I'm struggling to see anything wrong.
It looks like normal strong daylight to me.
I would be more concerned with the focus, but it's a nice shot.

OK let's call it the 5th then.
Still Moretonhampstead, unless North/East Devon don't chip in, in which case, I guess it's a Plymouth meet. Anyone in Cornwall want to come and talk lenses and photograph Janners and concrete?

By the way Max11, I am coveting your macro lenses so beware an offer to swap for a day with a fisheye or something

I think that's fine here (I'll probably be told it's the in-laws' son's girlfriend's birthday party or something, 'and you've known about it for weeks!')

Maybe if we don't hear anything from the peasants in the sticks, the Plymouth guys can meet locally anyway?

Lucky you weren't a spy - he would have shot the attractive women with the gun concealed in your Pentax.

If nathanever82's entry has been disqualified then I reckon Karl's Drums should sneak up onto the podium. What do you think?
Maybe I should check the EXIF next time (next time ! ha!)
Probably find the drums are from last year now

Wow! what a turnout! I kept thinking I had it sussed and then another great shot would appear.
I think the winner for me is fairly obvious, but the next few are very close and really, could be any way round. I really struggled to decide.
I like to see people making an effort so snap-shots have to have something really special to succeed.

Brace yourselves for some straight talking! but it's nothing personal


Lilly - Wash n' Brush Up (commended)
Took me a moment or two to realise what I was looking at. It came up in a new tab and I had forgotten what thread I was looking at. So my immediate reaction was, 'dead cat, in a snare' (surprise). then the shock subsided as I realised it was not only alive, but in cat heaven! doing the most catty of things. I can see that if the subject was still, the image would be exquisitely sharp.
I love the closeness, I love the way you've captured his total absorption in his task. (why do I think it's a 'he'?) I find the image slightly lop-sided, I want the right to be filled with fur also. cropping off the right helps a little. A lovely shot for the wall

Belinda B. - Pink Flyer
Great, dynamic image. Clearly loads of movement.
However, I find the chopped off sail and lots of sea irritating and the post processing not to my taste.
Try cropping much tighter - you almost can't go too close, you've lost the sail so you might as well concentrate on the hydro dynamic action down below.


beakynet - Floating!
Lovely shot for the album, he does look like he's been lifted off the ground. I like the symmetry.
But It's a very cluttered shot with a slightly jaundiced cast and has a 'spin round and grab a shot' look about it, which sometimes works but not here I feel.

Telstar - Wheely Flash
Love the colours in this, and you have captured the effect that I had a long discussion about a year ago, where the wheels scribe patterns on the sensor. Not sure if that's good or bad but it's pretty.
I want to crop out most of the brown and grey and I keep wanting to see something more than just a blur of nice colours.
I kinda like it, but I'm not sure why?

PentaxBabe - Sparrow take off trying to get a Goldfinch picture!
Forgive me, but I don't like anything about this on a subjective or technical level. It looks like a shot gone wrong, but not fortuitously, and if it had gone right it would have been a messy picture anyway. It needs less depth of field (lower f number). To help this, you could step back and zoom in. And find a more attractive feeder.

Unlocker - Hubble Bubble, Toil & Trouble!
You'll be getting some bleedin' toil and trouble if I hear any more about that pesky K7. just when I though I was happy... mutter, mutter.
It would have been nice to award the prize to the new camera... BUT, although the image screams out movement, it doesn't really make sense. Nice try, but it does nothing for me I'm afraid.

Karl - Drums and stuff (commended)
Love the gritty, jazz club feel to this. It yells out movement and noise and action. The movement totally makes this image. I Like the tonal quality and the fact that the dude's shirt is well lit. In fact I Love it. I'm not sure if pulling back a little would make it better, but I suspect not. Great image!

flat4 - Autocross
Great colours and contrast, great sense of movement. oddly devoid of scale or context - could be an RC model. My only gripe is not really having something to focus on - it really needed something significant in focus and still. i.e the car facing the other way with the driver in focus or spotlights or something.

aquadan005 - Life in "THE" fast lane !
Strangely enough, despite the blur and the fact that it's a drag racer, I don't get a great sensation of speed. Sometimes, having everything blurred can work, but here I think you really did need to stop some part of the car and get it sharp and really go for the background blur. I suspect from the small back wheel, that he is actually really pressing-on, in which case you did a great job just getting him in the frame!
I like the strong horizontals and the letterbox format really works.

Prieni - Never too cold.
Great sense of turmoil here. Beautifully crisp and gorgeous light on the subject. If the competition had been 'Braving the Elements', or 'Summer holidays on the Baltic', this would be right up there, unfortunately, despite the boiling sea, for me the essence of this picture is not movement but more the static figures and the narrative therein. Is the boy crossing his fingers?

nathanever82 - Girls on a bike. (2)
I love this image! The movement and joy so evident in the blurred girls is perfect. The crop on the laughing face is spot on. I suspect that you saw this and hurriedly grabbed a pan shot from your moving base and sub-consciously panned perfectly with the white tree trunk instead of the girls. For me this not only doesn't matter (although the dominant white is slightly annoying) but actually enhances the sense of the girls moving through a very ordinary environment in a happy world of their own.
If the background had been blurred and the girls pin sharp it would also be a great shot and more obvious what you were trying to capture at the time. But I like it anyway.


edumad - Low Flyers
Beautiful serene image, perfectly framed, just enough in focus to pic out the birds form and weight and plumage.
I'm not keen on the pale colours and vibrating bokeh.
Personally, I'm looking for a more dynamic image, but this is nice all the same.

