Weekly Competition #156 - Low-key Competition

what kind of comp is this, the winner is only the judge that picked the winner from last weeks comp sunglasses adi2410355
what a joke ???????
all friends together hey !

Thank you very much for the excellent entries. I had a very hard task with choosing the best picture. I'm not a brilliant photographer, I don't know all techniques and I'm still learning, so I hope I didn't offend anybody with my subjective comments. I think all pictures are great. The podium ones gave me one rupture more than the others.
Once again my sincere congratulations to everybody!


Midnight Light by Judith Ann - Very nice night shot, I particularly like not only how calm and still everything is, but also warm tones.

Egg Martini by thoughton - this is a very good shot and a difficult to take, it certainly requires "know how". Simple and nicely made.

Menacing Sheep! by cardiff_gareth - it certainly is interesting and draws attention, you can't tell straight away what the picture presents. I like how the eye and this drowsy look comes out thanks to shallow DOF.

December sunset by TOZZA27 - good silhouette, I like how the tree is diagonally composed into the picture and a the branches and twigs look thin and how many of them you can see. Looks like an infinite fractal abstract or a vein.

AL by gartmore - nice portrait! You managed to capture the reflection in the eyes which give life to the face. The light on the face is rather low-contrast, he's evenly iluminated and the the portrait stands out from the black shirt. Very nice lighting indeed and his look is great as well.

Tracks by davidtrout - very excellent picture! You managed to capture the highlights very well, the luminous tracks curl and twist leading to... you only can imagine where. I also like highlights on the carriage and its number. Very minimalistic, very few words, but thanks to using the light perfectly you showed the story.

moon dance by puma - very soft and romantic - warm clouds and golden reflection on the sea. Nice!

Street Lamps by tomw - good perspective in the picture. Looking up shows the perspective nicely and the colour of the sky is very deep.

Last Train by i-Berg - I like this one a lot - "overcontrasted", but in this case it works very well producing a very interesting abstract. Good imagination!

A Desconcentração ! by DadeiaAndrade - interesting idea, it draws attention. The bright edgings on the fingers are nice, maybe a bit more contrast on the hand would help to expose them better?

Chrome by Hyram - very nicely made, it requires a lot of skill to photograph shiny objects and not to mess up by producing unnecessary reflections. The A with wings seems to be sliding down. I like the contrast here as well. Interesting and technically superb.

Shy farmer by alun - great capture! High contrast exposes only what is needed and I like how you can speculate and build the story upon this image. Also the teksture of his facial skin comes out nicely.

Sparkles of soul by cher-cher - a simple picture, but it certainly tells the message. I like it.

Belting by nathanever82 - excellent! Very expressive, it certainly shows how powerful the song must have been. You used the tilt and I think it's a very good idea and makes the picture more interesting. It's also very nicely illuminated. She fits into the lighting perfectly. Or perhaps the other way round...

Rose Campion by DrOrloff - nicely composed and illuminated picture with good contrast and colours. Well done!

Dracula's castle by AxelLuther - now that's eerie! I just love the right side of the picture - the clouds, brown and violet, the silhouette of the castle and the moon so clearly visible with it's texture. Good one!

On the beach by matwhittington - I like this picture very much. The lighting here is very interesting showing the surface of the water nicely and the sky looks amazing.

In Turl Street, Oxford by mecrox - the soft spots of light shining through are interesting and they draw the frame of the bike nicely. Very oxfordian message

3rd place - Shy farmer by Alun - Simple, just a glance of somebody's face, but mysterious and interesting.

2nd place - Last Train by i-Berg - I love how you painted the tracks with light and how the carriage is sketched. The number of the carriage is great. Very minimalistic, but powerful picture. Thank you for sharing this one, I spent a lot of time looking at it.

1st place - W I N N E R - Belting by nathanever82 - great atmosphere of a music club, the expression on her face is superb and you illuminated what was important with the rim of light and left everything else in the shadow. I can almost hear the power of the song. Thanks for posting!

p.s. English is my second language, so my apologies if it looks odd sometimes...

jeff0000 - I can assure you that pictures were the only thing which mattered here. I don't know any of the entrants and I do not care who is posting, really.
I hope the comments above will explain more.
With kind regards,
Adrian

edit: I'm afraid I don't have friends on the forum here yet, I am a very new member. Please post good pictures next time rather than unnecessary comments and accusations.

what ever like i said all friends together hey ! its seems you won last weeks comp and he wins this weeks hahaha

Adrian,

I believe the picture you described for the second place is actually the one taken by David Trout. I'm happy to step aside so he can claim it!

