Lamp
by JuliBoc

Comment by bjoern:
Very good composition.

Japanese Garden
by JuliBoc

Comment by Grandad:
the flowers, kind of distract from the minimallism, otherwise an excelent shot, one of my highest scores

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
by JuliBoc

Comment by MelonMusketeer:
Very nice capture, and good angle. You must have been lying down to shoot this. Good shutter speed, wide aperture, and fast trigger finger helped with this image. Well done Julie Boc! Thanks for posting it.
I would have been sneezing from the ragweed.

White Phalaenopsis
by JuliBoc

Comment by Rob O:
Beautiful light ... nicely composed and captured.

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
by JuliBoc

Comment by McRob:
Great capture!

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
by JuliBoc

Comment by noraneko:
What outstanding focus! Every time I try to capture one of these in the air, I get blur, but you pulled it off. My hat goes off to you :-) The butterfly looks sharp as a tack.

I think you made a great choice in keeping a lot of the natural background here, by the way. The composition works very well.

Elderberry Blossom
by JuliBoc

Comment by noraneko:
Very pretty and simple, great exposure to avoid blown highlights on those whites! The contrast with the background really helps this photo pop.

Red-shouldered Hawk
by JuliBoc

Comment by noraneko:
This is a great capture, but I agree it probably would not have passed the advanced editing test with the wing cloning. I was only able to tell because I take a ton of wildlife shots as well, and I suspected that thicker frame up top was due to cloning to finish out those wings.

It looks like you also may have been a little heavy-handed with the shadow/highlight tool here. Although I think it works very well on the hawk (his details are gorgeous), the sky looks a little washed out.

There is no doubt in my mind this will do well in the contest. You should be very proud of these outstanding photos!

Ibis in Cypres with Spanish Moss
by JuliBoc

Comment by noraneko:
Very interesting framing with the Spanish moss (I find Spanish moss very difficult to photo well, by the way. I think you've done a good job here). I'm trying to decide if I would try a tighter crop on this - possibly - but I can see the rationale in showing the details in the Ibix's surrounding as well. One thing I might consider would be some work around his eye - a little dodging in center, then burning around the iris to make it stand out. Overall great 'environmental portrait'.

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper
by JuliBoc

Comment by noraneko:
Julianne,
I think this is a fantastic photo. It immediately stood out from the others in the thumbnail (I haven't had a chance yet to look closely at the rest yet). It is very sharp, has great bokeh, and a sense of natural framing in the leaves. I also like how the antennae are pointing in at the viewer - adds a personal touch to the photo, I think. Great job!