rising
by nixter

Comment:
Gawd, that's fascinating. I am trying to judge the "reality" of that BG; is it a billboard? Great capture.

A light in troubled times
by Maverick

Comment:
I have come back to bump this one. My first reaction was that it was pretty nice, but that the colors were too cool to really suit me, and I slotted it in the 7's, a decent score. But now I am back, and I confess to being slightly mystified by this scene, or, rather, by how you created it...

ON the surface of it, this seems simple enough: one exposure for the structures and the sky, and at the end of the exposure or during the exposure the light swept through in its arc.

OR, possibly, a true HDR image, with several exposures, accomplishing same as above.

That's not a mystery, particularly. But I'm looking at the stars, and the hint of mist in the sky, and that's like *one* thing; and I'm looking at the lighting on the tower and the shack, and that's like what, full-moon light? Sure seems to be. But, STARS so visible during a full moon? A little odd for up here, anyway.

So, ANTwho.... It's sharp as a tack, mysteriously lit, vaguely enigmatic overall, and of course I'm realizing the formerly-objectionable "cool" colors are exactly as they should be, for a moonlit exposure, so...

Bumpity-long-winded-bump!

BTW, nearly all my high scores are going to the odd and quirky-beguiling images that speak to me in this challenge; yours is one of the few landscapes to make it into the 9+ range with me.

Jump Rope Cowboy Style
by dafletchr

Comment:
I have come back to this, and I am bumping it up two notches, to a 9. Let me explain why:

First and foremost, a second perusal showed me that the guy was actually in the act of passing THROUGH the bight in the lariat, and that just blew me away; now the quivering liveliness of the lariat itself, against everything else being frozen, takes on special meaning.

Now, beyond that, there's such a perfect slice-of-life going on here that I can't help but6 be drawn into it. Some might have been tempted to crop out the trailer, but *I'm* glad you didn't, because it connects me to this itinerant lifestyle of the American Southwest.

I do have a quibble, that in your search for shadow detail you have brought the shadows up a little too far, probably with shadow/highlight. By the same token, you've brought the bright part of the trailer down too far, so it looks muddy. I think I'd have rather seen it practically glowing, but I can't be sure without an original to look at.

I'd love to see the original on this, if you were interested in my take on the processing. Meanwhile, welcome to the 9's :-)

Wild Maestro!
by Gaia

Comment:
This belongs int he snapshot hall of fame. It has *all* the elements of a casual snapshot, from the faded sky and the slightly skewed horizon to the arbitrary truncation of so many elements. But at the same time there's a brash *immediacy* to the whole that is captivating, and the title couldn't possibly be any better.

Well, I take that back, the title COULD be better: lose the "wild" and just call it "Maestro!"

Anyway it cracks me up, and it's in my high-seeded group for now :-)

Wonky Goggles
by Stonefinger

Comment:
Couldn't be any more wonky than this, for sure :-) Tremendously beguiling, off-the-wall image.

damp lineage
by jjbeguin

Comment:
Oh, that's exceptional, and exceptionally moving...

MT
by tooter

Comment:
I *want* to like this, and in many ways I do, but the processing is just,,, weird... to my eyes at least. Hell of a structure. Gave it a 6 because it does have appeal, but I'm 100% positive you could have gotten more out of it...

apples and dandelions
by timfythetoo

Comment:
I like it *too*... I'm sure you're getting hammered, but it has such a sense of joie-de-vivre...

Nuns on Ice
by Coley

Comment:
These gals are hysterical. Reminds me of 2 summers ago when I fed home-made pizza to 6 nuns on a "field trip" to the Cape from Western Massachusetts. Was the first time 5 of them had seen an ocean.

Of course, this is winter and this ain't an ocean, but memory lane and a kick in the humor bone makes this an 8 in my book :-)

I just realized this is definitely Coley at work :-)

Old Battered Romantic
by Mark1966

Comment:
I'm shocked nobody thought this was me, as far as I can tell :-) Really nice work, Mark.

R.