Well done though, and you had some hard choices to make with yet more quality images.

Well done Nathan!

Oh my, indeed, you are right, it's David Trout's picture. My apologies to you both gentlemen!!!

Thanks for your comments Adrian.

No worries by me Adrian, David's is a better picture, so well deserved.

Well done and congratulations to you too Alun.

Great comp,great judging,great shots,great second language usage - shame all spoiled by a mean spirited view from jeff zerozerozerozero

I have no problems with the winner - well done nathan - your turn again !

Tony

Thanks for the judging! Some great shots in the comp this week and worthy winners.

Congratulations (or perhaps it should be commiserations ) to Nathan and thanks to adi2410355 for an interesting competition.

Thanks for judging Adi! And congratulations to the podium places. Another late Sunday night for you Nathan, well done

I Suppose i owe you an apology for your judging Adi! you made the right choice in your mind and i should NOT HAVE SAID ANY THING so please except my apology and hope that it is forgiven.

yours truly

jeoff moore

Thanks Jeff, I do appreciate and of course accept your apology.
Wishing you a lot of good captures!
Adrian

i also would like to say sorry to tomw tozza27 puma please except my apology for the comments

Phew, I'm glad we've got all that out of the way.
First, thanks to Adrian for his hard work in judging the competition, believe me it takes a lot of thought and effort.
Second, congratulations to Nathan, always a strong competitor in in these competitions.
Thirdly, I think I might have come second, if so thanks very much Adi, its the most popular spot to be in a competition where if you win you have to judge the following week's comp.
David.
PS I think it was an excellent subject Adrian. I just wish more people had entered

Thanks!
Me too, despite it took me two hours to go through the images and write a few words about each one I certainly enjoyed it though and learned a lot.

WOW!!!

That was really unexpected!

Adrian, thank you very very much for the comments, and for judging the competition, I think its great that new members come in and win, and then get a chance at setting a theme and going through the efforts of judging.

Jeff, I appreciate your apology, also because at the top of this post it seemed to be a very rude comment. I think the role of judging is already very difficult on its own, and being reprimended for one's opinion leaves a really sour feeling... On top of that, as Adrian said, I have never actually talked to him, or had a chance at debating on the forum, so really, there is (yet) no great friendship unfortunately (but im sure it will get better!). On top of this, I haven't seen your entry in the challenge, so really, I struggle to understand your frustration.

Anyway, thank you so much Adrian for the competition and I can only say that I am not keen on judging another one so soon, not to mention that I am going on holiday this week and will not be around to judge again next week. So I will gladly pass this onto David, if he wishes, or let John Riley decide who the judge should be.

Thank you all for the kind words, and I hope you enjoy your holidays and time off.

Nathan


p.s. I am putting together a photographic exhibition... and can't wait to shoot some more during the summer, after 4 months of office work with no photography I think I really deserve it!!

I'll judge it for you Nathan if you wish and if the Mods agree. Check it out with John Riley or Daniel Bridge first though.
David

Thanks Adi for the thoughtful judging and kind comments () - and well done to Nathan (worthy winner) and indeed everyone who entered a great set of images.

Regards

i will accept your apology but not happy!
and excellent judgement Adrian well done

Thank you to the judge for all the hard work that went into judging this comp. With english being your second language, I can image it doubled your load.

Congrats to the three winner....

Thank you for your coment on my photo....as always I had fun shooting for the comp.

I await next week assignment.

Nathan has asked me, as 2nd place last week, to judge the next competition as he will be away. I can't set it up intil Admin open up the links. But to give you as early a start as possible the next subject will be People in the Environment. This can be figures in the landscape, environmental studies in urban settings which feature people as the focal point, or what ever variation along thse lines you can come up with. The figures may be tiny in some awesome setting, or dominant in an interesting setting. Its up to you.
David