Sep 09 Contest Votes

[T Paul]

Voting will run from 24 Sep to 30 Sep 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!

[lazze_gurra]

I just voted for what my eyes liked,
and here it is.

1. LonK
2. CathyH
3. MiningArt
4. Kraellin
5. OlBaldy

[Kraellin]

two i disqualified (for my vote) because of rules infractions. i hate that, but the rules are explicit in most cases.

i liked that viecode changed the sky from blue to something else. nice touch, but other parts of the image were hard to see and left me wondering, so no vote.

i loved lonk's, but i did see his as a rules violation. the rules were clear on the matter. the client spoke.

some i liked but thought they were a bit ... regular. i liked the ones that popped a bit.

thus, my vote is:

1. lazze gurra . great colors, straightened everything up. good mix of sky and ground. it popped

2. friiskiwi. this one also 'popped'. the trees were a bit more obscure than lazze's, so lazze got #1.

3. veralisa. good colors. good compositing. didnt like the ratio of flowers/ground to sky as much as some, but i also know T_Paul asked for emphasis on the flowers, so ok.

4. aartist. the shadowing was interesting, though a bit illogical in places. a dark sky with no overhead clouds doesnt make real good sense. nonetheless, i liked the overall.

5. olbaldy. an interesting interpretation. leaving out all the bleeding trees on the left may well have been the smarter way to go. i wasted a lot of time cleaning those up

and lonk, i really would have voted yours #1 if i didnt feel it violated the client's wishes. it really is very good.

[lkroll]

CathH (the way you brought the color out in the flowers won it for me)
Veralisa
LonK
viecode (like Pink skies)
Lorraine

[brianclark4]

My votes are
1- Lonk
2- johndiablo
3- CathyH
4- MiningArt
5- igot2pman

[CathyH]

This was really hard to narrow to just 5 votes.
1. Lonk
2. aartist
3. Veralisa
4. Johndiablo
5. Olbaldy

[Lorraine]

Everyone did such a nice job, that it was extremely difficult to pick the final five. I selected those that I think best brought out the flowers while retaining realistic photo qualities.

1. Veralisa
2. Cathy H.
3. friiskiwi
4. dcarr
5. anka

Lorraine

[anka]

1. CathyH - just the best flower field
2. dcarr - natural colors, good field
3. MiningArt - saturate but still looking realistic colors
4. Lorraine - tender composition
5. johndiablo - good colors

[MiningArt]

I eliminated those that did not follow the rules and than voted for the flowers.

1. CATHYH
2. BRIANCLARK4
3. CUPCAKE
4. RHMAMOL
5. RUZZEZ

[Veralisa]

my choices are:

1. Cathy H.
2. aartist
3. I got2Pman
4. flowers-1 (name?)
5. tie: Kraellin/OlBaldy

Loaded all into PhotoshopCS2>arrange>tile horizontally>set navagator to 100%, then viewed certain benchmark places in all at same time.
In spite of all this, it was a really tough job, but interesting watching everyone's methods.

[LonK]

Excellent work by so many made voting a challenge in and of itself.

Most did well with aligning the images, straightening the horizon and handling the dynamic range. Many successfully made the colors pop nicely. Some handled contrast and depth issues better than others.

The job brief highlighted, "Special emphasis should be placed on the flowers". With this in mind, I primarily looked for a solid composition that featured a bright green field of colorful flowers. Clearly, the most effective compositions used "The Rule of Thirds" guidelines to give the field priority canvas area by placing the horizon above center. Horizons placed below center tend to feature the sky. Centered horizons are ambiguous and generally result in the weakest composition for scenic photos. The potentially over-dramatic sky with brilliant white clouds needed to be toned down a bit so as not to draw attention away from the field. The lone tree centered on the horizon was a distracting visual magnet and really needed to be dealt with.

1. CathyH
2. igot2pman
3. johndiablo
4. 0lBaldy
5. Lorraine

Honorable Mention to veralisa

[0lBaldy]

#1 sept09-johndiablo
#2 Lorraine
#3 MiningArt
#4 CathyH
#5 friiskiwi

bdeephoto..... No photo
impy_Daitri.... wrong size
brianclark4.... wrong size
Viecode........ added tree (sky distracting to me)

[Cupcake]

1.CathyH
2.OlBaldy
3.Kraellin
4.aartist
5.MiningArt

[RhMaMoL]

All entries were very good, made judging very difficult;

1) CathyH - (vivid & sharp throughout image, that is why I chose this as my winner.)
2) OlBaldy
3) Veralisa
4) friiskiwi
5) Lorraine

Well done to everyone.

[johndiablo]

1 - CathyH
2 - Friiskiwi
3 - Lorraine
4 - Olbaldy
5 - Aartist

[friiskiwi]

1 Miningart
2. Kraellin
3. BrianClark
4. lgot2pmm
5. john diablo

[aartist]

I gave all entries a good thorough eyeballing. By the careful process of elimination, I ended up with the following in the order of goodness and positive perceptibility. My thinking was these were the best to frame and hang on my home's wall.

1. OlBaldy
2. MiningArt
3. CathyH
4. LonK
5. friiskiwi

Honorable Mention: Kraellin

[T Paul]

Results will be posted by 5 Oct...

[T Paul]

Great job to all the entries.
This is a great skill to have as a photographer!

And the winner is....

CathyH

Prize: Nik Silver Efex Pro, donated by Nik Software

Prize Description: Silver Efex Pro Silver Efex Pro from Nik Software is the most powerful tool for creating professional quality black and white images from your photographs. For the first time, all the advanced power and control required for professional results have been brought together in one convenient tool.