Abstract Existence
by dwyllie

Comment:
This is a church? Where? I have never seen one with the columns like that and escalators.

Playin' Pool and Smokin' Cigars
by asamite

Comment:
Wow...I don't think I have ever gotten so many votes in the 1,2,3 range before. I was going for somethnig unique to me and yes, the photo was grainy on purpose. Was it gimicky? Probably so, but the whole challenge was self-portrait and that asks the artist how they see themself. I am a course and grainy person and the picture is appropriate. Honestly, i don't think it deserved all the 1-3 votes as that makes it seem like the picture itself is worthless and way below average, but then again it is a personal thing.

One Church Town
by asamite

Comment:
Thanks for all the comments. I am a bit disappointed that this one didn't do better. I know some of the low votes were probably because the challenge was "Life in Your City" and this seems pretty country. This is actually a church just on the outskirts of town near where I live and describes the feel of a small town with high regard for moral values.

To those who think this is over-processed, I agree. I left my circular polarizer on and it caught the light streaming down from the clouds, but left some additional problem areas that required some extra processing. I didn't add the light through the clouds, that was already there and was brought out with the HDR.

The angled road was a tough decision for me. I straightened it twice and then went back and forth for a while trying to decide. In the end, I went with the steeple being straight and the road being crooked instead of the other way around and cropping that close would have messed the whole thing up.

I just want to thank everyone who voted high for it and it still amazes me that there are people who feel the need to vote 2 and 3 for a picture like this. Is this really a 2 picture? That's like saying this picture sucked so bad it wasn't worth the storage space it took to put it together.

Listed below are the 5 images I used to put this together. Throw it all into Photomatix and bring it up to visible and all the light from the clouds just comes right to the front.

Climax Bridge
by asamite

Comment:
I have to say that I am EXTREMELY disappointed that this one didn't do a lot better. The week started off with a high 7 and held for about 24 hours before being dragged down sub-six. Too bad I was a week off for the HDR challenge as I think I put up 2 very good HDR images for the 2 challenges the week before it came out. I really expected this one to do better and it amazes me that anyone would vote this with anything less than a 5. To get 3 2s and 2 3s and 12 4s is really a testament to how people must really be jaded on this site. And to think the 5.5 should be considered average as the midpoint between the bottom of the scale and the top.

For Prism, I have placed the 5 images I used to make up this picture below. The 2nd one is probably what it closest to an original if I hadn't HDR'd it and added the post processing.

Window to life
by whiterook

Comment:
I can't say that I like this one at all. With everything mis-aligned and the large black border to the right, this picture throws me pretty significantly. (2)

Mighty hard at work
by Dennisheckman

Comment:
I like this one a lot. Good use of iconic toys and HDR processing. Wish I had thought of it myself. (8)

breeze flows through the swiss cheese trees
by skewsme

Comment:
This would be a great picture if it were in focus. The blur really doesn't work for me in this particular case.

HDR Pink Flower
by JustCaree

Comment:
Either my monitor is badly calibrated or the pink in this one is badly blown out.

Victor's Cafe - Palm Beach
by Tammster

Comment:
I like the composition and think the application of HDR works, but it seems too bright for me. Maybe just personal taste though. (7)

summering galaxies
by posthumous

Comment:
I am lost with this picture. I can't quite determine what it is. I think I see some kind of squirrel or something.