White Milkweed
by Ja-9

Comment:
This is a striking image. I don't see the 'in Garden & Field' element, but love the light and the focus fall-off. I'd love to see this more isolated; the leaf at bottom right and unbloomed buds top right are distracting.

In a field of dreams.
by Eagle40Fox2

Comment:
I like that you made such a different interpretation of the challenge. This was a nice break from close-up flower photos. Plus, it's a nice portrait. It will be interesting to see how others respond.

Wild one
by flaviamariani

Comment:
A striking image. To me it feels like there isn't enough space on the left and too much of the stem on the right. A solid entry that I think would have been stronger if it hadn't been centered in the frame.

Forest Nymph
by aKiwi

Comment:
I'm glad my vote helped bring up the average.
I loved your use of the perspective distortion of the ultra-wide.
2s, 3s and 4s??? What's up with that?

Superhero
by scottbrooks

Comment:
Me lying in gutter at bottom of a wall looking up.
Kids doing flips over the wall from the other side! Crazy, yes...
Thank you for your vote.

Originally posted by aKiwi: What a fantastic photo.! The point of view is so unique, I still can't work out what is going on here! Great composition and lighting. My pick for a winner.

Superhero
by scottbrooks

Comment:
Thank you. Next time I may try some bigger strobes so I can cut out more of the ambient and freeze the motion. It will be different, not necessarily better...

Originally posted by vaar: Excellent composition! Very original shot! Despite the fact that hand is blurry and even face is not exactly sharp, it is "constructed" so well sharpness becomes only a minor point. Some may say blurriness adds feel of motion. Perhaps :)

Superhero
by scottbrooks

Comment:
It was a lot of fun. These kids were great athletes and they were thrilled that a photographer came out to shoot them.

Originally posted by dali_lama_2k: this must have been fun 8

Superhero
by scottbrooks

Comment:
Thank you. Since I was using flash and firing sequences I was limited to the maximum flash sync speed of 1/250th. I actually wanted a little bit of blur, for the sense of motion, but agree that fully frozen would have been interesting too.

Originally posted by supanova: Vary good, shame the shutter speed was not faster!

Superhero
by scottbrooks

Comment:
I wish I was this good at compositing! Just athletes jumping over a wall and global contrast and vibrance adjustments, which I take to be legal as per the Challenge Rules: "You may saturate, desaturate or change the colors of your entry, but no selections are allowed."

Originally posted by Neat: Don't know how you did this in Basic editing, but great photo, hope it's legal for your sake.

Superhero
by scottbrooks

Comment:
Thank you.

I was lying in the gutter at the bottom of a wall - the wall provided some shade, to help my speedlights compete with the sun.

Used maximum sync speed of 1/250th at iso 100 to 'kill' the ambient... hah! all I managed was pale blue.

two speedlights - one (key light) to the right at 1/4 power (because I was shooting sequences); one to the left at 1/2 power to try to get a rim light - both fired with yongnuo radio triggers.

many, many, ... many jumps

default import setting in Lightroom plus I increased contrast and vibrance

Originally posted by DiscoVader: Neat shot, I'd be interested to know how you did it. Framing is great, love the diagonal, motion blur is just right. Cool!