Hibiscus
by NikonJeb

Comment by JuliBoc:
Jeb, I think there are several things that hurt your score.

1. While the bloom is lovely, the color is lovely, and you did a very good job on the selective desat, the photo doesn't seem to be improved by the process. In other words, I doubt you would have used this technique on this photo if it wasn't the challenge topic.

2. Even thought you desaturated the background, there are elements in the background that still conflict with the blossom -- e.g. the two light gray items behind the blossom.

3. I think there is too much b&w in the bottom of the image. It might be better if the bottom was cropped to just below the bud making the aspect ratio almost square. The other alternative would be to leave the size as it is, and color the bud which might balance the composition better.

Hope this helps. Of course, it is just my very amateur opinion.

Hibiscus
by NikonJeb

Comment by posthumous:
This was another one of my "6 and a half"s. I actually had it at 7 for a while because I like how you can still see some green in the stem and leaves. The leaves are very dark but still retain a fine level of detail. But I just ended up scoring this challenge low overall. 6 was a good score from me for this challenge. I am honestly baffled at how you got scored as low as you did.

Hibiscus
by NikonJeb

Comment by poser:
some people just don't get art.

Hibiscus
by NikonJeb

Comment by noraneko:
Hi Jeb, I gave you a good score on this, so I'm afraid I can't explain what happened in the challenge. One thing that maybe hurt you is the bit of wall (maybe it is a square pot) in the background. I also think that flowers scored poorly in general, well-taken or not, because there were so many of them. The main thing is, though: this was an incredibly low-scoring challenge overall. I've been looking through the TS photos and can't believe some that scored under 5, yours included. I think the scores got skewed because of the new DPL. Normally I am quite sure this would have been mid-high fives at the least. Luckily I think the scoring will even itself back out again on future challenges. Please don't think that score reflects the quality of this photograph. It is quite lovely.

Hibiscus
by NikonJeb

Comment by Melethia:
Gorgeous bloom and well presented. I'd explain the score, but I haven't a clue!

Hibiscus
by NikonJeb

Comment by brighteyes:
I like the green tint that is in the leaves.

Country Kitchen
by NikonJeb

Comment by sherpet:
Definately one of my favorites in this challenge and so wished it scored much higher.....
Again I love the warm dark colors and with this one it works beautifully.
A great composition and a great image here IMO.....

Bridging Night.......
by NikonJeb

Comment by sherpet:
This one pleases me so much, and I love the moodyiness (if there is such a word) of this one.....
I love also the dark mysterious colors that some of your image have, but here it works so well.
I can also see another image here, by cropping off the dark sky completely, and making itlook more like a panarama. Give it a go and let me know as I love to see it.....

Hibiscus
by NikonJeb

Comment by DefyTime:
I like how you didn't take all the green out. This is one of the best flower shots in the challenge.

Sunrise Flight...
by NikonJeb

Comment by kashi:
This is gorgeous.