You can't have your cake and eat it too
by meyers

Comment:
It does have a lot of distractions and is a little OOF, but what a moment you captured! Makes me envision what the next photo would be -- him crying and the lady behind him bent over picking up the mess.

escaping bondage
by skewsme

Comment:
I think those yellow rascals are the hardest to shoot. They almost never seem to stay in one place long enough to focus. I like the way this butterfly is clinging to the net. It really looks like it's not very easy for him.

Mother and Daughter Seeing Eye to Eye
by BrianR

Comment:
Wonderful picture, just not sure it fits the challenge very well. Probably would have done better in Free Study. Your step-daughter is beautiful. You captured a lovely natural expression. I'll bet your wife loves this shot.

...becoming an empty nester
by Kelli

Comment:
I agree it might be better if not cropped as tightly. I'd like to see a bit more of the surroundings. I think it's because you have caught such nice light in the leaves that I want more tree.

Transfusion
by colorcarnival

Comment:
This is a wonderful example of transition. Nice composition and great color. Too bad about the noise. Someone told me about Neat Image. I downloaded it, and it has helped some of my images quite a bit.

From Dirty to Clean in a Splash
by noraneko

Comment:
Nice capture, Catherine. You're doing great things with color lately. I'm going to have to learn your secret, although I'm afraid it may be your artist eye (unteachable).

Transition from Stem to Flower
by pointandshoot

Comment:
Congratulations on your ribbon! I love the effect you got with USM. Do you have a formula you use for the different settings? I'd love to try that technique myself.

Pure Rock Fury
by sickdog

Comment:
My guess about the score is along the lines with what Raish said. I'm guessing that many voters thought you had "shoehorned" a shot in to the Pure challenge by putting "Pure" in the title. They probably would not have had any notion of "pure" if they looked at the shot without the title.

BTW the thing that keeps grabbing my attention is the girl on the right who is looking back with that other hand on her arm. There seems to be more going on there than in the rest of the picture. If that is not your focal point, you might want to crop her out.

Santa Maria Del Popolo, Roma
by benpictures

Comment:
This is a lovely shot. I rated it an 8 during voting. Some might think it is busy, but I think it is interesting and beautiful. I love the colors, the tone, the light and the subject.

Split Decision
by levyj413

Comment:
Wow, you're becoming quite the magician. Soon you'll be giving Scalvert a run for his money. I like the bearded guy best -- it highlights his marvelous eyes.