Genesis
by Skip

Comment:
I disagree with everyone who said something about changing the composition of this shot. This is eerie, beautiful, and perfect. What a gorgeous find. Thanks for being such a cool participant here, prompting me to comment on your images. It helped me to find a new favorite image.

Before They Fall
by Skip

Comment:
I agree with Kavey- a lot of times there is no purpose for selective desat. Here it works well. The only thing that confuses me is the yellow wishbone shaped branch (?) directly under the tree. I might pull that out. I like the soft look this has.

Extreme Urgency
by Skip

Comment:
You know, I've seen shots in National Geographic and the like where there is little or no sharp focus because of the speed of the motion- but because of the talent and skill of the shooter, the image works. I think it is very easy to fail at a shot like this, but you succeeded. It'd be great if more of us could open our minds to shots like this in challenges and vote them highly (instead of just reviewing them well in people's portfolios).

Anyone Seen Laurie?
by Skip

Comment:
Sounds like you've already worked this quite a bit. The first thing that popped out at me (after "wow, that is a great shot of the birds") was the noise in the sky. NeatImage? I know it'd be a tough call cause you'd lose some of the detail in the clouds. Which I also think look very cool.

The Unseen Hand
by Skip

Comment:
Yep, I would have had a hard time with this one too. Having never seen one of these (I know, how weird is that), I wouldn't have been able to figure out what was going on here. I do like the bright blue background against the other colors here.

Cobblestone II
by Skip

Comment:
Even better than the previous one I commented on ;) A crop of just the "squares" in the foreground might make for an interesting abstract as well.

As Daylight Fades
by Skip

Comment:
Jeez, I wish I'd voted on this. I would have put it high! This is really lovely. Very pretty bokeh, and as mentioned earlier in the comments, integral to the image. Great idea. Now I wanna do it ;)

Polly's First Kiss
by Skip

Comment:
This is hilarious. It looks like it's about to *eat* Polly's head!! Personally I think the colors are great the way they are! It would be cool to see the whole dragonfly in focus from wingtip to wingtip.

The Ugly Duckling?
by Skip

Comment:
The light here is amazing. I'm beginning to realize it's really the only thing that matters in photography. Great shot.

Arlington Cemetery
by RockBruise

Comment:
I might have cropped this a little closer to remove the encroaching tree on the left. And a matter of personal taste I know, but this seems like a lot more border than is necessary.