It's a Blue Christmas Without You
by bledford

Comment:
Wow! What an awesome thing to wake up to this morning! I really did not expect this to do as well as it did, but I guess simplicity is key here at DPC.

It was a simple enough shot. I took the silver ornament (the whitish areas are "frosted") and put it on a white posterboard on the sofa. Then, I used my currently favored technique for bouncing light. I have left over white melamine from a woodworking project. I have about 4 different sizes. I used a large (2' by 3') rectangular piece held about 6 inches out of the frame, at a 45 degree angle to the poster board.

Post processing was very simple and consisted mainly of conversion to grayscale, duotone to get the blue, and cloning for hairs/dust/scratches. I actually didn't do any cropping.

Equipment: 300D on an old tripod (replaced now by my Xmas gift of a 3011B), kit lens (I still adore this lenses versatility), 550EX, aforementioned posterboard and melamine reflector.

Thanks to all for the comments. :)

In the December wind
by jjbeguin

Comment:

Originally posted by Arcy: This one should have won a ribbon :]

I agree. It was one of my top picks. :S

No, You Go First
by Skip

Comment:
The composition is good, if a little cliche. Your cheese is looking a little too orange for me...perhaps bring down the saturation 3-4 points. The depth of field is quite good and gets the point across fine. The glares coming off the tile floor are a little distraction, as is the dark grout. I think a really high-key effect, with the floor and background totally white and the OOF (out of focus) portion of the trap blending into the background would have been nice. Overall, a fine effort though...worthy of a 6.

Before FM
by Bela45

Comment:
I like the angle. It lends an artsy feel to an otherwise bland subject. I think your lighting could have been much improved on this shot. It's seems too flat and muddy, as though I were looking at the radio through a dirty fishtank. This can be a good effect sometimes, but I think it's not appropriate for this radio. The gold-ish material on the radio near the top-left is a distraction to me and adds little to the composition. A tighter crop on just the "TELEFUNKEN" portion, the buttons and the European stations would have been an improvement. It certainly fits the challenge. I just would have liked a "cleaner" lighting setup. Hope that helps.

asian wheelbarrow
by docpjv

Comment:
Lighting is a bit harsh here (light areas are very bright, while dark areas are very dark). I think this would have benefitted from a fairly tight crop around the axle nut, leaving out the overexposed hub and keep the OOF (out of focus) rim in view. This would also help the nut to be less centered in the frame, which is hurting the composition. The midtones are good and, therefore, this image might be a good candidate for conversion to black and white. Does not scream "low tech" to me, but what do I know.

Handdrill
by matispista

Comment:
Low tech indeed. I'm not sure how much of this remains a true photograph, as it seems to have been converted to something else in post-processing (but forgive me if I'm wrong). It has a somewhat pop art feel to it, but not enough to warrant consideration as such. The colors are nice as the muted brown and cyan are very complementary. It's something I could imagine seeing being painted in watercolor. Perhaps I like this more than I thought when I first looked at it.

Old Fashioned Milk Can
by neesa108

Comment:
I wonder what your final score will be because I'm at a loss for how to score your image. I'm quite fond of the composition. Still, I'm just not sure about the high contrast, overexposed nature of the image. I think I'm going to give you a 6. There's just something powerful about the arrangement of the can and the faucet that I like. Still, the blown out highlights are just too distracting to me to score higher.

Spinning Wheel ~ Hi-Tech 700 Years Ago
by hyperfocal

Comment:
Wow, this is just phenomenal work. The motion capture is really good and the lighting, well, it's perfect. The texture on the platform is very important and helps my eye avoid seeing the spinning wheel as floating in midair. Very good stuff.

Lego of my ego
by Travis99

Comment:
Aww, reminds me of my youth. I think you overexposed by about 1.5 stops. I know that would darkened the blue piece too much, but the yellow piece is suffering from blown highlights. The 1:1 (or close to it) aspect ratio isn't really doing much for me, but I'm biased toward vertical portrait orientation in 4:3 ratio. The lighting is superb. The shadows are cast beautifully and seem very appropriate for the subject. I really do like this though and I seem to be nitpicking. 8.

"Ye Olde Nutcracker"
by Tressider

Comment:
Very nice, soft-lighted still life of the nuts. The placement of the nuts in front of the cracker seems a bit contrived. Also, it doesn't make a lot of sense that the bucket is full of unshelled nuts. Isn't the purpose of the bucket to catch the crushed shells? Your positioning of the subject in the frame needs a little attention: if this were shot vertically, I think you could've gotten all of the nutcracker and the nuts in the shot without cutting the nuts off (ouch). Overall, though the problems with the image are fairly petty. 7.