Weekly Photo Contest Dec 29 - Jan 4 (Theme: Shoreline)

[acearchie]

Right, here we go!

Originally Posted by jodelli

Looking East

Nice colours but quite a "busy" image. I'm not sure where my eye is meant to be drawn, to the water, to the rainbow, to the light or even to the benches. I feel that without context I am not entirely sure what is going on. Part of me also feels that if you have stepped back to get the light post in you might as well step back a little further and get the bin in swell OR step forward and skip out both!

Originally Posted by adversus

Looking Back by adversus.us, on Flickr

Nice image but I feel the PP is perhaps a bit too much. The lighting on the driftwood(?) feels a bit too unnatural to me and the strong darkening of the skyline creates a large black void at the top of the picture. I think if you toned down the PP a little it would become more compelling.

Originally Posted by Schtumple

Tilted Beach

An interesting shot. It instantly had me turning my head to the right. I think the only thing I would say is that the shoreline is slightly tipping down to the right and with this composition it might have been better to appear completely horizontal. I like the haze in the background but would have probably preferred the subject to be facing the sunlight and not in so much shadow but assuming it was taken on the fly I realise these things can be difficult.

Originally Posted by imac wannabe

Sonoma Coast State Park California



Untitled by Paul Kohler, on Flickr

Using the rule of thirds? Some changes I would have made would be perhaps to attempt to fill the bottom 1/4 which feels a bit empty and perhaps move a tad forward to get rid of the object bottom right. Also PP-wise have you tried playing with the contrast/clarity/definition to get some more detail in the far away hazy background?

Originally Posted by Puckman1

Laguna Sunset by Puckman2012, on Flickr

Lovely shot, great vibrant colours and a really dreamy effect with the clouds. Lucky the sun was behind the clouds so no one area is too blown out. I would have maybe cropped in a tad to get rid of the harsh black area at the beginning as my eye is drawn down a bit. But that might have brought the shoreline too far down.

Originally Posted by epicwelshman

Coral Harbour, Nassau, Bahamas

I like the use of desaturation here. It gives it a feeling of abandonment. My only comment would be that I feel quite removed from the building and I wonder whether filling more of the frame with it might have helped get rid of some of the empty space to the left. I like the cool feel too.

Originally Posted by I AM THE MAN

Whilst a good example of a straight as can be horizon line I feel there is not enough going on in the frame. The sky is bland and the beach is not really full of any objects. Was there anything else you could have put in the picture to have a focal point?

Originally Posted by iTiki

Baldwin Beach, Maui

Nice capture. For me a bit too much saturation and contrast as some detail is lost on me in the rocks and the sky feels too blue. Also the WA distortion is a little off for me. My eye was instantly drawn to the rock bottom left which I don't think is the subject.

Originally Posted by deep diver

.

Nice silhouette but it might have been nicer if the head had been risen so it doesn't disappear into the body. The sea also feels a bit to hot (in terms of exposure!) and could maybe be toned down. If you had walked a little further down the beach you would have got rid of the area of sand where there isn't water in the bottom right.

Originally Posted by milbournosphere

Twilight at Torrey Pines, San Diego, California.

Nice colours but I think the effect might have been taken a bit too far. The highlights on the rocks and the metal bar top right seem too pink to be real. The composition also feels very low in the scene and it seems awkward to cut off the structure. Also I tend to like pictures where there is an obvious subject and in this one I am not sure what it is, the two sand mounds, the shoreline, the pebbles, the structure?

Originally Posted by SLC Flyfishing

Dec. 26, 2012 (click for full quality photo)

Not sure if this is a film shot or a digital convert. Seems to be little DR as the highlights are blown whilst there is no detail in the shadows of the rocks. Still it's a compelling image. It has a very moody feel to it and I like the rock in it's own pool at the bottom.

Originally Posted by fitshaced

.

Interesting scene but again one with too much PP for me. The dark area on the left just feels strange to me and there is something odd about the colours, I don't know if it's because you uploaded in ProPhoto RGB? Also I would have stopped down further as where my eye is drawn, the brightest area bottom right, is actually out of focus.

