Paris, la ville des lumières
by dmmonty

Comment:
There's not really anything in focus here. The colors are very pretty, but the colors alone are not enough to make a winning image.

Cheers!
by debitipton

Comment:
I love that adorable pup's expression. I don't think you could have captured that better. Great shot.

Crushing The Ball
by serogers

Comment:
Wow, great timing!

Great Lakes Lighthouse
by trtfeasor

Comment:
I think this could have been a better shot if you had composed the lighthouse tower off center (probably to the right to allow for the house on the left). Off center subjects are almost always more pleasing to the eye and brain then dead center.

Let's go south
by LaMerry

Comment:
Ya got me too...

It is a little over exposed. Might have dinged a point for that.

The background isn't the most exciting in the world... perhaps the composition could have been changed around a little to emphasize the model and the road, instead of the land behind?

I dunno... I didn't vote on this challenge, but it would have gotten a 6-7 from me. ???

The Ivory Co_st
by SJCarter

Comment:
I think part of what makes this so appealing is the effective choice of what to layer.

Grass is a natrual part of the elephant's environment. You think of it when you think of going on safari. It wouldn't work if you layered tire treads on it.

Good job. This takes thought on many levels, and on this shot you've got it all right.

A Stack of Sunshine
by chadb

Comment:
Followup comment after reading your "photographer's notes"...

I suspected the 'noise' I saw was from USM, and your notes indicate you used it. You've got to be really careful around here with USM to make sure you don't make edges glow, or else people like me get cranky. :)

Whenever I apply USM (and I tend to only use it on one out of four photos) I always preview at around 400-600 percent zoom, on a very high contrast edge (where one color shifts abruptly to another one) like the yellow edges of your photo. That's where you'll see the 'glow' first, and you'll be best off to back off the USM a smidge when it shows up.

Your photo was just EVER SO SLIGHTLY over sharpened, but eagle eyed sharpening police like me look out for that stuff. :)

Congrats on your personal best. :) Hope to see more of your stuff in 2006.

Shocked Ladies
by Azrifel

Comment:
Just a follow up to let you know that I'm amazed this didn't finish higher than it did. I thought this was one of the top 5 examples of 'burst of color' and I was one of your 10 votes. You can't get a much better subject than this bright, colorful grafiti against a dull, gray, stone wall.

A great shot, and something to print out at 11x17 and hang on your wall. I would, if it was available as a print! :)

I Never Saw a Purple Cow...
by SJCarter

Comment:
And I never hope to see one.

This is just surreal... way over saturated (the grass looks radioactive :). Just not a horribly plesant photo to look at.

Flower Burst
by SandyP

Comment:
The post processing blurring should have been evenly applied, or not at all. A good example is the light colored rose just above and to the right of the main pink flower in the foreground. There's a very hard edge where the blur goes from full to none at all, and the line is in the middle of the flower.