DescentBB

I am entering a photo contest. The deadline is midnight on the 15th. I am having trouble deciding which photo to enter. Which do you think is the best photo? If you’re up to it you can explain why you picked that one. I hope there aren’t too many to choose from but I didn’t want to leave one out. If I have time tomorrow I might create thumbs so the images load quicker.

Thanks for voting!


1 - Dog With Ball


2 - Pondering Ladybug


3 - Hoar Frost on Branch


4 - English House Sparrow


5 - Swainson’s Thrush


6 - Bug on Leaf


7 - Berries


8 - Butterfly on Apple


9 - Ladybug v2

i picked the 2nd ladybug one because i think macrophotography tends to really stand out. But the first ladybug pick didn't jump out at me (maybe if the outof focus background didn't look like just more leaves). the 2nd one had something more - more engaging composition maybe? the ladybug has somewhere infocus to go, i found it more appealing than the background of the first ladybug pick that showed teh leaves were so unappealing they wern't worth even focusing on - \"bah! seen one leaf you've seen em all\".

i think the 2nd ladybug pick looked the LEAST like happysnaps.
(but i did think the butterfly on apple one had the most meaning... i'm having trouble finding meaning in any of this)

berries

It looks like it could be the next default background that ships with the next OS X release haha

Hoar frost on branch is AWESOME!

I was going between the dog, the berries, and ladybug v2. The ladybug was my final choice... the subject stands out well, and you get some but not too much detail on the leaves.

I like the second ladybug.

If you know who the judges are, do a little research on what they have picked in the past.

Ladybug v2 has great color, a rare moment, and varying levels of leaf detail.

6 - Bug on Leaf (I was going to say 4, but I couldn't get over the colors in 6)
The red may be a little bit washed, but the colors and contrast are great, especially with those white veins. The blur on the background looks good, and that bug is cool (now just add an investigating Pyro shadow next to him and you've got a world-beater ). The only thing that detracts from it is the chromatic aberration at the top of the leaf.

Using the process of elimination...

1 (first I was thinking that the blur on the front-right paw wasn't good (too blurry), but as it is an action shot I might be wrong there. the grass in the background is a little grainy

2 & 9 (Ladybugs are really neat pictures, but unfortunately they suffer from being grainy, and the focus of 9 seems to detract from its appeal)

3 (really nice color on the background, and probably would have been my choice if it weren't for the varying focus on the ice crystals)

4 & 5 (either of these would probably be a good bet, particularly 4: except for the sparrow's tail and right foot the focus is excellent, and I like the contrast better)

7 (nice colors, but the double image detracts from it, and the berries aren't that interesting)

8 (grainy background, decomposing apples, and the butterfly is kind of on the plain side)

Between 6, 4, 5, and maybe even 3, I would say it may depend largely on your audience.

All criticism aside, those are really nice photos. What camera are you using?

Frost, bug on a leaf and berries are probably your best bets.

The berries is nicely exposed & nicely framed with a lovely use of a narrow depth of field.

The composition on the fronst image is lovely.

And the bug on a leaf has a nice emotive quality to it.

Best of luck.

[Disclaimer: I am not much of a photographer, but my family did visit our local photography museum pretty often when I was younger - maybe that counts for something?]

I was going to say \"Hoar Frost on Branch\"; I love images like that; crisp, with lots of contrast.

However, I can't get past the color transition of \"Bug on Leaf\" - the bug's shadow is cool through the translucent leaf, but what caught my eye was the smooth transition from green to red across the image. I think that one really stands out, because it's a quality shot, and it's really unique.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone for the good constructive comments.

I lost the contest btw. oh well. I learned some stuff anyways from people's comments.

Which one did you end up submitting?

sorry in the delay in my reply.

I entered the first Ladybug photo. I posted the frost one on the forum that held the contest and got no replies but the ladybug ones did. that was my logic. But I still apreciated the feedback you guys gave me. despite lossing I learned a lot and I am going tot try to change the way I take photos.

btw I got 2nd place in the random group my photo was in. but only the 1st place winner of each group goes on to the final round in my goup 1st place had 98votes, mine had 43 votes and 3rd place got 22votes. There were 10 photos in each of the 16groups.