The Games Cats Play. . .
by FranziskaLang

Comment:
Cool funny shot - could have done with a bit more light in the foreground

jumping of beds
by manolo

Comment:
More light in the kids' faces would have made this even better - all the white has fooled the camera into underexposing this.

Keep your eye on the Birdie!
by rcrawford

Comment:
Nice action shot - the cloud looks great. Sharper focusing on the shuttlecock would have really set this off.

Roll them bones
by daclozer

Comment:
Good composition. lighting, focusinetc. Technically everything is fine but the picture just doesn't grab me. I'm afraid it just looks like some things set up for a photograph.

Eight ball corner pocket..
by justine

Comment:
Great use of depth of field to focus the eye on the key point. A bit dark at the back.

High Roller
by connie

Comment:
Nice action shot. Would probably have been even better if the dice with a 2 on top was either moving as well (just a bit) or wasn't so obviously blocking the path of the other one.

rainy day pastime
by lecook

Comment:
Nice angle, good focusing. Slightly less depth of field might have made the background less cluttered.

Midnight golfing
by arnit

Comment:
Lovely shot. Only quibble is with the patch of water on the left. It lightens up that side nicely but makes the right hand side very dark.

A Likely Stalemate?
by Manic

Comment:
Nice idea. Would have gone for a tighter crop myself to take out the boring bits of the table and the flash highlight on the left.

Boules at the beach
by Jonniboy

Comment:
OK - looks like this game isn't quite as internationally known as I thought and some explanation is required. The game is Boules or Petanque which is a French game involving throwing shiny metal balls with the aim of getting as close as possible to a small wooden ball. If you want to know more then you can find all the details at //www.scottishpetanque.org/
This is a miniature set so the balls are about 2 inches across (full size would be about 3) and weigh about a pound. I've seen (or imagined) some great pictures of old Frenchmen smoking Gauloise and playing boules on a dirt road - long shadows, sidelighting, very atmospheric. Given time and space (and a couple of Frenchmen) that's the shot I wanted to take but instead (since it was just me in the garden) focussed in on the action. After a couple of attempts I decided to use a long focal length to (a) compress the action into a small space and (b) minimise the chance of smashing my camera.
I set up, prefocussed, set the aperture so that the whole tray of sand was in focus and tripped the shutter via a remote release as the ball landed. In the shot shown the ball on the left had just landed behind the ball on the right, thrown up the sand and then bounced forward in the frame.
I tried the picture in B&W but in the end preferred the warm colour of the sun on the sand.
Thanks for all the feedback.