Anvh - Snelst (3)
Good idea to choose one of this series, as you have done a great job capturing that day's action. This is no easy task and clearly you have the necessary skills to squeeze off a shot whilst cooly following a fast moving subject.
However I just wish you had chosen one of the side-on shots, preferably the one apparently climbing a hill.
This shot, although extremely competent, doesn't show movement as well as some of the others.
This would be a great angle for saloon car racing as it would show off the body roll, but the racing cars are so level and composed, they need more help to look fast.

JudithAnn - "Oh, Look At Me Go"!
Gorgeous capture, great composition, priceless photo for the album.
I'm glad you pointed out she was safe, as she looks like she is belting along without anyone looking! I think I would not be able to resist photoshopping the speedo to read 100 te he.

Heidi - Swingy....Swingy....Swingy
Ha ha, firstly you win the contest for the dirtiest sensor!
Great sense of movement - you have even followed the arc of the swing which works well. such a shame she wasn't looking at you. These are very difficult shots to get right as the speed changes constantly, It's worth filling up your card to get it perfect, as the end result would be a gorgeous picture.
Taking the shot further up the arc would create a completely different picture and give you different problems to conquer - the child would be easier to stop but the background would be less blurred, but then the angle would suggest the movement so you would need less blur! Swings and roundabouts, ha ha. (that's an English joke)
The burnt out areas are unfortunate.
I think I would try and go down there in the evening or morning when the sun was nice and low and if I was struggling to stop the movement I would consider using a flash + long exposure to capture that critical moment (but that is a whole new ball game ! )

Father Ted - Ceol na mBodhrán (commended)
Ahh the 'borran', I love this instrument, I have two myself! So you were on to a winner straight away
This is a lovely gentle, evocative image and the movement captured is vital to the composition.
Shame the tipper wasn't more obvious and I would have preferred more moody lighting.
I like the close crop and the intimacy of the action, but other positions showing the edge of the instrument (with all the fixings going in and out of focus) and maybe the player's face, could be very captivating.


Daniel Bridge - loco-motion! (1)
Well, predictably enough, I love this
Great balance of foreground and moving background. Wonderfully sharp, great perspective and sense of movement. Perfect exposure on the engine but a little over-exposed on the background, maybe this is a case for HDR from one raw Dan? Great idea to use a locomotive.

RichardC - Lights over a bridge (commended)
Beautiful shot Richard. I can see the headlights tracing a path over the bridge and the merest hint of a current in the reflections. I like it! Nice play on the theme. It does kinda rely on your explanation tho', so great shot tho it is, I have to send it down.

Thordell - Hound in Flight
I understand how difficult it can be to capture a dog running So you've done a good job to get the eyes in focus.
Apart from that, there is a lot that could be improved.
The framing needs work, the dog is disappearing out the bottom and the focal point (the eyes) are pretty much lost. There is too much (overexposed) grass. The blur makes me feel uncomfortable and the figure in the background is quite annoying.
The last straw is the dirty sensor! There are lots of ways to remove it and it has to go!
Sorry Jackie
Try cropping very tight around the dog. That will eliminate most of my concerns.

Aiki - Flames
Lovely image, perfectly exposed. I could look at it for ages.
However I would like to be able to rest my eyes on one part but there is no focal point or obvious composition.
I think one of the prerequisites has to be that if someone was asked what the picture said to them, then 'movement' would be one of the main answers, but that answer would be a little way down the list on this image.
Lovely shot tho'.

Mikew - grass.
Sorry Mike, you said it all for me really.
I have been trying some shots like this (but horizontal or windy) and it's a tricky one for sure.
I'm afraid it does just look like the shutter went off as you got the camera out!

hefty1 - rosebush
This one works better, more impressionist. Would look good very big on a cafe wall or turned into a rug! But in terms of this competition I find them a little one-dimensional.

R o b - Racing snail.
Great idea, strange blur! with a rather unconvincing smudge on his shell.
Can't wait to see the real thing - maybe that should be our next informal challenge - best racing snail shot!
Anyway... good effort but no cigar

1: Daniel Bridge
2: nathanever82
3: Anvh

Oh b*ll**** I thought I could dash up here and upload my notes, but Rob has put an end to that.
You'll have to wait 'til after dinner now ha ha.

I would say that Pentaxophile's version is the best.
Just kissing the clouds with the brush works well and just stay away from the trees. It's quite normal to have very white sky.

Terry ! what's that? not even the correct perspective on the clouds.

Aww. thanks guys.
The day started with a banana box full of real ale, bars of chocolate and motorbike mags for Father's day and is ending with some lovely comments on here and a gut full of roast pork. Perfect.

I'll mark the image as 'to keep' then.

If you are talking about PhotoShopping the blur in... WHY?
I feel like I must be misunderstanding you, but if not -

Firstly, it'll be worse, 2 dimensional and ickey.

Secondly, life's too short, the camera achieves it in 20th of a second.

Thirdly I have at least 30 good shots from about half an hour instead of 30 hours.

Fourthly, I was able to show the 'dudes' there and then, and they were totally blown away by the effects that can be achieved instantaneously (that's priceless marketing)

Apart from the BW conversion and cloning out a few smudges, it is straight out of the camera. 1 minute's work.