just a jump to the left
by ralph

Comment by JulietNN:
this is actually a fabulous shot, I adore the golden tones that are creeping into your darker rich browns, the curves long to be teased into a straight line. You just want to feel this in your hands and feel the ribbed metal sliding through as you pull it straight. Amazing lighting glowing onto the curves, bringing out the softness of it even though you know it is hard. The darkness of the black just pulls you into the abyss and makes you want more. 9

glass tube
by ralph

Comment by chromeydome:
PostLuminous Award Nominee!

Winter Bird Food
by ralph

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Good lighting, good colors, good bokeh. It's just not grabbing me. It may be the composition, but I can't put my finger on it exactly.

I looked at it some more and figured out what it is: My eye is being drawn in the wrong direction. My gaze is flowing up to the branch, rather than down to the apple. May just be me. I'm interested in seeing the other comments once this is over.

(o)(o)
by ralph

Comment by JMart:
Very sharp (no pun) and great dof. This is really mesmerizing forrest of pencils. It looks like there's a pencil missing in the first row, 3rd spot in. Perhaps it was just sharpened too short :)

Winter Bird Food
by ralph

Comment by L2:
Good use of DOF to isolate the subject here. The subject itself - not quite interesting enough to hold my attention. I'm also wondering why your title references an element not present in your composition. Overall, I can see good technicals and while there is some visual interest with the contrast between the subject and background, I'm not emotionally attached or invested in it. Still, I'm giving a decent score because of the technical superiority.

(o)(o)
by ralph

Comment by MaryO:
By far the best of the pencil/crayon/marker shots. Feels incredibly crowded by the similarities of all those brown pencils, every last one of them in focus, and then the white one just jumps right out as being different. Perfectly illustrates the challenge concept, IMO.

A Light Source, Timing & Luck
by ralph

Comment by George:
Excellent capture. Best I would have done, even with a perfect lens, is probably an out of focus moon behind a moving blur of a plane. Amazing.

And for my rant: People, stop voting low because they think "it's not real" and judge the photo for its artistic qualities and how well it fits the challenge. Even the title of the image includes Luck. Leave the technical stuff to those in charge. It's a real photo, and the few voters scoring it very low stripped it of the ribbon it should have received.

A Light Source, Timing & Luck
by ralph

Comment by scooter97:
Just an awesome shot! They say you make your luck and I'm sure you deserved this moment. Congrats on the top 5 and who the heck would vote this a 1 , 2 or 3 ??????

A Light Source, Timing & Luck
by ralph

Comment by SandyP:
This photo just blew me away the minute I saw it first! It is incredible and I'm amazed that it didn't win a blue ribbon. You must have thought you died and went to heaven when you saw that plane scoot across the moon and realize you CAUGHT it in your photo! How cool is that too for it to happen during a challenge where you can use it! It really should have ribboned, but congratulations on an honorable mention!

out for a skate...
by ralph

Comment by Trinity_12_12:
I think this is an amazing image! I like the placement of the main subject in the bottom right corner and the blue/red colour scheme. The out of focus, people in the background have an impressionist/painterly feel which I find really beautiful. It would be interesting to see this photo without the grain and maybe in b&w, although I think losing the blues and reds would actually detract from the photo. This is one of those images I could look at again and again. There is actually a great impressionist image 'lurking' in the top of this photo. Just thinking, if you cropped just under the skates of the man with the blue jumper around his waist, then cloned out the girls head and the 'half' man on the right......hmmmmm.