Foliage
by jmsetzler

Comment:
Spectacular photo. Rest of contest is for second place.

Black&Chrome
by vin rigby

Comment:
Precicely the kind of photo black and white makes better.

La Jolla Cove
by Ronin

Comment:
Really like this one. Highlights on the left look a little blown out, maybe? Fantastic use of B&W.

Is This Right?
by Dangerous_blues

Comment:
Love the story being told here. If that's not candid, you've got a good model! Color might have been neat, but all that monochromatic tile might have made B&W a good choice.

Glass Houses
by mci

Comment:
Very intriguing shot. Perfect use for B&W.

wonder in wonderland ...
by magnetic9999

Comment:
Fantastic colors! Wonderful pose. Something I can't put my finger on about the cropping isn't sitting quite right, but a small, SMALL annoyance. Fantastic shot!

Out of Place (?) in Santa Cruz, CA?
by sjgleah

Comment:
I lingered on this photo for a while, creating a story in my head about these people. That seems to me to define a good photo! (Plus the blues are gorgeous)

April in May
by connie

Comment:
Beautiful portrait. Love the overexposed whites in the background.

Wave Watching
by Manic

Comment:
Love the ocean here. And the way this photo was cropped to minimize the presense of the person adds to its dramatic effect. I think my inclination would have been to go with a landscape crop, but this works better.

Small Wonder
by welcher

Comment:
Well, I think I understand the problem people had with this photo. The hand being the focus of the photo instead of the face came about because of the situation. We have the most wonderful, delicate photo of our older son's hand, and were dying to get a similar photo of our younger son's hand.

He was finally resting quietly with his hand uncovered, so I grabbed the camera and started shooting. The first shots were solely of the hand, but I started to move around and get different angles. This was about the 5th or 6th shot of the session. The focus on the hand over the face was 100% intentional.

So while I "disagree" with the focus comments, I WILL take away from this challenge the need to examine the subject from a number of angles and viewpoints. I wish I had shot a few photos of the face in focus, or with a much wider DOF and everything in focus.

Thanks for the input!