mediallusion
by barndog

Comment:
I don't really get it. The red color is meant to represent blood I guess, and you are trying to show the similarity and yet difference between real war (as an entertainment?) and fake war in movies.
I don't find the red color on the DVD cover to be that effective and what is the purpose of the pen and the knife? (Are you perhaps referring to the saying that the pen is mightier than the sword?)
Anyway, I don't find this to be an effective enough picture. It's neither obvious enough or subtle enough in my opinion.

I don't like seeing the holster for the knife and you should have kept the background further back in order to make less light fall on it so it would be darker and one wouldn't see the folding in it.

The Next Generation of Image Stabilization
by cheekymunky

Comment:
Canon doesn't refer to its products as mk I unless they have been replaced by mk II already and the old product would therefor never be marked as mk I. ;)

Anyway, as for the image I like it! It is creative, funny and well done. The main fault I see is the shadow off the hand and the 'device' the the right. It would have been nice to have a light to the right as well in order to minimize shadows.

One second out of eternity
by andri

Comment:
eirasi, no I'm not at all disappointed with ending up in the 4th place yet again. I just find it a bit funny, that's all! :)

One second out of eternity
by andri

Comment:
LOL, yet another 4th place!
It's a bit funny that I've entered into 4 challenges on DPC in July and in 3 of those I ended up in the 4th place. In addition, I've also entered into 3 challenges in July at another photography contest site here in Iceland and I also ended up in the 4th place in all of those challenges. So in all, I've entered into 7 challenges in July and the 4th place was mine in all but one of those instances. Guess I can't complain, can I? ;-)

Anyway, thanks for all the comments folks!
I especially want to answer skief who complaimed about grainyness in the top-left corner. This isn't really noise/grain but tiny water droplets coming from the waterfall.
As for the title, which JohannesFrank commented on, it refers to the fact that this is a one second exposure.

I'd like to thank Larus for inviting me on this trip to Gullfoss (well, I bought him a sandwich instead) and for lending me the ND-filter.

If anyone is curious, this waterfall, Gullfoss, is one the most well known tourist attractions in Iceland. Pictures of it can be easily found on the Internet.

Message edited by author 2005-08-08 01:09:19.

Our local
by Riponlady

Comment:
I think you should have focused more on the framing here. It seems like you wasn't sure whether to focus only on the house itself or both the house and the reflections in the water. I would have liked you to either move or zoom a bit futher away so the whole reflection of the house coueen in the water.

However, the main fault I see with this image is that there is too much black in it. Yes, we have a bright part in the image in the house and the reflections but the majority of the image is pitch plack which isn't very pleasing to the eye in this case.

I'm not really sure how I would have done differently here. Perhaps trying a vertical framing focusing on the brightest part of the house and the reflection would have been nicer? Or it may also have been have a view straight onto the side of the house instead of using this 45° angle you're using. Also, if you could have reframed the shot so that some background could be seen it would have been an improvement.
Maybe you should also have tried to lower the camera so it would be just above the water surface?

Black Eyed Abstract
by rwouthuis

Comment:
I'm guessing this was achieved by using a hollow tube with reflective inside and then rotating the tube?

Anyway, it's fun to see a creative shot in this challenge and even better that you manage to do this with such a cliche subject as a flower. :)

I hope you do well is this challenge!

crapper
by whiteroom

Comment:
Oh well, yet another toilet picture!
However, while I can't say I'm fond of all those lavatories I've been forced to see in this competition I still kinda like your picture.
First of all, I find the composition to be 'pleasing' with the sink being placed slightly higher than the toilet.
The lightning is also quite neat and the red tone gives it a strange look. I also especially like the tiles on the floor and the wall. I also think you made the right choice by not having the picture level.

Perhaps it would have been great to see a roll of toilet paper or a towel on the wall in the center. I'm also curious whether it might have been better to frame this shot slightly wider.

Tetons Storm Break
by kearock

Comment:
I have a feeling that it would have looked nicer to skip those trees to the left and right in the foreground and instead focuson the small group of trees in the back. What I would have done would have to be a bit closer to those trees and shoot at bit wider angle (stitching would be an option if this was you widest setting - check out autostitch). If possibly it would have been nice to make the rightmost tree in the background more prominent than the others (as it stand apart and has a slightly different color).
I would have placed those trees to the left in the frame and the mountaintop slightly to the right of the trees.
Now, my view of the scene is most certainly not more 'coorect' than yours, however I find that it always fun to see others interpretion of the scene.

However, if we only look at the image you captured instead, the blown out sky is quite distracting here and in my opinion the shadow in the foreground is also a distraction - either it should not be there at all or at least to be a bit darker.
As for nitpicking, I would like the snow on the mountaintop to be slightly brighter and the 'blue' and grey mountains a bit darker to increase contrast. This can be achieved by using dodge and burn (dodge the highlights [snow} and burn the shadows and perhaps the midrange (the mountains).
I think a slightly more sharpening would be in order here, I tried to use 0.2 in radius and 90% using smart sharpening in Photoshop CS2 and felt that was a slight improvement.
A slight S-curve would also be nice to increase the contrast in the image.
I also feel that you should use the sponge tool to increase the saturation in selective arease. In particular the bush under the tree to the right is a bit too desaturated for my taste. Perhaps also the lower dark portion of the rightmost tree?
I think you should have moved one step to the right when taking this photo so the tree to the left in the foreground wouldn't 'blend' with the leftmost tree in the background. A distraction as it is, in my opinion.

I find the signature in the bottom right corner to be quite irritating. At first I thought this white small pattern was a pattern of the picture so I think you either need to make the signature more prominent (and so one can read your name) or forego it.

EDIT: Perhaps being closer to the ground would have been nice?
Here's a quick editing job in Photoshop. (I know the tree to the left is too sharpened in this version.)

Message edited by author 2005-07-31 12:10:51.

Grass explosion!
by LalliSig

Comment:
To answer Andy, Larus and I did indeed go to the same soccer match and we stood right by each other when we took those two, admittedly, similar shots.
It might seem strange that we submit such similar shots even though we went to the same game but I can assure you that this was not planned on our behalf as Larus and I did not know of each other submissions until after the voting had started. Quite a coincidence, eh?
In addition, I might mention that it should be obvious to most people that my picture and Larus's have a quite different look to them (colour etc.) and the background is very different which, to me at least, shows that they were taken from different vantage points and were processed with different methods. Perhaps it's moot to explain this as the site council will undoubtedly see when they receive the original files that these two shots were taken on two different cameras.

(As an aside a similar thing happened to me and another photographer in the 'Abandoned' challenge where the entries in the 3rd and 4th place were of the same house.)

I could also mention that Larus and I were not the only ones to submit photographs from this game as Sjonni and hrutsen also submitted a picture from this exact match.
And to boot Arnit, Siggi and skarason also all submitted photographs from the same game.

Anyway, congratulations for your red ribbon, Larus!!

Message edited by author 2005-07-20 09:54:11.

Tropical Kickboarding
by cloudsme

Comment:
Quite a fun shot. It looks like the woman is swimming towards a gigantic squid just ready to eat her. ;)