Paparazzi again...and mom told us we had a face only she could love!
by Enlightened

Comment:
Yikes, what ugly mugs! I'm glad you posted that their photo was taken at the Toronto zoo, because my first thought was, "Those had better not be native to Ottawa."

At 1/350, I'm surprised you got the motion on the beak. Those guys must have been yammering away pretty good about something. The lighting is not ideal, and does have that "zoo" feel overall. By the time you get everyone ready and out of the house the sun has risen to full height in the sky. I told my family that next time I go to the zoo, I'm leaving them behind. I want to be standing at the gates when they open, so I can get that warm morning light.

Who's Been at the Jelly Beans?
by jomari

Comment:
Mmm, jelly beans! I'm with you, I probably shouldn't eat them either, heh.

These jelly beans pop right off the screen. Your colors are bright and rich. I like your composition and that a few have spilled out of their dish. You know you have to eat those, right??

I think where this image lacks is the lighting. It is pretty harsh and could use a lot of softening/diffusing by either passing the light through a white screen of some sort or bouncing it off of something else.

Snooze
by pamb

Comment:
Such beautiful, rich colors and contrast here. I just want to reach out and scratch his little gigantic noggin and scratch between his little gigantic toes.

Layers of Springtime
by nam

Comment:
Ah-ha, a middle of the pack, no comment, photo!

As with what goes with the territory, nothing is "wrong" with this photo in the sense of focus or exposure. I will say the composition seems slightly off. With an image so linear, I think centered-ness is very important. The secondary leaf is nudged to the left. Thankfully, that little blossom is there to balance the weight though, otherwise it would feel pretty lopsided to me.

Also, I can't help but wonder about scale. I should just accept the photo as is, but there's something about that background leaf that makes it feel HUGE. Since I don't know the size of the foreground leaf and the blossom, I feel the need to pull back and see the full size of the background leaf.

Fossil Ammonite
by GeneralE

Comment:
Congratulations on your brown, heh.

The DOF doesn't seem like enough. My eyes want to focus on the center bit, but it's not clear enough. It might have been better to stand this fossil up on its edge so all of the surface area would be in your DOF. Maybe this is in a case though and you're not allowed to do that. In that situation, crack that case open, stand the fossil up, snap its photo, and RUN!!!

Radiant
by ambaker

Comment:
Beautiful colors on that flower, and I like your choice of composition. You seemed to capture this lovely flower at the peak of its beauty. There's no rusty petals, and all the other bits look fresh and new. Even the bokeh grass looks bright and healthy.

Overall, I would say it's a little dark and a little blurry. Shutter speed shows 13 in your notes. Is that 13 seconds? Surely that can't be right? I have a big piece of stiff, white packaging foam that I take out onto my patio sometimes to bounce light on my subjects. That helps with keeping the shutter speed up. Another cause of the softness might be the f/22. It might just be too far out of the lens' sweet spot, which is typically more in the middle of its range.

Green Machine
by ambaker

Comment:
There's no way this is worth a 4.8. I'm not sure why this image scored so poorly. It certainly conveys green to me. It's a beautiful boat and pond/lake with beautiful foliage all around. I'd love to hop in that boat and pedal around.

Again, I don't know why it scored so poorly. It's well composed, in focus, nice colors, nice lighting... Maybe they didn't like the bush? It does feel a little voyeuristic like in those cheesy Summer camp type movies. I wonder if maybe it's just the style in which people vote. There was a lot of good shots in front of you, so maybe people voted with a ranking system?

Railroad
by ambaker

Comment:
I'm with the other non-commenters on this one unfortunately. There's certainly textures, and certainly materials, but it doesn't grab me. They're also not very pleasant textures. I can't tell you how many splinters I've gotten from wood like that. Just looking at the metal makes my tongue sour (not that I've ever licked any... my tongue just goes sour touching old rusty metal). There's also the texture from the dry, rough rock. Pretty much everything about the chosen textures make me want to stop looking at the photo, because they all have negative reactions to me physically.

I suppose given the above bits about the texture that the afternoon, harsh sun fits right in. I suppose with all this said, it does grab me! I just don't like how it grabs me, heh.

Windswept
by RKT

Comment:
This is exactly what I wanted to do with my entry, but couldn't get the image in my head to stay there long enough for me to translate it to real life. Love it.

FINAL ENTRY - Cory's 2014 New Year Editing Challenge
by mrchhas

Comment:
That's a bold crop choice.