May 09 Contest Votes

[T Paul]

Voting will run from 25 May to 31 May 2009. Deadline for votes is 5pm (Central Daylight Savings Time).

Only those that entered the contest may vote. All other votes will be deleted. If you did not enter, but would like to comment on an entry, please post your comments in the Contest Discussion thread.

Vote for the 5 best entries in order.

You cannot vote for your own image. If you do, your votes will be deleted.

Example Vote:
Pick the top five contest entries and list in order...

1. Entry X (First Place)
2. Entry A (Second Place and so on)
3. Entry Q
4. Entry S
5. Entry P

This thread will remain closed until it's time to vote.

And as always, when you vote try to include some things you especially liked about your choices…what made them stand out, what impressed you, etc. This is a learning experience!

[CathyH]

Hello this was hard to judge as always.
1. elemoose
2. Lonk
3. Kraellin
4. Ruzzez
5. Veralisa

[carb]

Here's my votes.
lon k
Ruzzez
happymind
Cathy H
K Grimini M

[Ruzzez]

My votes for the five best "retouched" postcards:

1) Kraellin
2) LonK
3) carb
4) CathyH
5) eldemoose

[Nasturtium]

1. Kraellin - This really showed vision to pull out one boat and give it a dreamy treatment
2. eldemoose - clever use of desaturation to draw the eye
3. chas518052 - I loved the light in the background it was really inviting
4. LonK - superb cleanup
5. prariekittin - Adding the two little boats was clever and I liked the color scheme

[lcramer53]

If I were at a fishing camp and looking for 5 postcards to send back home, these would be my picks:

1. cupcake
2. leigh
3. eldemoose
4. Nasturtium
5. Chas

[K_GiMiNi_M]

1Happymind
2Ruzzez
3Wndy Hinkman
4foresaa
5carb

[Cupcake]

1. foresaa
2. Windy-hickman
3. leigh
4. Prairie Kitten
5. happymind

Good luck to all!

[Veralisa]

1. Kraellin
2. eldemoose
3. lcramermay
4. leigh
5. ruzzez

Is it time for vacation yet?

[LonK]

Based on the job description (photo retouch for travel postcard), I looked for results that no matter how much retouched, manipulated or enhanced, still look like actual photographs; photographs that might "sell" an essentially honest scene to potential visitors. I preferred those with a crop that framed a simple, yet solid, dynamic composition. I sought retouching that primarily cleaned up the scene (i.e. removed visual distractions) and subtly adjusted the color palette for naturalness and balance.

Per the presentation requirements, one improperly sized entry and two lacking identifiable filenames were not considered. There were many terrific creative renditions. But after looking at dozens of postcard vendor websites, it's clear that monochrome or artistic interpretations are simply inappropriate for a photo postcard.

1. CathyH - PROS: Excellent landscape crop. While a horizontal format is considered passive, the diagonal lines add just the right touch of dynamic. Good tonal/color balance. Cleaned up grime and distractions nicely. CONS: The red lower hull breaks away from the predominantly cool palette.
2. carb - PROS: Ditto what I said about CathyH's entry. CONS: The composition is too bottom heavy, the top third overly bright and featureless -- although, valid if one *knew* text would be added in that space.
3. wendy-hickman - PROS: Basic crop. Warm/Colorful. Typical postcard-ish rendition. CONS: More clean-up needed to remove clutter. Some oversaturation of color.
4. ruzzez - PROS: Reasonable near symmetric portrait crop. Nice color. CONS: Clean-up needed. Bordering on illustrative. Disconcerting hairline halos in foreground water and white lines on right and bottom edges.
5. eldermoose - PROS: Balanced crop and composition. Bold. CONS: While I like the result, I'm doubtful that the client would go along with the selective saturation/focus for a postcard.

[philbach]

1. Lonk
2. Prairiekittin
3. foresaa
4. Kraelin
5. Cupcake

[Kraellin]

there were seven i felt were contenders here, but alas, only five get the vote. so, i've got two honorable mentions, eldemoose and jajohnson.

the rest, in order are:

1. ruzzez
2. prairiekitten
3. leigh
4. lonk
5. chas18052

i gave pretty broad leeway to the rules. retouch to a postcard quality is a pretty broad category, especially since no mention of a timeline was mentioned. i've seen old postcards and they range widely. it's also true that not all postcards are photos. in the 50's, for example, most were not. i remember traveling around the country when younger and you'd stop somewhere and there'd always be a rotating stand filled with postcards. many had borders, maybe did not, some were glossy, some where matte, some were on fairly rough grained paper, and some on more expensive stock. but, they were almost always in color and were always an advertisement for something or somewhere. so, i looked at the entries here with all that in mind and decided if i were the editor/publisher doing up a postcard on this photo, which one would i want to publish and that's how i voted.

[happymind]

1 lonk
2lcramermay
3carb
4chas518052
5Cupcake

thank you look frwrd to next months competition

[prairiekittin]

Wow. This was a tough one!

1. Entry 4 Cupcake
2. Entry 13 Kraellin
3. Entry 20 Foresaa
4. Entry 9 Leigh
5. Entry 22 Wendy Hickman

[T Paul]

Thanks for your patience (I am in the middle of moving).

And here are the results…FINALLY!

This contest was very close... and Congratulations go to LonK!!

Prize: Multibrush 4 donated by AKVIS

Top 5:
LonK - 27
Kraellin - 24
Eldemoose and Ruzzez – tie with 18
Leigh - 14

Great job everyone!