Originally Posted by Melizard

Dusk by Melissa.O.Anderson, on Flickr

A nice shot with a very cool (WB) feel to it. It feels a bit soft though but an interesting reflection all the same. There is not much I would change but the scene doesn't jump out at me. Have you boosted the shadows in the woods something feels a little strange with the colours to me?

Originally Posted by someoldguy

Island Beach

Originally Posted by JDDavis

Assateague Island, Maryland

A nice shot. Did you do any PP work? I think this would benefit from a little lift in the shadows and a grad. filter to lower the exposure of the sky a little. I might have also attempted to get the horizon on either the 1/3rd or 2/3rds line and the fisherman intersecting the right 1/3rd line. Did you get any other shots?

I like shots with people! Similar to above did you try positioning her a bit more on the 1/3 line to the left? Also I might have composed it a bit higher as there feels to be too much beach. Also I think you have a grad. filter on the sky which might have been more subtle if there was more sky to use it on.

Originally Posted by gaswerks

shoreline ... canadian style :-)

Nice shot. I love this light when blue is dominant but there is still a tinkle of oranges and pinks. Until blowing it up I thought it was a lake at the bottom but now I realise it's snow! I would have liked either a little more detail in the shadows or a complete silhouette of the mountain as the dark snow is a little distracting but I am being a bit picky!

Originally Posted by jabbott

Big Creek Cove, Big Sur, California

Not a huge fan of the border as I'm not sure what it adds to the photo. I like the fact the bridge in the shot and I hope you selected to take it because of this. It's a nice piece of detail that you wouldn't often get in a shoreline picture. I like the strong blues/greens of the ocean too.

Originally Posted by NeGRit0

Original image can bee seen here.

At first glance I liked the colours in this image however, upon closed inspection I think you might have gone a bit to far as I can see clear blue/red fringing around the edges of the buildings. Nice to see a different interpretation of the theme and a cityscape in the scene adding some variety. All that being said I much prefer it to the original.

Originally Posted by paolo-

Rivière Gatineau by mellamopaolo, on Flickr

Whilst the horizon is straight (I checked ) the fact that there is something off about the symmetry of this picture makes it feel to me like it's slanted to the right. I think the blandness works in it's favour but I can't work out whether the grasses help or hinder the composition due to their sporadic nature.

Originally Posted by Bartlindon

Palomino Island


Palomino_Resised (1) by Cicciopic, on Flickr

Far too much PP on this for my liking. It looked like a nice scene but I don't see the need to make it look unnatural. You might also want to correct some of the WA distortion and the PP has lost some sharpness in the clouds.

Originally Posted by samcraig

Cozumel

Nice to have a subject in there! Second thing I noticed though was the horizon line which is slanted to the right. I think with these sorts of shots where their is an obvious line in the background which is normally straight it just feels unnatural if it isn't. I really like how dynamic the sky is behind with pretty much every type of cloud!

Originally Posted by Ish

I really like this shot. The natural (I hope!) graduation of the sea colour draws the eyes down to the subject. I only wonder if she could be doing something more interesting or we can see her face. Is she picking up a rock to throw or found something on the beach? Is she happy is she sad?

Originally Posted by fireman32

DSC_0365 by dspector32, on Flickr

Really love the colours in this just wondered how the shot would differ you had angled so we could see a bit more of the boats so the horizon line is higher or if you have crouched lower to compress the empty space of the water between the boats and the treeline (if that makes sense!). I love the dark shadows on the boats too and the rich colours are just great.

Originally Posted by acearchie

Ballerina Landscape by acearchie, on Flickr

This is awful. Why do you even consider entering! Don't quit your day job...

Originally Posted by GT41

California Living.

A nice shot but I would like to be closer to the action. If the shot had been taken from the first bare hill outcrop that is in the shot it might have been more compelling for me. Also if the house is the intended subject in the image it feels a little low to me.

Originally Posted by r.harris1

Attachment 386962

I like this shot a lot. I think the business works for it and there are lots of different elements I can enjoy looking at. It's a lovely light too and I can't really think of anything I would change.

