Insect Picnic
by bobdaveant

Comment:
god DAMN this makes me hungry, mmmmmmmmmm
are you sure you didn't mean to submit this to Recipes II? :P

Sangre De Cristo ( Blood of Christ )
by pitsaman

Comment:
excellent choice for this challenge. the initial impact is very strong. after looking at it a bit more I find myself wishing that the reds weren't so heavily saturated; in some areas, they're almost flat color fields. Other than that, I really like this picture... it has a lot of depth and texture to it. the grasslands in the foreground hold a lot of interest, and the partial desaturation is very effective.

flowing red dress
by snackwells

Comment:
the processing, especially the color treatment, is clearly sophisticated, and the skill of the artist shines through. still I find this image bottom-heavy - I don't think the hair clip is enough to balance out the field of red folds at the bottom.

Petals Of Color
by JOHNBOY1970

Comment:
but... a looking glass is a mirror.

Through the Looking Glass
by silverleaf

Comment:
but... a looking glass is a mirror.

Traffic Light Spectrum
by mpeters

Comment:
great title.
(there are those who seem to think that titles are unimportant-
they are wrong)

Sarah - Land downunder colours
by troberge

Comment:
I like the colors and the composition, and the girl is a charmer. I'm not sure how you achieved this, but to me the girl looks like a cardboard cutout. The ragged outline and angularity of her shirt, hair, and left hand make this look like it was shot on a completely different background and then cut out with the Lasso tool. There are things that I like about this picture, but the processing appears clumsy.

by SDW

Comment:
interesting photo and technically well accomplished; the exposure, colors, and focus are excellent. I find the grey border a poor choice, though - it distracts from and clashes with the photo.

Trees in Water
by e301

Comment:
This is the first time I have seen this sort of reflective image executed with such technical excellence and then submitted to a challenge for which it is perfectly relevant. This particular style having been so tested, and found solidly mediocre by the jury of DPC voters, I suppose it's not worth trying on DPC again any time soon. Ah well, voters often completely overlook gems like this.

I am guessing that what threw at least some off is that this sort of picture, executed poorly, is the kind of photograph that everyone probably takes at one time or another. It's worth repeating what I said above: the execution here is near flawless, and I think that it would be easy to underestimate the difficulty of accomplishing what you have here.

I applaud you for your willingness to take the risk of presenting the voting public with something outside of the norm. I think this is as important as any other charge that a photographer might have.

Bring the Picnic Basket
by glad2badad

Comment:
The color treatment in this image is very attractive - it's understated without being underdone or looking washed out. The elements of this picture hold together well; the lake is well placed, as is the tree in the lower right foreground.

I gave this a 6 during the challenge - and I would have given it higher marks if it were just a bit sharper. May I suggest another pass of USM at, say, 0.4 radius, 70%, 0 threshold? I'd really be interested in seeing this touched up just a bit.

edit- I just threw this into photoshop myself to see what'd happen if I applied my own suggestion. What I wound up with was duplicating the image layer, and using 0.4, 100%, 0 threshold, and then masking off the sky and the tree in the LL. The difference is subtle but IMO significant.

Message edited by author 2006-01-13 23:00:33.