll delete it.

Old Blue-Eye
by Isaac

Comment:
The effect of the flash on the skin in the lower part is a bit harsh. Having the specular highlight overlap the pupil instead of the iris would be better, although it's nice and small. Good focus, detail.

Simply Blue
by Natasha

Comment:
I like the composition and contnt, and for ths challenge I can even see deliberately heightening the difference between fore- and background. Still, I think I'd want to boost the contrast and detail of the background if I was going to print it for frequent viewing...

Calm Before the Storm
by sg10

Comment:
Off we go into the ...

Not A Single Cloud In the ...
by daysez

Comment:
I haven't seen a Joshua Tree for a long time. They make great subjects.

Dumb Nurse
by derekleung

Comment:
I can relate in several ways. I might have said "must be taken.." instead of "are to be..." and underlined the word "must" to make sure all those literal-minded voters saw how it met the challenge.