Originally Posted by jtrainor56

Blue Marsh Lake, Sinking Spring, PA

For some reason this feels like a painting to me. Not sure if its the clouds or the actual horizon line but it feels like it's tipping to the left. Also not so keen on the bush framing the bottom and right. If you had zoomed in a little more you would have also had less sky space which might have been nice.

Originally Posted by zagato27

DSC00012 by rampart66, on Flickr

A lovely scene but like a few others you need to watch your horizon line which is dipping to the right. Since the sun is partially obscured I might have tried to hide it behind the wooden pole it's just above as at the moment it's a little distracting. I realise you can't get rid of it but the bush right of centre at the bottom is a tad annoying.

Originally Posted by Captpegleg

No touch-ups or removal of clues.

Removals of clues that this is a film shot? I like the colours but don't understand the much darker sky than the reflection. I always like reflections when they are almost perfect mirror images.

Originally Posted by butch10x

Baker Beach, San Francisco by Bhupesh Patel Photography, on Flickr

A nice shot but your watermark is off putting. I'm not a huge fan of watermarks and I think that Flickr's copyright controls are strong enough now to negate them. Also the WA distortion is a little too much for me. I really like the colours though and I assume your solitary footstep on the beach.

Originally Posted by ericvmazzone

Arcadia Sewer by Eric Mazzone, on Flickr


I entitled this Arcadia Sewer because it's a reclaimed sewer in downtown Kalamazoo. Some bigwig got the bright idea a number of years ago that the city should pay him to uncover the old creek being used as a sewer for decades and clean it up. This project is one of the few proposed in such a way that actually paid off for the city.


Saturday December 29, 2012
Canon T3i
Canon Nifty Fifty
1/60 @ f/4, ISO 100

Eric Mazzone Photography

One of the few snow scenes. I feel the vignette is too strong and the red light on the building on the left is very distracting, especially accentuated against the vignette. I like the fact that you put in the backstory which adds some meaning to me.

Originally Posted by ijohn.8.80

My local beach, Port Noarlunga, South Australia.

Nice scene. In terms of changes compositionally, it might have been nicer to have the horizon a bit higher and to have just taken the shot a few feet forward in front of the bush! I really like the way the few lone figures have come out on the beach. I think I also like the FOV on this shot. Was it something similar to a slightly longer lens? It just feels right rather than some of the more WA shots.

Originally Posted by Nathanbl

Stormy Lake

I get a bit confused with this picture with the portrait orientation, the horizontal subject on the right and the vertical subject on the left with the shoreline sort of running vertically between them. Although I can't think of how I would have changed it, its always important to look at the relationship of the lines and here they are too opposite to work for me.

Originally Posted by Sideonecincy

What a great shot. I would have liked a link so I could see it bigger as it looks so small on my screen. Love the vibrant colours and everything seems to just work in this image. In other photos I have commented on the negative space but the top half blue really adds to the contrast of the bright red bridge. Conscious decision or not the way the wave leads us from the centre all the way right to the corner is another lovely touch. Again, great shot!

Originally Posted by LongSticks

Koh Samui

Interesting shot but I find the tree in the foreground a little distracting. If I was able to see all of it I might feel a little bit different. I think the fact that the branches are very saturated makes it distracting to the point where I almost didn't notice the dog! If you hadn't been so wide as well the dog and horizon wouldn't feel so small and far away.

Originally Posted by Cheese&Apple

Again, another one I would have liked to see a little bigger as it is very small on my screen. I like the fact that you have been a little different in that you have cut off the top of the tree line in favour of seeing the reflection and planting the shoreline on the top 1/3 line. I know it's cheating nature a bit but I might have liked the water and reflection on the right to be a little brighter to compete with the bright ferns(?) on the left.

Originally Posted by wolfpuppies3

http://www.pbase.com/wolfpuppies3/inbox

Clicked on the link and apparently the gallery is empty?

Originally Posted by NeverhadaPC

A nice panorama and a good way to make sure there isn't too much negative space at the top or the bottom. I would have liked to have seen the complete boat as the fact that it is cut out mid-word makes it a little distracting. Love the cirrus clouds floating around in the sky.

