Unplugged
by labuds

Comment:
Love the colored spotlights. Although the DOF you've chosen works great for drawing attention to the plug, there's ALOT of 'stuff' going on in the background: headphone's cords, headband, earspeakers PLUS all their accompanying shadows. It made it difficult at first to figure out what WAS that thing in the background. Since the background is so VERY blurred, it could really benefit from "less is more' perhaps, allowing the viewer to quickly make out a cleaner outline/shape of the headphones. A more 'generic' looking/readily recognizable pair of headphones? Of course, that's only MY opinion. ;) Good work.

w/o input...
by phenom3030

Comment:
Nice DOF. Thanks also for NOT including the entire headphones in the frame, allowing the viewer's mind to 'fill in the rest'. Many others would have included it all, making it look more like a product shot. My only problem is that these mystery headphones could have been unplugged from a stereo system rather than an MP3/CD player, which could make this scene quite the opposite of silent. As you can see, it might raise more questions in the viewer's mind than the obvious conclusion you had hoped for. But hey, don't get me wrong, sometimes that's a GOOD thing! :)

Silence: Respect and Contemplate the Quietude of the Nature
by kuark

Comment:
Beautiful pastoral shot. Great composition and saturated colors. I really appreciate the fact that you've taken a more subtle approach to the silence theme than most, I'm just not sure that the picture without the aid of your title immediately brings 'silence' to my mind. Wish this challenge was for landscapes so I could have judged it higher. :)

"Peace and Quiet"
by johnnyd

Comment:
I like the composition and that there's a story behind the picture. Nice how woman's shadow leads you up to the child. Not the usual 'tape or index finger over the mouth' shot. Thanks for giving us something different and interesting to look at. :) I''m curious to see how this would look in B&W also.

sunrise
by Patti

Comment:
Nice composition and colors. Tree/shrub on right looks oddly cropped off frame, would have liked to see more of it in frame or none of it at all. The only real distraction for my eye and sense of balance. Nice. :)

A Long and Lonely Gutter
by icucme4

Comment:
This reminds me about that medical exam I've been putting off for months now. ;)

...You Could Hear a Pin Drop
by scalvert

Comment:
Would love to have seen a closeup photo of this pin dropping/splashing in a spoon full of tomato soup just as it's about to be eaten by a handlebar moustached restaurant patron! Nice lighting streaming across photo. Shiny metal objects (pins) only pic up lighting/color from their surroundings, large white reflector would have helped bring out silver color of pin. Pin is black otherwise. Blur at tip shows good action, good choice of shutter speed.

Sand Creek - thaw
by undieyatch

Comment:
A good textured abstract. Doesn't quite say "silence" for me, athough I appreciate the effort to capture something less generic than most others. :) Add some colors gradations and filters in photoshop could make for a very cool artsy piece indeed.

Floating
by Antithesis

Comment:
One can only wonder how very cool this pic would have been if a brilliant blue sky with clouds was perfectly reflected in the water, making the duck look as though it were bathing in the heavens. :)
Not sure if a floating duck immediately translates "silence" for me. Distracting rock at upper right could have been cropped out. A polorizing filter (but who has one of those, right?) might have helped water from looking lifeless and washed out. Would be interesting to blowout water to total white with some photo editing and print to see what a duck looks like floating on textured paper. Keep pluggin' away.

Silent Sentries After the Wildfires
by boomer

Comment:
Really like how you composed pic with mountain peak converging in center frame. Too bad there wasn't a lone tree standing by itself at the top with less distracting trees throughout. Large tree on left seems to take some of the focus away from the peak. Good idea, but your models weren't willing. ;)