Riverdance
by scalvert

Comment:
Voted earlier - this is a stellar shot! Now that I have some time to comment I wanted to say why I love this shot (and favoriting it too). I love the brilliant colors that pop visually off of the blacks & blues of the water. While the Koi fish are not in sharp focus, I love how the sweep and swirl of the motion shows pleasing curves and a dreamy feel. With the movement it is almost like brush strokes. It is very impressionistic - hmmm, impressionistic zen and very well done I might add. This would be a wonderful print to hang on the wall.

"My Gawd, I Hope There are No Darts at this Party"
by liberty

Comment:
Now that...is brilliant! I love the humor and the wonderful creativity in this shot. Putting fish inside a different sort of bubble - great imagination! Humor made me laugh. Love the colors, shapes, and the composition. I have two thoughts as to how you got the goldfish in the balloon - one would require extreme patience and luck, the other is that a picture taken earlier and hung there to give the illusion of being. All the same the effect is wonderful! Voted earlier and placed this as a 9 but had a little time now to come back and say what I enjoyed with this picture.

Flying on the Rooftops
by njsabs

Comment:
This is so extremely creative! It captures the whimsy and imagination of childhood so well. Love the colors the composition, and the smile on the girl's face. Picture Perfect! Voted this a 10 earlier and marked as fav....but wanted to come back and leave a comment and tell you why and what I love so much about this.

IMG_9509d
by Tammster

Comment:
Love the reflections in the water. The tones are good and very dynamic. This is a good shot but I think that an element of drama needs to be injected for it to be in the above average category (being honest here and I know you can do something with this Landscape Challenge because you do have an eye for this; case in point your Reflections of a Beautiful Day and your High Key - 3 Techniques photos) Question: is there some bushy cattails or interesting wispy plants that could act as a 'curtain' that frames one or either side of the frame? This would give the impression of the viewer pushing aside the reeds/bushes to 'discover' the lovely view beyond. Another dramatic element could be to shot at a lower angle - that way the trees feel taller to us - a feeling that their height is majestic.

Orange Creamsicle
by Ja-9

Comment:
Way to go! Big congrats on the capturing the red ribbon! Creamsicle was the right word to use in the title - the curves are smooth and silky one can just taste/feel the texture with our eyes:-) Color and composition are absolutely wonderful.

Spring Time in Skagit Valley, WA
by kellmak10

Comment:
Wonderful placement of subjects within the frame! The flower in the foreground *INSTANTLY* captures my attention and like a Greeter announces and invites me to come on into the meadow. My vision then travels beyond to the backdrop where I see a field of flowers. The bright and bold yellow-orange hues are perfectly captured. This invokes the feel of a bright, breezy and carefree spring day. Hope to see this in the top 5 - 10.

The Ring!
by Judi

Comment:
I love this unique presentation - no flowers or fruits - but an interesting slice of life told not by any facial expression but by the laid back stances of body position and of the hands. These ladies are taking a moment to relax from the frenzy of a wedding day to chat and oh and ah over the ring. The orange bridesmaids dresses really pop and is a bold vibrant color here. Love the mood, feel, and composition in this one - one of my few 9's. Oh and btw I can't help but look at the photo and wonder - "was this taken at the Wayfarer's Chapel that overlooks the ocean in Palos Verdes?" I can see the ocean and the pine trees but I don't remember a bench with metal supports being near the stone pathway (then again it has been several years since I was last there)

Marble Madness
by 4trtone

Comment:
Creative use of simple objects (marbles and spinning top), imagination, and lighting. I like how the 'marble' planets jump off the black backdrop. Lighting them with a small LED Flashlight really made them shine (pardon the pun on that). But I do have a question: could you have held the flashlight at a greater height so that the spotlight would just shine on the marbles themselves without creating a 'halo' around them? If that could be accomplished you would light up your marble planets perfectly such that only they shine/pop off the black backdrop of 'space'. The giant 'planet' in the middle looks like a colorful Jupiter with that swirling eye. This is a very creative presentation showing us how marbles and a spinning top can become planets in space if we apply our imagination.

100% all natural
by FourPointX

Comment:
So you assisted me in helping me pick out my entry so I will help you by giving you a few pointers I have learned and a in-depth critique:-)

First off focus is a bit soft all around - I am going to guess that it was in sharp focus with the original photo and the resizing from a 10 mp down to the 800 X 800 file size caused it to go a bit soft. One thing I learned is to always use sharpen after resizing to keep the sharp focus. Another PP trick I learned from a DPCer is that never go down in resizing in one step - it is akin the old VCR tapes recording a low quality to a low quality just makes the quality degrade over time. Sharpening after one step resizing will keep some sharp focus but you still lose some. To retain the most detail, do it in one or two steps (say 70% then 60%) and sharpen after each step. Sometimes with a high aperature and slow shutter speed you might not get tack sharp focus because of camera movement - some detail can be recovered with USM (unsharp mask - my Spirit of a Country entry was a tad soft and use of that brought back the sharp details). Now on my monitor there is a lack of good contrasts and the tones look a bit washed out. Applying a contrast adjust or playing with the Brightness Contrast Levels will get more contrasts and deepen the tones. Composition could use a bit more work. I like the idea/concept presented here having climbed quite a few trees in my early tomboy days:-) Generally (not always) straight on at the level compositions don't offer an interesting perspective to hold a viewers attention for long - other elements within the photo/art piece have to step up to the plate to grab & hold the viewers attention. I think you have some nice key elements that would help your composition; you just need to play them up. First off when I think of trees and climbing them I think of height. To show and give the feeling of height to a viewer shoot at a lower angle looking up. Not only will I get a sense of height but it provides an interesting angle to look at. There are some nice lines in the composition that could help draw and capture the eyes interest if you play it up in your composition. If you could position the frame as you are lining up the shot, the tree branch on the far left could stretch out and lead off into the top left hand corner while a tree branch on the far right would lead off into the top right corner. This would create a strong "Y" pattern in the composition, subtly increasing the visual interest. You have one smiling, playful expression on the boy's face on the right, but a neutral expression on the one on the left. I don't know how many shots you fired off, but had you shot several or three dozen you could perhaps end up with a nice little gem where *BOTH* have a playful, smiling expressions, thus showing a strong interaction that projects the concept of 'playing with your best friend'. I hope these pointers help.

This Will Be a Day Long Remembered
by karmat

Comment:
I had gone looking through the challenge but then got called away with work and RL and never got time to come back to vote/comment. But I remember this one! I loved it for it's creativity and the time spent to create such an image. Love the Star Wars troopers and Darth Vader! Lighting is great, composition is great and creativity really goes past hyper drive;-) Now if you can make a companion piece with an eggractive Han Solo along with Luke and Leia that would be spectacular!:-) ;-) Congrats on the high finish - glad it did well.