[acearchie]

Originally Posted by wolfpuppies3

Back again! I see what you did there! Nice shot but it would have been so great if the bird was completely in the line of the sun. I know it's awful but it's so close it's a little annoying! Taking half a step to the left would have also lessened the bush which takes up a little too much of the image for me. I realise this was probably a very difficult image as is but it was so close to being a great one.

Originally Posted by BarryJ

Nice shot. I would have maybe got even lower so we can keep the subject but angle up a little to get some sky in as at the moment the shoreline is just cut at the top of the frame. Nice light and colours on all the objects.

Originally Posted by Neur0genesis

I have the feeling I didn't submit this the best way possible.

It's a fine way to submit you might just find that people will skip over your photo as it's quite small and you have to click to get it bigger. Consider in the future maybe posting on Flickr or photo bucket, imageshack, imgur (if you don't want to create an online catalogue and more one off random links) and linking into the forums so the image comes up bigger.

In terms of your shot, it's a pity there is some detail lost in the sky as it's blown out. I wonder what the shot looked like underexposed? The one piece of grass sticking up above the rest is also a little distracting and moving 2 steps to the right would have solved this. A nice scene all the same though.

Originally Posted by xMClass

Nice shot with great saturation but still easy enough on the contrast that I can still see detail in some of the shadows. This has a real summer time feel to it and I like the negative space leaving all of that dreamy blue. I like all of the people in the ocean and the fact that none of them stick out meaning you are not drawn to one individually but can take your take to enjoy them all.

Originally Posted by Badrottie

Attachment 388281

Didn't even notice the submarine in the thumbnail, thought it was an extension of the ship! Would have liked maybe a little less foreground so you could have got in the top of the ship. I think you could get away with a little saturation in post as well as I feel like the flowers could really pop as well as the orange on the chimney.



Right, now that mammoth task is over (the post was so long it had to be split into two!), here are the winners.

3rd xMClass

2nd Puckman1

1st Sideonecincy

[SLC Flyfishing]

Thanks to AceArchie for stepping up in the original judges absence, and congratulations to the winners!

SLC

[ijohn.8.80]

AceArchie you've blown me away with your generosity doing so much for this contest! A hearty thanks to you. I couldn't believe how many crawled out of the woodwork for this one.. Congrat's to the winners.

My shot was taken with the 50mm f/1.8, I'm just about to buy my first wide angle lens.

[VirtualRain]

Originally Posted by acearchie

This is awful. Why do you even consider entering! Don't quit your day job...

Hahaha...

It is a nice photo though!

[acearchie]

Originally Posted by ijohn.8.80

My shot was taken with the 50mm f/1.8, I'm just about to buy my first wide angle lens.

I think that's what really made this photo a bit different. The 50mm for me has such a pleasing FOV and everything felt right. If it had been wider those people would have been unrecognisable. Thanks for sharing!

[zagato27]

acearchie, let me add my thanks for stepping in and judging. I am just astonished by the effort that you put into your critiques. WOW! Makes me reconsider my submissions....eh gad, what if I won and had to critique. Think I'd be a wreck. Nah, I'll submit just for the fun of it. Congrats to the "selected"winners, think we all came out ahead. Cheers

[Puckman1]

I'll add my thanks to Archie for stepping in as well.
And thanks for the helpful critique (and for picking my entry as runner-up, this is my first ever entry into a photo contest!)

Now on to a new weekly theme...What will it be?

[someoldguy]

Nice job judging on short notice , glad it was you and not me .Your critique is well taken . I've only got one shot of the fisherman . Everyone else was packing up , but this guy kept at it even though nothing was running and a squall line was about to pass through . Was kind of an off the cuff shot .

[jabbott]

Thanks acearchie for judging the competition in ipos' absence! As for the border in my shot, that was mostly to indicate that alteration had been made to the photo. The original was not as contrasty.

[milbournosphere]

Thanks very much for the constructive criticism! I'll take it and run with it for next time.

[Ish]

Thanks Acerchie! That's an amazing job you did there, it must have taken hours and at very short notice. Congratulations to the winners! Sideonecincy can now say he's won an international photographic competition!

