Flower Dance
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
Hi Shailesh -

I liked this shot quite a bit, but felt it would have been really outstanding with some sun filtering through the petals to really brighten the scene.

July 4, 2006
by DigiFotoBuddy

Comment:
Hi Shailesh! Congrats on making page one! I liked this shot because it gave the fireworks a context, a sense of place and event. If I have to nitpick, the horizon isn't quite level and I would prefer that the top of the fireworks not be cut off. I grew up around Bloomington and I don't recognize this location, where is it?

they paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot
by margiemu

Comment:
Hi Margie -

This is a neat idea, but yes, the sky is washed out. The building also appears to be leaning slightly since the center line forming the corner isn't perfectly vertical. One last nitpick is that the composition looksa bit too green, so perhaps some color balance adjustment slightly toward the magenta end of the scale would help counter that.

strawberries
by margiemu

Comment:
Hi Margie -

For me, this suffers on two levels. First and foremost is that the light is just too harsh. The whites are super bright and fog up the glass. The color on the strawberries seems washed out in comparison. Overall, the image comes across looking fairly flat.

The lightbox did a good job of eliminating the shadows, but perhaps the desk lamps could do with some diffusing, say with white muslin or wax paper.

Don't be afraid to bump up the color saturation.

One of my tricks for toning down bright spots is a reverse S-curve. In a normal S curve, you select the three points (lower, mid and upper), pull the lower point down a touch (deepens colors and shadows) and the upper point is pulled up (brightens highlights, lightens shadows). To tone down super brights, do exactly the opposite - lower point goes up, upper point goes down. Then I usually do a second curves layer, also 3-points, in which I pull the lower and center down just a touch, and leave the upper where it is. I'm betting this technique would work some magic here. :)

Nature's Fireworks
by margiemu

Comment:
Hi Margie, I'm catching up on my CTP2 comments.

This was a difficult challenge in which to stand out. There's only so many views of a fireworks display to be had. Unfortunately, this entry was so different that it no longer truly met the challenge. To top it off, there is a lot of image grain to drag it further down. After seeing so many well done lightning shots in other challenges, this one just kinda sinks to the bottom. If you don't have it already, Neat Image is worth the investment, and stick closer to the spirit of the challenge.

Hummingbird
by Dan_Cottle

Comment:
Simply put, wow.

Into the Storm
by wavelength

Comment:
Llama llama!
Cheescake!
LLAMAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!
Congrats, Kipt'n Llama!

And the Rockets Red Glare...
by Cutter

Comment:
For those curious, I suspect it was the upper portion of the scoreboard, which you can see here in this daytime photo taken from a fairly similar angle: Coors Field

:-(

Observing a Future Without Hope
by Cutter

Comment:
Lookout Mountain?

Exquisite
by swallace

Comment:
Such a serendipitous shot... whatever "mistake" you may have made here, it turned out ridiculously gorgeous. Hands down my favorite shot of the challenge.