Well, you'all certainly did not make this easy on me, but here it goes....

01 - justgetoutandride: Nice and icy. The frozen over pond almost looks like ice crystals up close. I like the reflection of the blue sky. But the image could use a stronger point of focus. i.e. I find myself looking all over to see what it is your trying to show.

02 - yelvertoft: This is the sort of image I had in the back of my mind. Cool and refreshing.Nice exposure and I like the background light subtle but enough to separate the background. Although I think the image is a bit flat (but I think that is the nature of ice) . There is some sensor or backdrop dust is present. Also, it appears that the focus might be a little too far back -- more on the top ice cube rather than the lemon peel and bubbles. But perhaps just jpeg compression or foggy glass.
FYI, >800 on longest side. I'm debating how hard I want to score against size limitations v.s. content. After all, that is an awfully tall glass of refreshment...


03 - Malo1961: Must be cold. Almost looks unnatural.The frost against the blue sky really makes the image stand out. I think the size limitations don't do this sort of image justice for the detail of the frost.
he exposure is very well done to retain definition between branches, but the yellow cast from the low sun could have been shifted back to blue to make the white really pop against the sky.

04 - ericp: Love the shapes and again I really like the contrast from the frost and blue sky. The shapes of the frost make the image interesting. Unfortunately the detail seems lost in white and gray. I cannot seem to pull any more information from using levels or curves, but for some reason I get the feeling the image is lacking depth. The areas lef and right of the frame are rather busy and do not add much to the image. It might have been nice to pull in real tight and get the detail of the frost.

05 - Utopia Poppy: OK, someone after my own heart! Jack would definitely be a good choice over ice.
It appears you had good control of the lighting. Curved glass tends to show everything in the room.
I like the DOF and th muted levels keeping everything less than white.
Although the reflections from the flash could probably have been cloned out. I am constantly drawn to the bright speckles instead of the brand name on the glass and label.
Not sure it would say "cool" to me without the addition of the description, but I like it.

06 - gartmore: Another image after my own heart... gotta love hot peppers!
The stark colors of red mixed with the neon blue behind make for an interesting image. The idea of hot peppers remind me of how I feel lately in this heat and would love to be stuck in a block of ice myself.
The specular reflections in the upper right tend to be a tad distracting from what would otherwise be a superbly lit image.

07 - hefty1: I hate to ask what it is and if it is real... definitely colder than I want to be.
The image is more of an abstract yet with enough definition to go back and take another look.
I think the streams of melting water seem to distract form the image and tell me the cold probably won't stay around long.

08 - johnriley: bleak and cold. The image seems a bit flat but with the snow blowing like that, you are probably lucky to get anything but a photo of all white. I like the streak of sunlight breaking across what appears to be the edge of a hill. And are those ski tracks running across the lake? Hopefully not recent ones.
Definitely cold, but I'm not sure it grabs my attention.

09 - timbo: I like this one. The think layer of ice is definitiely cold. The reflections off the ice are about perfect as they are just enough to show how thick the layer of ice really is and make it look like a peice of shiny candy. The colors are nice, but but the image looks a little over saturated. The background seems a little busy, it would have been nice to see the front most leaf more separated from the rest.


10 - Hyram: An interesting abstract. Snow covered field? Some parts almost look like ripples or waves in a lake.
Nice patterns. I wonder if getting closer in on a specific area might have made more impact and brought more interest to the image.

11 - cabstar: Another cold bleak image. Being at the shore in winter can be quite bitter cold.
You could have adjusted the curves to fix the white balance and exposure to make the snow white, leaving the sky mildly blue. But I think the way it is leaves the whole image dull, gray, and cold. You have a couple of strong horizontal lines, but perhaps stronger lines leading in would help. Either a few steps to the right to get the sand edge, or if the footsteps were more contrasty.


12 - Nimitz: Obviously the first thing that hits me is that bright red outfit. Bam! Nice scene. The exposure hit me as quite well done, then noticed it was tone mapped. This is what I believe HDR is meant to be. The cartoonish images have their place, I suppose, but it is nice to see someone with the skill to can keep the image realistic using the technique.
I like the leading lines created by the trees and the path so I think the image might have worked better of the child was further down the path. My eyes are caught some what dead center of the image.
The break in the trees on the lower left is also distracting. I would probably crop slightly in to remove the bright area in that corner.

13 - AlfaFoxtrot: It must certainly be cold to freeze over an entire body of water like that. I like the curve of the train, but it is more the center of focus. Cropping tighter on the train would proably give a very pealing image. Unfortunately, it doesn't give me much feeling of cold.

14 - Unlocker: An icy pop in icy pop! An interesting mix of colors and shapes, and the sparkle in the drops of liquid really catches one's eye. I'm not sure how that would tatse, but it does make my mouth water.


