"Wuv You... "
by Lydia

Comment:
Yeah! Congratulations Lydia, I'm glad it went so well for this one, absolutely deserved first place.

Rejoice
by Judi

Comment:
Congratulations Judi on your win! I'm always a big fan of your photos, and this one is no exception.

Queen of Kitsch
by sjhuls

Comment:
Congratulations Jenn, it is always a great pleasure to see your creativity rewarded :-) Using this house was a great move. It is always hard to find convincing places to support a precise idea, and when it matches efficiently like here, the result is often very good! Congrats again.

L y r i c a l - D u e t
by njsabs

Comment:
By far my favorite of the challenge. Of course, it's figurative, yet the way you created it is abstract enough for me. Graphically astounding, a real piece of art. Great work. Looking forward to read your notes, I'm really curious about how you achieved that one!

Shadow play
by LevT

Comment:
Congrats Lev! I love the use of shadows here, it is very clever and inspirational. Really a photo that makes you want to try something like that too.

Just Cruisin'
by h2

Comment:
The voting has gone totally mad since WPL beginning, it is just sad. Congratulations on a very good shot. As for the score, there's no doubt you were robbed.

He Climbs Mountains on the Weekend
by Brent_S

Comment:
Now that's some risky shot! There's always an additional thrill when the photographer is at stake ;-)
Congratulations Brent, very clever photo, and technically flawless. I love it!

Doughnut Girl
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by gcoulson: I wonder whether an image like this pushes you more out of your comfort zone than an image under expert editing where you can create whatever you'd like under the time restraint? To me, this image speaks greater to me about your phenomenal talent as a photographer than some of your very ambitious and complex expert editing submissions. This just has so much more meaning and impact, visually, in my honest opinion.

Thanks a lot for your kind words. I value your opinion a lot, and in a sense I agree with you, even if my view on the subject is quite different.

I perceive minimal or basic editing as the "easy way". I mean, anyone can take a technically decent photo with nowadays' gear. Even my mother does (sometimes ;)) Any camera embeds chips that will compute for you some decent settings. If the result doesn't look good, well, you still captured the "reality as it is", and consequently, you can blame it on the environment (too much clouds, not enough sun, too much sun, subject wouldn't stand still, nothing happened that day, that lens sucks, etc.) I do know this is not entirely the truth, and great photographers will still usually find a way to snap good shots in, no matter what. But if you fail, you still has that little voice in the head telling you it's not entirely your fault.

As a contrary, under expert editing rules, you are in control of everything, literally. If the result is poor, then you are the sole responsible for it. In that sense, "expert editing" pushes me way more out of my comfort zone. While anyone can take a decent photo (not necessarily fabulous, just decent), a decent photoshop collage is another story: it takes much more time for everything: figuring out a working composition, shooting the elements, masking, adjusting all the colours and lights... We all saw some pictures that are a complete failure in that regard. It's much easier to produce a bad photoshop work than a bad photo. I believe you really need some solid photo skills to try and achieve nice photoshop work (unless you are a pure digital painter and draws everything from scratch, but that's yet another thing).

To conclude, yes you are right, some of my massively photoshoped entries have less impact that this photo. For me, it just means I should work harder on them: it's still a way to produce images that non-edited photos cannot. Since I do love unrealistic and imaginative pictures, I find these modern techniques very interesting, and logically, intend to get better at them.

Message edited by author 2011-09-28 13:18:25.

The Three Defenders
by gyaban

Comment:

Originally posted by cutout: nice one laser cutout?

Thank you!
No, no laser, hands and scissors, a whole day of work.

What's a Few Licks Between Friends?
by sjhuls

Comment:
Congratulations, one more ribbon for your collection :-) Great work, it can be so hard to shoot such models!