Dan is right, difficult to judge without seeing. What I can say with confidence, though, is that it is not a problem of Photoshop (could be, however, a problem of operating Photoshop appropriately).

Excellent Peter, well done!

Congratulations Dan,

it was a superb entry (and, as we learned from your last post it was "tailored to the judge" ).

Thanks Dirk for the judgement.
I also feel that changing judges make for a more interesting competition and the detailed feedback that has been established as a standard in these competition always is interesting reading. Not only for own submissions but also for the submissions of others.

*istD, Kiron 70-210, A8.0, 1/350 s, ISO 200. Technician Gabe on board of R/V Kilo Moana in the Pacific Ocean.

Oh no, not another owl shot...


Haha, only kidding!

The first one is fantastic! Maybe I should get one of the Pentax primes... and an owl... and a K10D...

The sharpness is really unbelievable as your 100% crop shows (can't be a jpg then )

The second one is good as well but it pales (pardon the pun) next to the other one...

Thanks Clarky,
getting the background right was one of the main problems (the others being that I had to crane my neck and hold the camera in quite an uncomfortable way and to get the timing right (I saw some wonderful pics through the viewfinder when the measurement flash was fired)).

Of course we don't want to influence the judge, far from it. If the judge can't see a profound work of art and doesn't appreciate the sublime sociological and philosophical aspects and implications of a masterpiece then she would be immune to any reasoning, however subtle it may be.

What did you say you drink?

Nothing in your archives then, Tyr? Come on...

Congratulations Dirk and well done Lilly!

I have to answer this one:
Of course it looks contrived, absolutely right, as it IS contrived.
The background actually is a tray with printed on cherries. I placed this in the kitchen sink (in the grayish white area on the left of the drops you can even make out the coffee maker). So calling it contrived is spot on!

On the cherries, I would have thought that one would dislike it even more if the cherries in the background (although blurry one can make them out) would hang upside down. But I have to admit that it needs a bit of optics knowledge to appreciate that a small sphere of water (or glass or any other transparent medium with much higher refractive index than air) has a very short focal length and therefore turns an image upside down.

But hey, I did say in the discussion thread: "If the judge can't see a profound work of art and doesn't appreciate the sublime sociological and philosophical aspects and implications of a masterpiece then she would be immune to any reasoning, however subtle it may be."

Story of my life, I'm too shy and have to little self esteem

Back to reason: Well judged and you picked a worthy winner! Thank you!

Now looking forward to the next theme, Dirk!

Just my kind of topic. Thanks Lilly. This one I took especially for the competition (always wanted to do this):



*istD, Sigma 105 mm 2.8 DG EX, AF360FGZ, F8.0, 1/125 s, ISO 200, SilkyPix and a bit of PS.

And yes, niblue, my tap is dripping as well...

Matt, I think you were looking for Eneloops ( http://www.eneloop.info/ )
This is the Sanyo brand, meanwhile there are other companie's varieties as well.
There is a thread about the Eneloops at another forum, I think it also mentions other brands.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=24486010