15 - Belinda B: The selections of color in this image are unsual. Bits of read and green, even in the rocks and sand at the foreground. Perhaps a bit too over saturated but otherwise it makes an intersting image with the crest of the wave making a nicely curved leading line form the kid in green back to the red raft far away.
Unfortunately like you said, it doesn't fit very well, or at least doesn't bring across the feeling of cool/coldness to me.

16 - terje-l: I do like springtime, as the frozen rivers start to thaw. I can almost hear the river flowing beneath. Nice contrast without blowing out the highlights. With the theme of springtime is some warmth, so the image for me conjures up that comfortable feeling of being cool but not too cold.

17 - Galoot: Very abstract with all sorts of shapes and colors than the simple white and green that is at first so obvious. It is interesting but I'm not sure I would know what I am looking at without the description.


18 - Gully: Absolutely beautiful scene. I love the mirror-like reflection in the water. I think the top of the image could be cropped off a bit to allow more of the reflection to show. This might actually be a good case for breaking the rules and going so far as separating the image in half at the shoreline.

19 - GivingTree: Cant say why, but I like this. Nice image of chrry on ice. Makes me think of ice-cream with cherry on top, or a bowl full of cherries. The detail in the ice still shows up, as well as in the fabric behind. Nice control of lighting in that respect. I think it would be cleaner if the fabric was further away so that the detail didn't show up as much. As faint as it is, the texture and the uneneveness (ripples) cause my eyes to drift upwards. I apologize if I'm wrong, but something about the stem says it may have been over processed to bring out more green. Doesn't look natural.

20 - Daniel Bridge: On ice! Looks like the poor fella just came out from under the ice. It always amazes me at the thin layer of ice that they are able to stand on. Makes me cold just thinking about standing next to the edge, about the fall back into the pond.
I would probably have cloned out the branch and dead leaf or whatever it is sticking behind the duck's bill, or moved slightly to try to keep them out of the image.
But a chilling image none-the-less.

OK, the part I've been dreading...
Drum-roll please....


First Place: Gartmore - Fire & Ice
Second: Unlocker - icy pop in icy pop
Third: yelvertoft - Ice Cold Drink
Honorable mentions: Gully and GivingTree


Congrats to all, you all succeeded in making my job judging as difficult as you have with other competitions in the past.

I believe it is now past midnight in PentaxUser Forum Land, so this weeks competition is now closed. I'll will post results as soon as possible.

Well, in our area it has been blazing hot so lets try cooling things down by putting them "on ice", figuratively speaking or literally. Photos do not necessarily need to include ice, but should give the feeling of coldness.

So, lets see your cool pics.

he, he, you guys are right.
The tree had just fantastic blooms today, so I brought one inside so I could get rid of the wind factor... Being able to get a very stable shot, you can even start to see the prickly surface of the pollen.



Not quite 100% crop...

Tamron 90mm f2.8 DA Macro.

Good question, but usually when I see pollen it is more dusty and with smaller particles, even when viewed through a Macro lens.
I don't know much about flowers or pollen. Could that be what it is?

I have always used those super zooms with "Macro" attached to their name. Never realized how much better a real macro lens is. I've barely removed the lens for weeks.

This is a photo of the stamen of a Hibiscus in our front yard.
No idea what the yellow stuff is. Thought it was pollen until I got an up close look.




K10D, Tamron 90mm Macro, f5,

I have come to need PhotoShop less and less with he great job that SilkyPix does, so I do tend to sharpen within SilkyPix.
But if my intention is to create more significantly modified images I may not sharpen as much until after I have the final image at the size I need.

I like it a lot as well. I love how the leaf goes from a muted color to almost absolute grayscale. I assume you post processed the color?

I would also have to agree that the red in the background is a bit too much. If you did post process, you could mute this to very dull or even completely desaturate to gray to keep attention on the foreground subject.

Timely, www.Strobist.com has a blog about Speedlights using battery packs and getting full power recycle times under a second. With that a warning about overheating, but it would be nice to get faster then six second recycle when needed.


Oddly, if I set the camera in manual mode, and set the flash in manual mode using the trick of turning the flash on first... it seems the flash is still getting some sort of information from the camera and changing its power output.

If I shoot a light area, I get two to three shots (as fast as the camera can go) before recharge is necessary.
If I shoot a dark area (still within the camera's ability to shoot full speed), I get only one flash and the next two frames are dark as the flash recharges.

I guess I will need to play with this more, but I am stumped by why the flash behavior would change under these conditions.

Thanks a lot for the info. I was really hoping the battery pack would give a significant decrease in recycle time. I would doubt adding the AA to the TR3 would do much, but I would be interested in how fast recycle time is if you should try that setting.