Weekly Competition #35 - "Sky's the limit..."

Congratulations to Tony and many thanks to Will for such an excellent and speedy assessment.

Thanks Will, maybe I picked the wrong entry then
But, I thought that the one I did enter would be more fitting for the theme. It's all subjective anyway and I take part in this competitions in the Olympic spirit. All great fun and good to see so many different approaches to a theme.

I don't regret my choice.

Cheers,
Prieni

Great job. Certainly no shortage of choices this week.
Congrats Tony.

BTW, the arm in my photo is part of a multi-piece metal sculpture here in Washington DC called "The Awakening".
Basically a giant waking up from a nap underground. His arms, legs and head are breaking through the ground.
The arm is probably near 15' tall.

Congratuations to alimner for winning and everyone else just for taking and making pictures of some of the most spectacular skies I have ever seen. My favourite was ianm's.

And thanks for your comment about my Millenium Bridge pic, Will. I actually like the odd vantage point as I trying to do something alternative at this familiar location. The uncropped version looks more dramatic with more of the bridge in the foreground - but I cropped for this competition because I thought it detracted from the sky.

I might indeed try a long shutter speed there one day. Thanks for the prompt. This one was hand-held as I don't normally carry a tripod on my bike (my usual form of transport).

Congratulations to Tony and all the other contestants - some really stunning photos this week and I guess very difficult to judge. Thanks for your comments about my shot - one thing I learnt is that my camera takes for ever to save a long exposure - is this normal? Point taken about the grubby building - I'll have a word with the neighbours and ask them to give it a lick of paint

Steve

Yes, that's because it's doing special noise reduction for long exposures. It's optional - but good to leave on. It takes a black-frame shot in addition to your shot and looks for noise - which would be on your shot also, from which it removes. Or something clever like that.

Thanks for the explanation - I've not taken many long exposure shots and so hadn't noticed this before. I was worried that perhaps the CF card was on its way out or worse the camera.

Steve

Excellent judging Will (no, I didn't use a polariser unfortunately, and yes I think it was about the only day last summer I actually saw sky like this ) and congratulations Tony for a well deserved win.

This is one subject - Lightning - where film still rules the roost for this very reason... I do loads of low light stuff some exposures running into minutes and find the NR delay infuriating!!

Scrolling down, saw that, and thought "Hey, I've got a place at least!" You're such a tease Will!

Well judged, and congratulations to Tony - a beautiful shot. In fact, lots of cracking shots this week, well done all.

Dan

Thanks Will

I've never even been placed before. This was one of a choice of three or four - including one taken about 1/2 an hour earlier and one of of a sky on Skye... I've always loved sunsets (and the occasional sunrise - see my website for one of those towards the end of the Santiago section) so I'm pleased to have won even if it means judging the next one....

[edit]

I should have added that there were lots of good entries - I had amoringello up as a possible winner (though I would have angled the camera up more even though that would mean losing the bottom of the arm) - so that makes winning even more special. I have posted the new theme - Spring - so could someone make it sticky please?

By way of self indulgence I add the shot taken about 1/2 hour earlier

Great judging, well done.

Well done to all entries also, nice images.

Thanks for your nice words will, and the joint-fifth place And well done to Amilner; incredible colours. That one you posted from 1/2 an hour before is something special too, I love the neutral pastel and earth colours!



You are right, about a 10minute walk from my house in the dunes north of liverpool. Its interesting, we have some incredible sunsets, but turning away from the sun I saw the mix of colours, went into the dunes from the beach and took a few shots. The sharpness and light on the grasses is produced by a HDR composite; Kind of cheating one may say, but even with a GND i wouldnt have got the depth in the grasses.

About 90deg to this shot was



It was quite a impressive sky that night

Sorry about that Will, I really should have put something like "Just a shot from the garden to make up the numbers - no critique required" I hope this is ok?

Vic.

What a fantastic job of judging, excellent !

Would our worth winner be so kind as to set the next challenge?