And yes, the gradations in the sea colour were natural.

[fireman32]

Acerchie thanks for doing a great job an judging! And a big congrats to Sideonecincy for winning. I really look forward to the next theme.

[Cheese&Apple]

I would like to nominate acearchie for the Weekly Photo Contest Judge of the Year Award (that would be the WPCJYA) for 2012.

I've printed this thread and your comments for future reference.

Beautiful shot Sideonecincy!

Well done Archie...thank you.

[samcraig]

Thanks for all the feedback. For my future reference - does every judge comment on all of the photos or just the three they select? Either way - All of the photographs were great submissions and the feedback provided was thoughtful and helpful.

[sagar4995]

great stuff! curious to know when's the next weekly contest gonna start and the topic.

[Puckman1]

Is anyone going to post the new theme for this week's contest?

[DirtySocks85]

Originally Posted by Puckman1

Is anyone going to post the new theme for this week's contest?

Well, I suppose Sideonecincy still gets 48hrs from judgment on this one. If there's not a new one up by then I suppose you take over as 2nd place. Looks like a ton of posters crawled out of the woodwork on this one, and then everyone disappeared.

[acearchie]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. This community has really helped me out over the years so to give just a little back is worth it!

Originally Posted by samcraig

Thanks for all the feedback. For my future reference - does every judge comment on all of the photos or just the three they select? Either way - All of the photographs were great submissions and the feedback provided was thoughtful and helpful.

It used to be the case that the judge used to comment on every shot. I found this to be very useful as even if you weren't good enough to be the winner you would get some feedback and it has really helped me improve. When there are only ~10 entries the job isn't so hard but 40+ and it can become quite time consuming!

[Ish]

Originally Posted by VirtualRain

Hahaha...

It is a nice photo though!

I found Acearchie's comment a bit disconcerting until I looked a bit closer!

[Keleko]

Originally Posted by acearchie

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. This community has really helped me out over the years so to give just a little back is worth it!



It used to be the case that the judge used to comment on every shot. I found this to be very useful as even if you weren't good enough to be the winner you would get some feedback and it has really helped me improve. When there are only ~10 entries the job isn't so hard but 40+ and it can become quite time consuming!

That's what I did the last time I judged one, too. I followed a format closer to what acearchie used. Even though I didn't enter this one, I appreciated reading his comments. It really helps to have the images embedded in the judging, too, so you can see what the image was. It was a job well done.

[deep diver]

Congrats to all of the winners.

Acearchie -- I add my huge thanks to you. I've judged several times and cannot begin to imagine the amount of time and effort you put into this.

I would like to have changed several things in my image and I appreciate your comments. While your model is happy to be a part of your process, mine is not. That is my youngest son who HATES to have his picture taken. We were in New Jersey and he just wanted to get his feet wet. I got off one frame before he saw me.

As for your image -- I really like it. In some ways, it feels like 2 images together. Your model is, as usual, beautifully posed and very expressive. Take her out of the image and you have a beautiful landscape/waterscape image that is made more powerful because of the limited tonal range and the perfect hint of orange at the center of the image. You might want to keep your day job, but this image is really good.

[Captpegleg]

"Removals of clues that this is a film shot? I like the colours but don't understand the much darker sky than the reflection. I always like reflections when they are almost perfect mirror images."
The image was presented upside down and it was digital. The "darker sky" was actually the canal. The "clues" to the orientation was the pine straw and other flotsam in the canal. The object of the photo was to trick the viewer without the help of photoshop.

Thanks for taking over the judging although that much work has to take some of the fun out of it.

[acearchie]

Originally Posted by Captpegleg

The "clues" to the orientation was the pine straw and other flotsam in the canal. The object of the photo was to trick the viewer without the help of photoshop.

Maybe if I hadn't been looking at 20 something shots before I would have noticed!

I mistook the flotsam in the canal for dust on a negative of a film shot and the fact that you had said "no touch up" as whenever I scan my film shots I always have to spend a few minutes touching up the photos by removing the dust from the negs!

[JDDavis]

Great batch of photos again!

Great job Ace on a monster task.