" The Birds "
by megryan

Comment by pentaxian:
"Birds" is plural as in multiple birds. This is a shot of just one bird. Composition is nice but the highlights look pretty well blown out.

" The Birds "
by megryan

Comment by Xilebo:
That's not a very pretty bird but the photo is good

" The Birds "
by megryan

Comment by OFreasier:
That is the ugliest bird I've ever seen. But the photo is great :) I like the depth of focus and the incredible detail you've captured, even if it is basically hideous. If a flock of those things came after me it would certainly be a nightmare...*shiver*

Love Me, Love Me Not
by megryan

Comment by kearock:
Nice color. There's nothing wrong with the bokeh, but it doesn't seem to enhance the subject all that much in my eyes.

Love Me, Love Me Not
by megryan

Comment by Bear_Music:
Feels more like a shallow DOF than a bokeh to me.

Love Me, Love Me Not
by megryan

Comment by Gallatin:
Nice colors and your background is great.

Bubble Boy
by megryan

Comment by Bear_Music:
A pretty luscious image. I'm not wild about the selective desaturation. Maybe if the red were less agressive it would work better for me.

Bubble Boy
by megryan

Comment by xtabintun:
sometimes selective desaturation can do a marvelous job in drawing the focus of an image to one certain thing that is the key element of a photo that would be sadly overlooked or underrecognized in the full color version.

In my opinion, this isn't one of those times.

Though I have no grasp on what the color version looks like, I can almost assuredly say that this imsage is so simple in its composition that it doesn't need selective desaturation. I think that the selective desaturation in this image actually hurts it, because the challenge subject is candid, however all color has been drained from the alleged subject, drawing the focus to the bubble wand (or whatever you call those crazy things). Not only that, but the bubble wand, without the title, is unrecognizable. Without seeing the title, I originally thought it was some sort of lollypop dripping with his spit. Also, the border detracts from the image. With the light qualities of this, the black border doesn't help. When you're doing a shot this close, its best to keep it as simple as possible, and the selective desat and border, in my opinion, detract from that. And a few technical things, too: blown hilights, the image is slightly tilted, judging by the structure in the background. But those things don't really concern me as much as the desat and the border.

Bubble Boy
by megryan

Comment by deapee:
I really like the shot here. My choice for a ribbon. The selective desaturation isn't really necessary here to 'help' the photo as it is the mood that you've captured that makes it what it is -- it doesn't take anything away though in my opinion either although it is just a bit distracting.

Great composition -- the crop is just tight enough to get a nice close look at the subject, and just far enough away to see everything that you need to.

The image has black, white, and everything inbetween -- a really well thought out image and very much deserving of a ribbon. Nice work! 10

Cuckoo
by megryan

Comment by megryan:
WHOOPS - I totally missed the point ! Wish I could wipe this from the stats ! I guess we are all capable of one or two shockers !!!!!