shapes and sizes
by DanSig

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Interesting juxtaposition of shapes and nice "illusion" created regarding the bottles (I'm assuming they're all really the same size). Simple, effective composition, and excellent lighting, as usual. Your studio work is always very well done. Oh, and very nice glass, too. :-)

Blackeye
by Louis

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Good to see a submission from you - it's been awhile! And congrats on a new picture in your top row.

I gave this a 7 in voting. It's a lovely, simple, captivating image and I really like the depth and texture of the flower itself. I also like the way the glass vase appears, with the water line echoing the table line below. Like the tonality and shading of the background as well. My only quibble is the solid, featureless appearance of the leaves. They don't need to be detailed, and for all I know Mapplethorpe's leaves all look this way, but the barest hint of shape and surface might be kinda nice.

Flowers on a Glass Table
by chalice

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At the risk of repeating myself, I really do like this composition - the almost-touching shape formed the branch and its reflection is quite lovely. Colors work well, too. About the only thing I'd recommend is try playing with levels a bit to see if you can get the white more white, and if you still like it that way. You can also try "selective color" and take the yellow and a bit of the magenta and cyan out of the white.

Not Your Basic Beachboys
by chalice

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I'm wondering if you turned up the "contrast" or "sharpness" on the 20D's picture style for this challenge. Colors are pretty good (Canon's quite good on that count) but it does indeed need a bit of sharpening. And yes, I know it's "out of the camera". :-)

Composition - would like to see the whole boat in frame, or at least enough of the back to know we had all the people in the frame. Love the title, by the way.

Fire Flower
by Kelli

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I gave this a 6 because by gosh, it wasn't just another flower! I thought it fit for a flower challenge around the 4th of July just fine, but then I'm weird. I kinda like the long horizontal crop, too. I suspect a lot of the scoring is either DNMC related or crop related.

Marching Alternates
by nards656

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Pretty good score for cotton swabs, but then again, Tim ribboned with 'em, so go figure!

It came out pretty sharp and I'd say the colors are pretty good, except I'd have gone with a different background color - it does seem a bit bland of a color. Very good in-camera framing with good lines/balance.

Amazing Beauty
by tngrndream

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Excellent bokeh and a pretty good closeup of the bee. What I like is how the size of the bee emphasizes the petite nature and delicateness of the flower's blossoms. I gave this a 6 in voting. I suspect this was shot in full sunshine, which makes it tough to get good contrast across the spectrum, though the color of the flower itself is very good.

"We are Lilies fair, The flower of virgin light"
by obsidian

Comment:
Carl - great finish in a very tough challenge, and a new pic on your top row, too! Very unique and lovely presentation - and in reading your notes, took a lot of work, too.

Catching The Light
by BrianR

Comment:
Good score and placing in this very tough challenge! I like that you had the flash on - that provided a very balanced exposure of the flower against the sky. You captured the detail very well!

Sailing Into A New Day
by BrianR

Comment:
Nice shot! I gave this a 6 in voting and I agree that the underexposure worked well here. For an out-of-camera shot, this is a tough one to get right just because it's shot into the sun. Not too dark at all, in my opinion.