Free as a Bird
by salmiakki

Comment:
Beautifuly shot. Lots of extra points for making a seagull shot this good! I just see them seagulls so often I can be jaded towards them. I should add, the texture of the sky makes this extra special.

Message edited by author 2011-05-21 01:02:15.

Don't Jump!
by PennyStreet

Comment:
Congrats on the ribbon, Penny! Kind of cool to get a top3 shot with a cellphone in the non cellphone challenge. So it's as they say, it's the photog not the camera. wtg

Message edited by author 2011-05-20 11:18:02.

twinkle in his eye
by Jutilda

Comment:
A very underrated shot. There were more than a few pics in the top20 which had backgrounds or negative space with features. Perhaps it would've scored better in b/w? but I like this in color :) eta: thinking back again it might've been too tightly cropped for the voters but it's still very underrated.

Message edited by author 2011-05-15 02:07:20.

journey
by LevT

Comment:
This made my top10 list from the challenge. A very pleasant surprise to see it's yours.

Message edited by author 2011-05-15 02:00:55.

DPC loves Insect Macros
by Lydia

Comment:
Very nice work with the 100mm. I've never gotten this close to this type of live bee before and kept the shot in focus. Cheers to that 6+! :)

Message edited by author 2011-05-15 01:58:22.

Light Beer
by Lydia

Comment:
Very creative! Here I thought lightbulbs can't be used any other way (exclude bugs) ;)

Bottle Fatigue
by citymars

Comment:
Cool shot and a super neat find! The composition makes the shot look like an ultra wide lens took it.

~Central Park~
by Techo

Comment:
Howdy folks! Thanks for the comments and the warm welcome back, :)

The grad was a 0.6 hard stop grad. As far as PP. I did vignette the corners and edges of the shot a bit. Toned the shot slight sepia as well. That's the main part I think. Also applied selective sharpening. During the b/w conversion some noise was added, as the contrast was tweaked.

Was working on a different computer screen at the time so maybe editing wasn't as accurate as it could've been. My trusty ole 20" CRT has hit the hay for good. It was a good pro model that I think is still better than a pro range ($800-$1700) 24" LCD. Was using a 17" spare for a while. Trying out an NEC now. So we'll see how that affects any new photo editing. But so far, reading text is a bit of a pain. I see now that the edges are a bit too dark, and the graduation from dark to light could've been smoother. More so on the left side. Seems to be one of those rare images that are finicky and look a bit too different on various displays.

Message edited by author 2011-05-08 22:03:45.

Coral Rush
by salmiakki

Comment:
Beautiful shot. The camera is like a big brush and you've used it most artfully.

Lightheaded
by gyaban

Comment:
The Expert of Expert Editing ;)